Shantay, You Slay…
ATLANTA — Miuccia Prada, CEO of Prada, once said: “What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language.”
In a world where clothes represent one’s personality, there are many personalities worn in all shapes and sizes but what about those who forms those types of clothes?
It’s more than just a fast-paced industry, it’s a piece of living art.
Within an industrialized fast-paced industry, the fashion industry has been a part of a bittersweet career with its good and bad moments that are exploited on a global standpoint. It resulted in developing well-known most talked about businesses like Prada and Chanel that has either been showcased on fashion shows or manufactured for ready-to-wear retail stores.
Not to mention that studying the fashion industry involves pursuing in one aspect that one wants to study. The fashion world requires taking initiative to creative possibilities in an open-minded fast-paced career that accepts various personalities.
For Kelly McDonnell, it’s no different.
McDonnell, a Global Social and Digital Marketing Director for Estee Lauder, came into terms regarding her independence while studying Fashion Marketing at the University of Northampton.
“Beyond the studying itself, I’ve come to realize that University is invaluable for teaching you how to think in a professional environment,” McDonnell informed.
Kayla Kuczynski, a senior at Mount Pleasant High School in Mount Pleasant, MI, saw a different perspective in fashion that focuses more on affordability rather than sustainability.
Kuczynski, along with her classmates Morgan Pierce, Amanda Lewis, Hannah Medley and Emilio Sanchez, organized a student-led fashion show where the models are constructed to wear clothes that were purchased from Goodwill and Salvation Army.
The show helped brought up the critique of fast fashion, or the mass production of clothing profited for retail value.
“We went with the sustainable fashion idea because we thought it would be super entertaining,” Kucyznski mentioned.
Even though the fashion industry glorifies the luxury of global interaction or second-hand garment retail, studying this career also exposes the harsh criticism being throwed around despite being ‘open-minded’ to new ideas.
For freelance author, Hamsika Motwani, she learned that taking fashion courses in her article Reasons Why Studying Fashion Design Courses is Recommended involves accepting the criticism headfirst and being overshadowed by other designers who had more experiences.
The criticism received can be harsh considering that its not up to its standard trend at a timely manner.
Furthermore, the industry is often accused to spotlighting dark or controversial topics that’s being glorized in fashion shows like suicide or cultural appropriation.
During the Summer of 2017, fashion icon Marc Jacobs released his spring and summer collection in New York City where the decision of multi-colored dreadlocks being worn on Caucasian model like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner sparked controversy regarding the cultural origin of dreadlocks.
Jacobs spoke out on the topic on Instagram stated that he “doesn’t see color or race… [and is] inspired by people and how they look.”
Like Jacobs, Atlanta designers Brick Owens and Dieter Grams landed in hot water for their spring 2020 streetwear collection during New York Fashion Week on Sept.15.
Owens and Grams label, Bstory, gained backlash from viewers after a series of male models wore distressed hoodies that emblazoned the names of schools that were affected by mass shootings. Schools such as Columbine, Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech where sewed onto the hoodie along with tears that resemble bullet holes.
Grams issued an apology on Instagram, quoted that he and Owens wanted to shed light on an important issue that would go deep on conversations regarding gun violence in schools.
Fashion Designers are entitled to express their creativity or motivate in their own line, whether if it’s dark or not. For the students at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta, it’s not the creativity that are openly expressed, it’s also the students with diverse backgrounds that are being showcased as well.
In a recent study from the NCES Postsecondary, Adult and Career Education (PACE) team, statistics show that a total of 88 SCAD students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design. Over 76 of the students were females with minority backgrounds.
“It’s no secret the fashion industry is slowly becoming more diverse. From embracing plus-size models to including various cultures, many fashion designers are developing open minds and progressing towards inclusiveness, rather than the exclusive stigma the fashion industry has developed,” stated Sara Boyd, a contributor for Forbes magazine.
Diversity within the industry has encouraged designers to construct garments that can be worn by models that are breaking beauty norms like plus size model Ashley Graham.
In addition, designers with ethnic backgrounds can embrace their heritage through a series of fabrics that are used in cultural traditional along, which helps shed a light to cultural appreciation.
The fashion industry formed an evolution of personalities to be expressed and conveyed in many attributes, allowing standard beauty norms to be bent despite the constructive criticism added in.
It’s not just clothes found in retail, instead it’s known as a human piece of art exploited into a global phenomenon in society.
