MARKET RESEARCH DIVERSITY (E19CC) ESMERALDA LLACA YEAR 3 BA FASHION HERIOT - WATT UNIVERSITY
The word diversity has a powerful meaning. According to the dictionary, it means: the state of being diverse. Whichever it is the subject or topic, political believes, culture, age, background, education, it does not matter, we all are individuals, have the right to being different and unique. Let’s face it, one thing is to have the right to and another very different is the fact that some of those personal choices are unfortunately still taboo. In the context of fashion, diversity is a vital issue. Fortunately, some doors have been opened and we can say without any doubt that diversity is being accepted by the fashion industry thanks to the work many fashion designers and ad campaigns are doing to raise people’s awareness on the subject. There are also some amazing ideas that are helping to educate people’s minds. For instance, the All Walks Beyond the Catwalk initiative has proved to be an influential and inspiring platform that challenges fashion industry by stressing the importance of celebrating all kind of size, age, gender, race and physical ability in fashion.
Fig.1 All Walks Beyond the Catwalk’s ad campaign
They encourage fashion students to design beyond stereotypes, to be open-minded and be part of a new exciting generation of people who celebrates diversity in all its forms. In addition to this, a recent survey conducted by online fashion brand JD Williams showed women over 50 are not happy about their bodies and they feel neglected by fashion in general. In order to change this, JD Williams launched the British first ever ‘Fifty Plus Fashion Week’.
Fig. 2 Fifty Plus Fashion Week models
Second year students from London College of Fashion had the amazing privilege of designing for the older women. Some of the models hitting the catwalk were Marie Helvin, former Vogue muse and Daphne Selfe. They looked so beautiful and proud of being part in such a relevant fashion event, proving that fashion does not have any age. Age diversity also was quite evident in Jun Takahashi’s show during Paris Fashion Week. He made a powerful statement indeed by choosing models of different ages.
Fig. 3&4 Models at the Undercover show during PFW
Fortunately, those are not just some isolated examples of how fashion industry are choosing more and more older models in their campaigns. In 2014 another well known brand, American Apparel, used a 62 years old model to be the face of the brand. She herself explained how good she felt modelling in that campaign. In an interview for Elle magazine she said: “I’m comfortable. I don’t feel that any of this is inappropriate. When people talk about age appropriate hairstyles, and age appropriate dressing, well, whose age? And who are you?” That comment brings an interesting subject. Should anyone determine what an appropriate age for a model is? Should anyone dictate what a woman or a man has to wear? Fashion is a powerful industry and as such it has the power to influence people’s opinions. That is why it is so important to project the right message to people like choosing all types of women as models not just, young, thin or white.
Fig. 5 Jacky O’Shaughnessy modelling for American Apparel
Also that year, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood used for her 2013/2014 campaign 60 years old musician Leslie Winer.
Fig. 6 Musician Leslie Winer for Vivienne Westwood’s SS14 collection
It is encouraging to see how fashion industry is taking some action against ageism. These types of initiatives are totally necessary and help to deliver powerful messages to society. But let’s be realistic, there are still so many things to do and to change in this regard, after all, Rome was not built in a day. It is absolutely necessary not to lower our guard and keep making changes even if they are small ones.
But lack of diversity in fashion also affects catwalks models. According to a survey conducted by BoF on leading shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks revealed that still, the immense majority of the catwalk models are white. But the lack of other ethnic groups does not deal exclusively with fashion shows but with fashion editorials as well. White models monopolize the majority of the fashion magazine pages and ad campaigns. It is pretty obvious that a very wrong message is being sent to the public and that there is absolutely necessary to take some drastic measures in order to address this issue. The question is: is fashion industry taking any action to counteract this alarming topic? The answer to this is yes, fashion industry has taken some important steps in this regard. In addition to this, 20 years old Tanzanian model Herieth Paul has recently been announced as the new spokes model of the makeup brand Maybelline.
Fi. 7 Herieth Paul
That kind of announcement should not come as a surprise but unfortunately, black models are barely seen in beauty ad campaigns. Although there is still a long way to go, some important steps like the one just mentioned, clearly show fashion is moving forward, making significant changes.
DIVERSITY NOW CAMPAING
Diversity Now, is a national competition for students, created by All Walks Beyond the Catwalk. This exciting idea came up in 2013 with a specific goal: make the new generation of creatives aware of the importance of diversity and individuality within the fashion industry. This project had the word success embedded in its DNA. Students from all over the UK have been taking part in this unique and inspiring project. Not just students but also influential people in fashion industry such as Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, Mathew Williamson, Nick Knight or Alexandra Shulman, support this initiative. Endorsement from these leading people has a powerful effect when it comes to spread an important message such as the one I am referring to now. As a fashion student myself, I am very excited to work in a project like this one as well. I have to admit that although I have been very aware of the lack of diversity in fashion, when it comes to design, I tend to do it for a very specific woman. For instance, when I think of my illustrations, all of them are of thin, white and young models. Just writing about this make me feel ashamed especially because I consider myself a socially conscious person. There is always room for change and challenge so this project will help me to push myself further and really try to be part of that new generation who will contribute to change fashion stereotypes.
Fig. 8 Examples of work, from students all over the UK
Fig. 9 Caryn Franklin, co-founder of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk
DIFFUSION LINES / COLLECTIONS The origin of diffusion lines, also called bridges lines, starts in the late 1980s and beginning of 1990s when fashion brands such as Ralph Laurent, Armani or Dolce & Gabbana, decided to establish a range of more affordable collections to reach a wider variety of customers. A diffusion line is not synonym of poor quality, just the opposite. Their lines are made to the same level of quality than the main collections. All the functional details are present: pockets, zips, linings etc. What really differs from one line to the other is the price point. For instance, McQ Alexander McQueen’s price point is significantly lower than its main line, Alexander McQueen. For instance, jumpers go from £225 to £250, skirts from £225 to £270 and so on, whereas a skirt from the main range is priced from £800 up to £2,395. Another example comes from Balmain’s diffusion line Pierre Balmain. Jeans, tees and eveningwear are priced from £105 to £795. It is pretty clear that the diffusion lines offer affordable luxury fashion. Their prices are not cheap but for many the idea of wearing a garment from a designer brand give them a sense of power and status that they otherwise might not being able to afford. There are many fashion brands that have a diffusion line but as this project is influenced by sportswear, I decided to choose the following brands whose work is influenced by it: • • •
T by Alexander Wang Cara X DKNY Hood by Air
Those three brands have a similar aesthetic, an urban style that makes them so appealing. They make comfortable clothes that can be worn as both sportswear and streetwear. All the pieces are iconic sportswear garments such as hoodies, sweatshirts, vests or t-shirts. Sportswear stopped being just for the gym and nowadays more and more people wear them even to the office. We are currently living in a sportswear era and that active wear craze has become a lucrative business for fashion brands. Active wear sales have rocketed in the last few years. As reported by Entrepreneur magazine, ‘activewear sales rose a muscular 7 percent to $34 billion in the 12 months ending in July, according to the NPD Group, and growth was seen across all distribution channels’. (Aktar, 2014, www.entrepreneur.com ) Back in the 1980s, sportswear was a huge fashion trend, wearing legwarmers or sweatbands outside the gym was so trendy but nowadays it does not have anything to do with a trend but rather to a lifestyle. Comfort and functionality fuse with fashion as never before. Fashion designers have taken note and there are many who got influenced by sportswear or who collaborate with activewear brands. Such is the case with Stella McCartney, Raf Simons, Mary Katrantzou or Alexander Wang among many others. These innovative and visionary fashion designers understand what customers really want and they have successfully reached their needs.
SELFRIDGES
If there is a store that truly understands what consumers want that is, without the slightest doubt, Selfridges. The iconic British store knows better than anyone else how to target customers. Not just that, Selfridges is also famous for its continuous innovative campaigns. For instance, in 2015, it launched a pop-up store with a very appealing name: Agender. As Linda Hewson, creative director of Selfridges said: “Agender is not about harnessing a trend, but rather tapping into a mind-set and acknowledging and responding to a cultural shift�. (BDA, 2015, www.bdalondon.com )
Fig. 10 Definition of Agender
One thing is pretty clear, times are really changing as never before. The fact that we can even use terms such as agender, genderless, or nongendered prove that it is possible to overcome certain barriers, especially gender ones.
Fig. 11 Selfridges pop-up store
More and more people do not want to be defined by their gender any more. They want to feel free to shop according to what they want to wear not what society dictates. Once again, Selfridges understood consumer’s needs and did something to address that issue. As a Selfridges spokesperson explained to Daily Mail: ‘the project will act as a test for experimentation around ideas of gender-both to allow shoppers to approach the experience without preconceptions and for us as retailers to move the way we shop fashion forward.’
So it was in fact an experiment to test people’s reaction to this ‘controversial subject’. The question is: did it work? Well, it certainty worked, at least, in the sense that it helped to break certain taboos. This experiment went beyond the idea of a man wearing skirt or a woman wearing a suit, which by the way is not new. But the idea of no gender goes deeper than that. In fact, the term non-binary gender refers to any gender identity that does not belong the binary of male and female. According to urban dictionary, ‘some common nonbinary gender identities include: agender, bigender, genderfluid, androgyne, and neutrois’. There are even some women models that are taking advantage of their masculine looks to walk the catwalk as male models. Such is the case of models Casey Legler and Elliot Sailors.
Fig. 12 Elliot Sailors
Fig. 13 Female model Casey Legler
There is still a long way to run but initiatives like All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, choosing old women for ad campaigns or opening stores like Agender at Selfridges help to give a sense of normality to an archaic and obsolete stereotypes within fashion industry.