The Fashion Industry has played an
influential role in modern society. As fashion signified female liberation and
advancement in the first half of the twentieth century, the fashion of today does
not have as much of an impact. With new styles come advertisements for the
clothes. Recently, a Lebanese purse
designer Johnny Farah released an ad for his new collection. The ad depicted a
man pulling a woman towards him by a belt wrapped around her neck. The face of the woman was concealed with a
bag positioned over her head. This image
is using the theme of violence against women to sell accessories.
This is not the first time that this kind
of message has been shown in fashion pictorials. Designers such as Calvin
Klein, Dolce and Gabbana, as well as high fashion magazines such as Vogue, have
shown fashion ads showing images suggesting rape, domestic abuse, as well women
being killed to sell clothing. By portraying women in this negative light, it
is in a way desensitizing violence against women to those who view the ad.
The fashion industry is a multi-billion
dollar industry that influences our society in important ways. As the fashion
industry has implemented laws to protect garment workers, as well as under-aged
models, what can be done to help decrease such images in ads? Fashion is an element of art, but that
doesn’t mean that these types of advertisements, with these undertones, are
okay.
After numerous articles were written
calling out this issue, one magazine made a statement defending their photos
showing women as victims of such abuse. The magazine defended themselves by
calling those who wrote the articles “narrow minded” and “sexist” for their
views on the violent photos. Is it “narrow minded” for one to find a photo of a
female with black eyes modeling high fashion offensive? Violence against women
is a major issue in today’s world, which should not be taken lightly. How can
progress be made when parts of our society refuse to truly understand the
impact of what is portrayed in the media? As the fashion industry was once a
symbol of liberated women, it must work to remain as
such, and not become a symbol of the violence that crushes that liberation.
References
By Megan Bird
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