I have been a long time fashion lover since my early teens, and haven’t stopped since. I am always watching the latest fashion shows during fashion week, reading articles about upcoming and current designers and of course doing a lot of shopping/browsing on my computer for trendy clothes.

And although I am really passionate with fashion and borderline obsessed with it, I have realized problems going inside the fashion industry, that I know I don’t like.

These problems are definitely not ignorable in my personal opinion, but pretty blatant in plain sight. It’s to the point where even though I do like clothes, or I do like keeping up with the latest fashion trends I still have no but choice to realize some of these problems that go on, that have became the so called “normal” or “cool“, when in reality they’re very dangerous and toxic.

So let’s break down some of the problems that I have noticed in fashion, that I am definitely not ok with.

The lack of model diversity

The first blatant thing I’m going to mention that bothers me the most, is the lack of model diversity. You will not believe the amount of fashion shows that I watched in the past to now that literally have the same pattern of three Black girls, maybe two-three Asian girls and like…fifty White girls. I am not making this up and I am not over exaggerating what I am saying, because I constantly keep seeing this over and over again to the point I would have to be blind to not see this. The fact that they have hundreds of fair-skinned models with blond/brown hair all over the magazines and runways really goes to show their agenda of saying “this is what beauty looks like”. And I’m not saying these girls aren’t beautiful and can’t be models, but my thing is why not show a wide range of different raced girls to show that beauty comes in different shades with different features?

The problem with this agenda is that it ends up affecting the viewer watching the fashion show or the reader reading the magazine, because they can’t relate or connect with the models because it’s not catered to a broader audience like that.

It also becomes offensive when you hear designers say they got inspired by “tribal” attire or “wild Africa”  for their collection but then not even have women from a specific tribe or from Africa walk down the runway in a large percentage like that. My thing is don’t get defensive and say people are too sensitive when you claim to get inspired from other regions or cultures, but then don’t give that proper region or culture credit by putting their people in your show. 

Sometimes I have to really sit back and question why other races have to be limited to a fixed number when White girls get to dominate? Are they saying that other races aren’t beautiful? Are they saying that they can’t walk down the runway? Are they saying that they can’t pose or aren’t photogenic? Like I just don’t get it and think it’s clearly racist.

The lack of women designers

If the fashion industry is catered more toward women, why are there more men designers designing women’s clothing? Most people and especially women I think don’t even understand who’s really over their clothing and dictating what they’re going to wear, which technically, shouldn’t even be the case.

And I am not promoting men to completely stop designing women’s clothing, but I just think women should be more fashion designers since they kind of know what looks good on their body, simply because they’re a women.

It’s sad to see studies that say women designers don’t even make up half of the top jobs in the industry, and I just feel like that needs to change.

Also, don’t even get me started on how there should be more women designers of different ethnicities, because that’s another random chit chat in itself!

The obsession with skinny

Another problem that’s pretty blatant in plain sight, is the obsession of making their models super skinny. I feel like it’s gotten so bad now that some aren’t even slim-skinny, but are borderline anorexic.

That’s why France had to implement a law where if you wanted to become a model there, you had to have a BMI of at least 18.5, since a lot of the 5’10 close to 6 feet models were getting as low as just 14 with their BMI. Which is not a healthy index for a women that tall point-blank period.

And I don’t even know if France is even following that law since to me their models still look the same, but I still think there should be a limit of how thin you are since it’s easy to start up an eating disorder if your job is to look like a mannequin. Because I hear far too many horror stories of models actually working in the industry saying that their agencies or casting directors kept telling them to lose weight to fit into a certain sized garment.

The sad part about this is that not only is it mentally and physically damaging these girls, but it’s also doing that to other girls that aren’t even models too, who are constantly seeing super skinny to anorexic girls in fashion ads, magazines, social media and of course on the runway, that end up copying what they keep seeing.

I just feel like if fashion is supposed to be predominately for girls and women of all ages, they should not promote them to look like a store mannequin, but to be individuals since everybody is an individual.

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So those are some of my top problems that I have with the fashion industry that I noticed. I know there are a few more things that people may say is important too, but I just wanted to cover the three major things that I think plague the industry the most.

Unfortunately though, these problems also plague other industry’s just as bad too, like the beauty/makeup industry, the hair industry, the music industry, the acting industry and so many other industries that seem to go by this exact code just in a different way. And if you’re not careful you can easily think it’s normal or ok because you’re so use to seeing it but never questioning it.

So just remember this, just because you like something or want to start a career in it, don’t be afraid to recognize and point out things within it that go against your morals, principles and standards. You don’t always have to support and follow along corruption when you see it, but can simply take another alternative or spread awareness to other people who might like the same thing as you do.

xoxo – Arianna♥