As part of my english class, the teacher wanted us to practice our writing skills, working on answering this question ‘Is fashion harmful to society ? ». I thought I’d share my answer to this for todays Fashion Tuesday. Let me know what you think !
Since its beginning as a research object, fashion has been criticized and questioned on its impact on society. Fashion is a vast subject that refers to various levels of our society: the industry of personal appearance and clothing, the taste and spirit of an era (or Zeitgeist) and the taste in a broader sense (not limited to clothing). Therefore, to tackle the essay question, we will discuss three aspects of society in which fashion can be harmful: environmental, sociocultural and political.
Fashion and environmental issues
It is a truth almost universally acknowledged (LBA : do you see what I did there ? ^^) that fashion puts strains on our resources, and can be very polluting. Firstly, we have fast fashion which operates on a model that renews its low-prices offering on a quasi-daily basis, which requires a lot of fabric and makes trends come and go at a faster pace.
The “untrendy” pieces of yesterday have to make way for the trendy pieces of today, and are therefore thrown away and/or burned, and hardly ever recycled, increasing their environmental footprint.
Secondly, we have luxury and high-end garments, which use materials such as animal fur, linen and leather, which have unprecedented effects on the environment: polluting production, endangered species, or even unethical practices. However these last few years, with social media enabling consumers to hold designers accountable for their environmental footprint, we’ve witnessed big names ban the use of fur and/or leather such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Donatella Versace. Fashion could therefore move towards a more vegan, cruelty-free and environmentally-friendly production.
Fashion as a sociocultural dilemma
Fashion is linked to the taste of an era and social trends. Therefore, it creates a social mechanism in which at a given period, a group agrees on what is and is not “fashionable”, and conforms to it. This idea of uniformity often leads to the pressure to follow trends in order to remain a part of a society or socio-cultural group, especially for younger people who are trying to figure themselves out and fit-in. Several social problems ensue such as anorexia, body dysmorphia and marginalisation, because fashion will celebrate as trendy a designated size, way dressing , accessory, or body type.
Thus, fashion becomes a social marker that does not celebrate diversity and causes a duality between the haves who can afford the trends, and the have-nots who can’t. Nevertheless, it is often said that you have to know the rules in order to break them, and it applies to fashion trends.
People will resignify the products and rules “imposed” to them, and construct their own identity, leading to subcultures and avant-garde fashion. Therefore, fashion becomes a language and a form of expression to stand out and celebrate one’s uniqueness. De Certeau used the word “bricolage” to define how fashion created sociocultural diversity amongst cultures and subcultures.
Moreover, this fashion Zeitgeist can also be a source of social stability. Indeed, uniformity creates recognition, therefore fashion enables us to distinguish sociocultural groups and their traditions. For instance, the distinctive fashion of the seventies, the grunge style of the nineties’ youth or the special garments worn by Hindus on their wedding day, capture prominent schools of thought and way of thinking and behaving.
Fashion and politics
Over the years, fashion has been linked to politics in many respects. The suffragettes of 1903 who wore distinctive garments and colors to support their political battle for equality amongst women and men: purple, white and green to represent freedom, purity and hope. More recently, we have seen fashion and politics collide and work together, like Maria Grazia Chiuri did for Dior with her feminist tee-shirts or the #MeToo movement with the black worn at the Oscars 2018. However, one could argue that using fashion to support political issues, can in the long run, defeat its political purpose, because fashion is an industry linked to temporality and commercial aims.
All in all, fashion is a social paradox, being both harmful and helpful, a source of stability and instability, enabling people to belong to a group and stand out, an economic constraint as well as an economic invigorator. This is an ongoing debate involving a number of variables, which makes it difficult to have a complete answer on the matter.
Do you think that fashion is only harmful to society, isn’t harmful to society, or do you think that it is but to some degree ?
I’d love to know what your thoughts are on that topic.
xoxo,
LBA.
LABLUEANN 
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