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The Forbidden Beauty of Age in Fashion
Everybody ages, that’s a given. Yet the image of age is very rarely represented in the fashion world and is sometimes frowned upon. OK, you’re right, there are symbols of older beauty in popular culture, with people like Idris Elba and George Clooney winning the title of Sexiest Man Alive in their older years. But although they may have had a grey hair here and there, they hadn’t even reached 50 when the earned the title. The absence of age in beauty standards In the age of representing diversity, the fashion industry is performing poorly. Most brands that we see and consume have standard for their models. Their models are…
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Does the Fashion Industry Have an Ageism Problem?
The discussions surrounding diversity and inclusivity in the fashion industry are now commonplace. Yet these discussions tend to rarely extended to include the lack of age varied representation, particularly the older generation. Ageing is a process of life, so why is it that this process, through the older generation, less represented than the younger counterparts? With the lack of representation through advertising and targeting clothing brands, there could be a gap in the market. Fashion can be about self-expression and inclusivity. Fashion cannot be fully diversified whilst a demographic of customers are not seeing themselves represented and reflected within the industry. Is fashion catered towards young people? There is a…
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It’s time to represent everyone in fashion
Since the start of advertising for industries like fashion, there have been specific standards and stereotypes used to present products to the consumer. In the fashion world, these standards and stereotypes are imagined through tall, thin, and predominantly white models. These models are beautiful people in the eyes of society but only represent the minority. It’s time for this industry to open its eyes and represent every person, every body type, every gender and every culture. The dawn of diverse representation In a world where there are so many different types of people, the fashion industry was slow to represent them. It was only in the 2010s when we began…
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Goodbye plastic mannequins
Fashion is the world of creativity, art and style. A world to be ourselves by showing our identity through our appearance. Sadly, its approach is so heavily focused on visual aesthetics, so its history is encased in a dark cloud of poor representation and diversity. However, social media has adapted fashion’s traditional methods and is adhering to society’s dialogue about demanding realistic representations. People with disabilities face many barriers within fashion, but, their voices are helping to re-shape ingrained representations. Here’s how an image conscious industry has taken conscious steps to an all-inclusive world. Holding up the mirror Do you ever ask yourself, but what would that look like on…
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Fashion shows finally changing their game to meet diversity?
How Victoria’s Secret fashion show has adapted to inclusivity after years without The first ever Victoria Secret fashion show took place in 1995 when diversity wasn’t a factor they looked for when casting their models. Only years down the line did we start seeing more mixed ethnicities than ever before. In 2018 Kelsey Merritt made history as the first Filipino woman to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. In this show Victoria’s Secret also made their runway more diverse than ever before by including Asians, Hispanics, African Americans, and Caucasians. Though they included different background and ethnicity in their catwalks and photoshoots, all the models seem to have an identical body figure. VS…
