You Probably Hate Us, and Here's Why

We hold these truths to be self-evident: If you appreciate art, you’re a cultured, openminded intellectual. If you appreciate fashion, you’re a shallow, entitled bitch.

In either case, you’re sensitive to composition, craft, color and context; you read into makers’ backstories, and you understand that the merit of a work lies somewhat in shock value, or at least the way society reacts to it. How did we become so alienated by the latter, even as we continue to engage the former? Where’s the differentiating factor between these two worlds?

Obviously, fashion is problematic (see: inclusivity, sustainability, ethical practice). Think tech-industry problematic. Think politics problematic. Think problematic problematic. Now swap the white cisgender male for halfstarved cisgender woman and you’re there. Yes, that’s part of why we’re reluctant to voice enthusiasm about fashion, but our own bias plays a role, too.

To fully understand our collective animosity towards fashion, we need to unpack the stereotypes which befall the sartorially inclined. In the public imagination, the archetype is female. She’s the wrong kind of popular (like that girl with the glittery lip gloss who didn’t invite you to her slumber party in middle school). She has an eating disorder. She’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. She’s armed with daddy’s credit card. Sound familiar? Without a doubt, she exists. She exists on screens, in books, and in our own perception. She might even exist somewhere within your wider social stratosphere. She does not exist as the keystone species in the sartorial food chain. One more time for the people in the back: this cookie-cutter archetype is not one-size-fits-all. Liking fashion does not make you this person.

Looking back at our analogy between fashion and fine art, you can see how much the two share. To cultivate an understanding of any visual experience, you consider the same factors, both compositionally and contextually. In short: both exist on the same intellectual plane. The myth that art is for genius visionaries while fashion is for svelte cardholders is exactly that, a myth.

Another myth: the correlation between loving style and having money. Returning to our analogy, consider the fact that engaging with the arts requires appreciation, not possession. You love painting without purchasing Rothkos and Warhols; you love music without VIP tickets to Drake; you can love fashion without owning it, and most do. The internet alone enables us to cultivate holistic knowledge of what’s going on around us, and finding a community with similar interests supplements that understanding (take Armour, for instance).

If any of this resonates–if you believe that you can be a thoughtful and intelligent human being who likes fashion – how do you reconcile that belief with the knowledge that the industry remains fraught with issues and oversights? How do we sleep at night knowing we love something so flawed?

We sleep at night understanding that engaging with fashion doesn’t mean condoning those issues, or even acting as bystanders. In fact, the opposite is true: engaging with fashion means understanding the problems and joining the search for solutions, using our understanding of the field to shape it into something that we can stand by. The more you get involved, the more you can voice your concerns and implement social change.

Maybe you hate us. More likely, you hate the stereotypes we’re fighting against, too.

Direction MADELINE RITHOLZ MIKKI JANOWER

Styling CHRISTINA YOU LILY HYON

Writing MIKKI JANOWER

Photography NOAH TREVINO

Models SIMONE HANNA IZZY JEFFERIS FATIMA GARCIA PRIYA KRAL

Makeup BROOKE ADLER