The Cost of Fashion: Undressing Fashion’s Mental Health In a romanticised industry there is a long existence of debate proposing a correlation between the pressures of fashion on the employees and creatives and the impact this has on their mental health. Creatives Earlier this year another creative was sadly taken to suicide, Kate Spade was only 55 when she committed suicide and had a $2.4 billion brand under her belt. She is tragically the third designer to die due to suicide since 2010, along with Alexander McQueen and L’Wren Scott. It is no surprise that creatives in this industry are under constant pressure throughout their career in such a fast-paced industry. DeCode, a genetics company based in Reykjavik, have supplied information that people working in creative industries are 25% more likely to suffer with mental illness than those working in less creative industries such as manual labourers. Many designers through history have been known to turn to drugs and alcohol, like Yves Saint Laurent who would get so intoxicated he couldn’t maintain posture at his own runways. The cycle which seasons within the industry runs at a highpaced frequency with most designers likely designing a full collection within three weeks, along with the diffusion lines of the brand such as cosmetics. As a fashion creative your career becomes your life with constant events and networking with other individuals within the industry to promote the brand. Is there not enough support for creatives within the industry? Living in an age where everything is so high-paced, with technology offering fashion in an instant, trends and styles become older faster and it’s the creatives behind brands who are suffering under the pressure. The strain on creatives is dismissed by many and is leaving the industry to be a daunting place.
BY LOIS WANDLESS