Diversity in Fashion.

Fashion Weeks - The BIG 4:

Paris - Paris Fashion Week is the place to be as this is where all of the collections are showcased first. Other countries receive the collections after Paris, so they have the worry that the biggest buyers will not attend their fashion weeks', as they would have already seen them if they have attended Paris Fashion Week.

Milan - Whilst Milan Fashion Week is showing their collections, the city’s cobblestoned streets are turned into catwalks. They are then filled with VIPs and fashion lovers from all over the world. The fashion shows then continue one after the other, so there’s plenty of chance to get up close and personal with your favorite designers. The setting in Milan is a lot more relaxed and you actually feel like you are in with the productions, as you are so close to every production.

New York - New York Fashion Week Fashion week was formed in 1993 by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. It takes place twice a year, including one week at Bryant Park in Manhattan. Fashion Week is full of shows and events that allow fashion designers to display their latest collections to the most sort-after buyers and writers.

London - London Fashion Week first took place in 1984 in a west London car park. It was organised by Annette Worsley-Taylor, and the event was set up inside white tents just next to the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. London Fashion Week have a bad reputation because it is known that the audience is left waiting for at least an hour before the shows start.

Changing Role of Fashion 

The face of fashion has changed dramatically changed over the past 20 years. I feel that although it has evolved in so many ways, some of the things haven't always been so positive. For example model's physical appearances have become the centre of attention, and all designers only are selective and searching for a specific look. I feel that it is so important for educational institutions to teach their students about diversity in fashion, because it is such a huge part in our society. This is key in the sense that in order to succeed in the industry, you need to know and understand the past and present positives and negatives. 

I agree and disagree with the fact that contemporary British/High-End fashion reflects modern Britain. It is something for us to aspire to and want to be able to afford in life. Consumers often see that being able to afford Luxury brands is seen as a level of social success. With shows like Made in Chelsea becoming ever so popular we are aspiring to live the lavish lifestyle that unfortunately everyone is not born in to. But in the same breath, there is such a diverse range of fashion trends. Consumers are veering away from expensive brands at the moment. They are becoming proactive in creating their own trends, and wanting to stand out. Gone are the days when everyone wants to copy each other, it is all about creating your own sense of style and identity.

All Walks: Beyond the Catwalk - http://www.allwalks.org

The All Walks mission is to expand people's mind set about what the current fashion market has to offer. They want to allow people to understand that fashion can be realistic, as most fashion companies portray perfection and make so many people feel insecure. They want to show diversity in women, age, size, race and appearances. They also question hyper-sexualisation of young women in fashion. 

Their current project that they are working on is called Diversity NOW! 2014. This is part of their educational section where they allow industry creatives to enter in their work to enable them to get a gateway into the difficult to enter industries in creative fields.  

"All Walks announces the winners for Diversity NOW! 2014 in association with i-D Magazine.From a wide variety of sassy, sorted and sumptuous ideas, images and imaginative entries to our national student competition Diversity NOW! 2014, we have whittled our choices from across 30 colleges and universities nationwide, down to a handful. This is Diversity NOW! The amazing selection of work below shows not just the breadth of talent from the class of 2014, but something more profound… that the next generation of creatives really do care about body image and diversity. They join us in prioritising individuality and inclusivity to make fashion a positive force for good."

"Winners and highly commended creatives Diversity NOW! 2013 photographed Annabel 

Staff."

Age

Age in the fashion industry is something that is evolving for the better. The older generation are being recognised in positive light. Renound fashion brands are hiring older models for their big scale ad campaigns, because they realise that this age group are the key buyers for the high-end fashion market. This is one of the new MACRO trends - The Flat Age. Which is the formal name for the fashion industry incorporating the older generation into their company because they have the disposable income to afford exquisite buys - they have worked for their income all their life and now they can afford to treat themselves. 

An individual in fashion that has influenced the age of professionals in fashion is Mary Portas. One of the main things that Mary has to add to her CV is that she has impacted the UK fashion market immensely by being the individual whom fought to open the Louis Vuitton flagship store on Bond St.

Another woman in fashion that has tested the norm was Christy Turlington. In 1988 she was destined to become a household name when she was chosen as the face of Calvin Klein's Eternity fragrance. Twenty-six years later, at 45 she launched two campaigns with Calvin Klein for their classic fragrance, and the brand's new Eternity Night fragrance, which was released in August.

Christy Turlington also looks seductively classy in a Calvin Klein ad campaign for their 2013 underwear line. This was twenty-five years after she first modelled for the brand. In this campaign she was aged 44, and still looked as perfect as ever. Christy Burlington is also one of the most lucrative models in the business, with the likes of Versace established her as one of the catwalk elite, and her success keeps on growing the older she gets.

Size

Size has become one of the most talked about topics in the fashion industry. It is controversial subject and many have strong opinions on the matter. The fashion industry is predominantly for smaller sized models and it is so controversial when a model even one side over the average size 6 is used in a big campaign. 

An example of this is when Myla Dalbesio when she modelled for Calvin Klein's underwear collection. She is a 5ft 11inch and is a US size 10, which is a UK size 14. In an interview she said, 

"I'm not the biggest girl on the market but I'm definitely bigger than anyone Calvin Klein has ever worked with..."

She also describes her body type as 'in the middle.' This then went viral on Twitter as they was outraged that she could be considered a 'bigger' girl. 

Another woman that has caused controversy in the fashion world, with regards to size is Beth Ditto. Beth is known to be controversial, as in 2007 she posed for the music magazine, naked, with hairy armpits. The topic of size for her to date is when she starred in LOVE, fashion and fame magazine, for a completely naked cover shoot. In this shoot she requested that the image editor photoshops weight onto her body. She is so against any form of the modern-day model, that she never wants to be seen to be conforming to the modern day 'perfect image.' 

Statistics show that 46% of women are a size 16 or above in the UK at them moment. Although, the average size used to be a size 8-10 and this is why there are many problems for people trying to find the right size for them. 

They often find that in different shops they come up slightly smaller or slightly larger. This is because the size of the patterns for creating clothing based on the 1950s era of measurements. Back then everyone was a lot smaller due to the rationing of food supplies. 

The patterns have in turn stayed the same and it isn't by mistake. This is due to the key buyers in the fashion market being China. Over in China their sizes are extremely small, and therefore the fashion market want to continue to cater to their biggest buyers!

Men in Fashion

The difference between men and woman in fashion is that they take on trends in totally different ways. With women they look for all different inspiration from new and upcoming fashionistas. For example: bloggers, singers, actresses and tv personalities. Women are more naturally into fashion trends than men are, so it is easy for them to understand and adopt what's hot at that current moment. Whereas for men it has to be placed in front of them and be quite apparent. For example people like Kanye West are very influential in the sense that he is known to be a fashion icon therefore it is easy to follow his fashion sense. 

An example of this is when David Bowie was in his music and fashion prime. He was a trend setter and seen as a fashion icon. He managed to promote heterosexuality and still become a trend setter. He managed to get away with wearing things like feminine clothes, make-up and he was also extremely experimental with his hair styles. He made this popular and everyone began to copy him, which then led to David Bowie having his very own feature in the V&A museum.   

Another example of the different types of men in fashion is the James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, who played the part from 1994-2005. Back when he played this roll it was popular to have a lot of bodily hair; especially a hairy chest. But the fashion trends changed as the films progressed, and Daniel Craig took the roll on. When he was casted the trend was to be clean shaven and totally hair free on men's chest. 

This clean and groomed trend has then continued to the present day, and that is why today's boys/men in the public eye continue to be so well presented. 

The Exotic Other

The first Black woman in the UK edition of Vogue was Donyale Luna in 1966. She also appeared in lots of underground films by Andy Warhol in 1966. At this significant time in Luna's career and a month after she was shot for Vogue magazine, an article was written by the Time magazine. It was called,

"The Luna Year"

They praised her throughout the whole article, especially towards her body and the fact that she would continue to rise in the modelling world, staying on top. 

"Donyale Luna, as she calls herself, is unquestionably the hottest model in Europe at the moment. She is only 20, a Negro, hails from Detroit..." 

Another black woman that graced the cover of Life magazine was Naomi Sims. She said in the magazine that,

"Black Models Take Center Stage."

This was said at a time that is was very controversial to talk about race as the word 'negro' was still being seen as 'normal' to use. 

Naomi Campbell is a Black model that has well and truly made her mark in the fashion industry. Despite her highly publicised and crazy lifestyle, she is one of the most successful super models in the world - which is rare. It is rare for a Black woman to make it in the modelling world because most designers want Caucasian/European looking women to model their garments. This is purely strategised by what demographical research indicate generates more sales. As all the brand is interested in is building or maintaining their brand to what consumers want to see.

Another controversial topic within the exotic other in fashion, is when Beyoncé was the face of L'Oréal's make-up ad campaign in 2008. Beyoncé was meant to signify change within the ethnic world. But in actual fact a lot of the Black and Asian community became outraged at what her ad campaigns proposed. L'Oréal was accused of 'whitewashing' her in the ad, by digitally lightening her skin. After they denied doing this, she was then photographed wearing a minidress which displayed her noticeably pale skin. 

The writer Yasmin Alibi-Brown accused Beyoncé of,

"...betraying all Black and Asian women."

The cosmetics brand has always denied that they photoshopped the ad of Beyoncé. But many newspapers such as The New York Post still branded the images as 'shocking' and said that she looked like a,

"...weird, nearly white version of herself." 

Finally, Halle Berry tried to promote change in the ethnic world, but this was not received so well either. She wore a westernised wig for her cover in American Vogue. It poses the question that to what extent are women of colour willing to support... 

Even though the popularity of Caucasian models are still the most popular, there are a lot of young, up coming, Black models that are stealing the limelight at the moment. For example Beyoncé used them in her 'Yoncé' music video. Which included: Joan Smalls, Chanel Iman and Jourdan Dunn. 

Despite the change with regards to the fashion industry becoming more open to cultural differences in the last decade, Caucasian models are still taking centre stage. For example Kate Moss has been featured on 50% of the UK editions of Vogue magazine. In relation to Naomi Campbell, this goes to show that despite her past association with drug taking she has still risen more than ever in the modelling world. This goes to show that in fashion the look is more important than the model's actual personal life. As they are adopting a persona in many ways and acting their way to success through amazingly executed ad campaings. 

These models are mostly found in the USA and Europe, and Caucasian women are seen to be exotic and rarely found in other parts of the world, such as: Brazil, India and China.

Fashion in a Global Market

Fashion all around the globe is constantly trying to reinvent itself. Every designer wants to put on a real show, and do things that have never been attempted before. A great example of this is when Alexander McQueen streamed his fashion show live from the catwalk. This was a historical moment in fashion for the global market, because it was something fresh and new that attracted an audience on a huge scale. 

Japanese designers have become very influential of present, but they have always been around. The first ones to come on the scene were, Kenzo 1970 and Comme 1981. Then the rise of the new designers were, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto. 

Also there is a place in Moscow's Red Square called GUM. This is the shopping attraction in this exquisite part of Russia, and really displays what a luxury experience is. This location is a work of art and is situated on the east side of Red Square. The three-story shopping experience resembles a high class mall and houses, with around 150 stores. An interesting fact is that Red Square contains one half Louis Vuitton and one half Cartier, bringing diversity in the Luxury fashion markets together. 

Another example of this, that did not work out so well was when Tom Ford attempted to turn the clock back in 2010, with his New York, womenswear fashion show. He did not allow any press/media into the viewing of his collection. But this failed because there was then no promotion what so ever! This shows how much times have actually changed, and just how important it is to promote and advertise your brand is. Everything is so easily accessed over the internet and basically thrusted in people's faces. So if something is not widely advertised then many of us will not bother to look for it specifically. Our culture has become lazy, and just expect things to be shown to you; especially fashion consumers.