why i chose fashion.
Most people that have known me for years know that I love fashion and everything about it. But if you've recently gotten to know me, you'll realize that about 90% of the time, I'm talking about politics or something related. I often get asked, "Why are you a fashion major rather than a political science or law major?" That's a great question.
Like I said before, if you've known me for years, you'll know how much fashion is a part of my life. But you will also know that I am a social justice warrior at heart, and always have been. From the time I was young, I've always shown signs of being truly passionate about equality. When I was five years old, I wanted to be the President of the United States. Early on, I noticed how differently boys and girls were treated in society and in my every day life. This was my first experience with injustice.
The elementary school I attended was particularly "woke". Now that I look back at it, I think of just how many different classroom lessons and exercises that we did that truly taught us about the real world. I remember when I was in kindergarten, it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. My teacher had told us we were going to be doing things a little bit differently today. All of the boys and girls with blonde hair and blue eyes were able to do things like get extra recess time, get fun snacks and candy, and get to play games, while the people with brown hair & brown eyes had to sit on the carpet and watch, or do actual work instead of playing and having fun. This was a genius lesson that truly showed us in real time what discrimination looked like, but more importantly, what it felt like. This simple lesson taught us about race, privilege, and segregation at such an early age. We were able to understand that concept. I honestly think that this highly shaped my world view, even today.
When I was in the fourth grade, I got everyone in my class and even some teachers to sign a petition to send in to the people at the Fitness Gram. I had some confusion when I found out that the athletic standards for boys and girls were much different. To be in the "healthy fitness zone" for boys, you would have to do 25 push ups. For girls, it would be just 5. At nine years old, I thought this was completely absurd. Especially considering most of the girls in my class could do as much if not more push ups than most of the boys. Something wasn't right, so I did something about it. I sent the petition in and I got a response. That's when I found that protesting and organizing actually works.
But then...how does fashion play into all of this? I'll tell you. There's a good portion of society that sees the fashion industry for nothing but it's ugly parts. And I'll be the first to admit, there is a lot wrong with the fashion industry and it has plenty of ugly parts. I don't like several things about it. It can be perceived as nothing but a superficial parasitic entity that does nothing but create unrealistic expectations for women and men and creates a stigma of low self-esteem all in the name of capitalism. It can be seen as nothing except an industry that specifically caters to an upper class audience while feeding into society's fixation of materialism, and making people lose focus on more important things.
There is DEFINITELY a lot wrong with how this industry functions in society. But that's part of the reason why I'm here, to change all of that. To me, it all depends on why you choose to involve yourself with the fashion industry. My goal specifically is to create beauty and lightness and positivity as a response to all of the darkness in the world. There's a large portion of the fashion industry that works every day to speak out against this perceived stigma of superficiality and classism. People work every day to change how the fashion industry is and works. Artistically, fashion is always moving and changing, and the pace of the industry follows suit. In my opinion, the structure of it all is becoming very progressive. It's definitely not as bad as it used to be and I think it's made a lot of progress even within the past ten years. Designers are here to express their art and their visions, and that's what they do.
I'm not trying to bash the fashion industry, it's just what the public perception is. The fashion industry has an incredibly vast amount of job opportunities that allow people to hone in their skills on whatever they want to do and new jobs are created all the time as a result. From an artistic standpoint, this industry is absolutely fantastic for creative expression.
I think that the fashion industry has begun to take accountability for itself and they're moving in a positive direction. People within it are using their platform to bring the issues that are happening in the world to the public eye, and not in a way that they might be used to or comfortable with, but that's what necessary now. Especially in this political climate. Publications like Vogue, Teen Vogue, and Cosmopolitan have begun to highlight the very real problems that society is facing.
Personally, it would be impossible to sit back and not be some sort of activist within the fashion industry. If you're going to change the world, you have to do it from every aspect, from top to bottom. I think now more than ever there's a heightened focus on sustainability, the environment, worker's rights, and the image we are portraying to the rest of the world. Fashion is a reflection of society. The problems within the industry have to be changed internally from every level, and I intend to be very much a part of that. That's what I'm here to do.
My dream job would be to become a creative director for a brand or label. I want to be involved in brand management, but on the creative side, coming up with conceptual ideas for a collection, or a campaign, or a photoshoot, or an editorial, or anything. There's a bunch of different job titles you could slap on that. Basically, I'd like to be the designer's right hand woman.
Fashion owes society a multitude of things. One of them being becoming a major voice and standing up for what is right. And didn't you hear? Fighting injustice is the new black. I'm wearing a shirt that supports the people of Standing Rock in fighting against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through their native lands. If you would like to donate or want to know how you can help, please visit their website: http://www.nodapl.life
