I recently purchased the above title,
written by Tansy E. Hoskins. As a fashion lover and an amateur designer, I am
consciously aware that both the fashion and retail industries, just like any
other industry, should constantly be questioned on their role as profit making
companies and the welfare that they may or may not bring to society.
This book
pretty much sums up what I am interested in: fashion, economics, philosophy and
everything else. I just bought this book yesterday, and thus I will only review
a few of its chapters and incorporate some of my personal opinions and
provocations that are imperative to the subject of discussion. I am really
interested in the politics of naming and labelling in the fashion industry;
that those outside a certain demographic (Paris/Milan/London/New York – the
main fashion capitals) do not do “fashion,” but rather only produce “clothing”
or “apparel”. However, the processes of creating the garments for the “fashion”
industry are mostly being outsourced to China, India, Nicaragua, Columbia, etc.
I question, what really makes the difference?
A dress is not just a “structure
of meaning,” but it is a commodity produced by a corporation and sold on the
market for a profit at a huge environmental cost, targeting poor vulnerable
workers. This book discusses the issue between Karl Marx and Karl Lagerfeld
(symbolically) as it delves into the lavish world of fashion, exploring issue
of class, consumerism, beneficiaries of exploitation, the race factor in
fashion, and much more. Personally my favorite quote from this book comes from
the feminist academic Audre Lorde, who stated that “there is no such thing as a
single-issue struggle because we don’t live single issue lives.” Please feel
free to approach me to borrow this book when I am done with it - I will share
more in the comment sections if I do so!
Hi Shahir, your post reminded me of a discussion we had in one of my English Writing Class a long time ago where we talked about sweatshops and ethics of consumerism. I think this is both an interesting and quiet difficult issue because it challenges us to think that at one hand we could be encouraging companies who practice them, while in the other we are also helping those who wouldn’t have jobs without them.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested on how this book unfolds and would love to hear more about it (and maybe in the summer I could read the book too) :)
I’ve been interested in labor rights since high school when I watched a documentary called “China Blue.” The film accounts the every day life of a 17 year-old jeans factory worker in China. I have been super passionate about labor rights/sweatshops ever since I watched it. I would definitely be interested in reading this book! Consumers have to be willing to pay a higher price for products made with better labor conditions. Ultimately, corporations follow “the race to the bottom,” and consumers have to raise their voice to really make change. However, obviously not all people can afford more expensive clothes… that encourage our capitalist system to favor a cheaper price over the welfare of workers.
ReplyDeleteShahir! This book sounds awesome! Also, Audre Lorde, love her.
ReplyDeleteObviously because of neoliberalism, NAFTA, sweatshops, etc. poverty and fashion have a very interesting relationship. One of my professors told us the other day that a shirt that's made in India, for example, will get shipped to the US where it maybe passes through 3 or 4 different owners, and then makes it back to the global south where it is sold again. By making poor people the workshop for creating fashion, I feel like that establishes the idea that fashion is not for poor people, which I don't think has to be the case. Fashion can be art and a form expression without buying into (literally) the capitalist notion of identity through consumption.
Reclaim fashion, Shahir!