THE EXOTIC OTHER AND CATWALKS

Designers have been scrutinised by both the media and audiences for the lack of black models that have been cast in  the recent shows, causing controversy.

Dior has been slammed by the press for the all-white casting in the catwalk shows since the direction of Raf Simons, however the fashion house responded by casting 6 black models in the 2013 summer couture show. Other designers such Calvin Klein have been accused of tokenism by casting only one black  model but no more.

However, in contrast,  London based designer Ashish decided to cast an all black model cast. He has always chosen to have a multicultural casting, to reflect London the home of his designs. The casting caused waves amongst the industry due to its perception as a runway stunt, however it was just his response to the constant whiteness of most designer runways despite efforts from designers such as himself to cry for change. It's questionable why in the current day in age it is such a surprise for a designer to make the decision to have an entirely black cast, where as having an entirely white cast doesn't even credit a double take.

THE EXOTIC OTHER AND FASHION MAGAZINES

To different markets, different ideals are presented as exotic. For the majority of fashion destinations,  the blonde, caucasian model is viewed as the norm however in emerging economies such as China and the Middle east the pale skinned, fair haired model is viewed as an exotic presentation of women.

In western fashion advertising and promotion, such as campaigns, catwalks and promotional imagery, the use of white models heavily out weighs the number of black models featured. The first issue of Vogue was published in 1916, but it took until 1966 for the cover to feature a black model.

The first black cover star was Donyale Luna, however, her appearance on the cover featured her covering her face and sporting a western hairstyle. Despite equality, in fashion black and white models aren't equally printed, with  the most recent individual black cover star being Naomi Campbell in 2002, 12 years ago.

There has been campaigning to place Jourdan Dunn as a cover star, especially since her recent high profile industry position as a Burberry girl and Prada model. It appears though, that there is only one stand out black model per generation, despite the vast amount of successful black models currently working the runways and it's especially shocking when contrasted against the number of white 'it' models. For the last five decades, young women have only had Donyale Luna, Naomi Sims, Iman, Naomi Campbel and Jourdan Dunn as main sources of highly promoted black models.

In September 2013, Naomi Campbell, Iman and Bethann Hardison wrote an open letter asking for designers to reflect society more effectively and diversify their catwalks."No matter the intention, the result is racism. Not accepting another based on the colour of their skin is clearly beyond aesthetic."

There has been much anger towards British Vogue and their lack of diversified casting, with Carole White founder of Premier Model Management stating "I'm surprised that there has not been a black model on the cover of British Vogue for this amount of time as we are such a diverse country, but perhaps British Vogue think the calibre of black models are not out there?". Within the last 10 years of September Issue British Vogue, the biggest and best selling issue of each year, they have cast entirely white models with 50% of the covers featuring Kate Moss. The lack of diversity is echoed in the cover stars of September Issue American Vogue in the last 10 years, featuring one black cover star Halle Berry however she is wearing a westernised wig. This lack of black model representation is surprising since Vogue America appears in 1 in 3 households in the states.

THE GLOBAL MARKET PLACE

The global market place is changing as new economies are strengthening such as:

Brazil
Russia
Indonesia
China

Turkey
Indonesia
Mexico
Phillipines
Nigeria

As these market places develop, fashion brands will have to adapt to cater for what would appeal to their market. 

The well established brands are wising up to the interest the emerging markets have and their tastes. Brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton have established a presence in these economies, thier success due to the fact the emerging markets with new money value the heritage of the brands.

Due to this, brands have taken advantage of the interest and used it to gain profit, for instance Prada sold sales on the Honk Kong stock exchange.

As western brands are increasing in presence in the eastern economies, there is also the trend of the rise of the Japanese designer - the most prominent stars being Comme des Garcons and Kenzo.

CREATING A SHOP FRONT

 SELLING YOURSELF:

In the industry of fashion promotion it is important to create a 'shop front' for yourself as individual. The 'shop front' is the outward presentation of yourself to the industry, essentially it is the promotion of brand 'you'. In order to create a professional shop front, you should create synergy across media and literate about yourself to create a strong representation of you. 

It is essential to have a CV that shows you skills and past experience clearly, so it promotes yourself and your qualities concisely to future employers. The job market is changing and it is important to promote yourself across social media too:

To ensure your profile is available on all platforms you should consider having handles on the following platforms:

-Linked In
-Facebook
-Twitter
-Instagram

Competitions:

It can also boost your profile by having won industry recognised competitions such as:

-D&AD

THE WORKINGS OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY

I have looked into the workings of the industry and who plays a part in which part and why.

SUSTAINABILITY OF FASHION

As  the market place changes, with growth of new economies, the availability of resources, the means of production all altering constantly fashion has to ensure that is it changing in line with the rest of the world. I will look at how fashion will ensure that it remains sustainable and what it has to do to ensure this:

The Global Community:
As the world becomes more interconnected, this has become a plus and a minus for the fashion industry. The issue of distance has become more and more irrelevant as travelling has become so much easier. The internet has made us more and more connected, so sharing other cultures has become as simple as a click of a button, we can view what different cities look like online and their unique street style and personal culture can be blogged and shared via social media. In sense, despite the distance we have become closer together - the different communities becoming one large global community. This is a plus due to the creative environment it can breed and the sharing of various ideas, however as we all share we all become more alike, merging into one so soon as the world develops there is a lack of distinctive difference between communities. As the difference decreases this is good in terms of branding established products in new companies as the methods of promotion will no longer have to change so drastically however, will this lack of diversity be missed? In order for fashion to sustain momentum and interest it must keep innovating and recreating, and to do so the global community must be aware of the differences and keep them thriving to create a more culturally diverse market.


Consider consumption:
When designing garments designer have to consider the life span of their products. If creating short lived trends it is likely consumer will just purchase the products and throw away by the end of the season, continually doing so is not sustainable for both fashion and the environment.


Use of Resources:
 The world of fashion is faced past and due to high street and economy brands fast fashion is booming.In  the digital age, trends spread quickly and often fizzle out before they have a chance to fully blossom but still many fashionistas are quick to want to jump on the and wagon, that is where the world of fast fashion comes into play. The speed of design to shop floor process is ever decreasing, with high street brands such as Primark able to get clothes onto shop floor from the sketch book in as little as two weeks. With these type of trends they aren't as sustainable as long lasting designs and therefore brands have to think of the resources they use.
Fabrics such as cotton are sustainable and easy to produce however others have a much more damaging effect on the environment. For instance the fur industry is thriving currently and struggling to reach the demand, especially since regulations of what fur is permitted to be used, produced and sold where.


Sustaining brands in new economies:
As new emerging markets are born such as the MINTs and the BRICs, their desire for fashion is increased and with new masses of consumers with large amounts of disposable income available, large fashion brands look to move into these areas. As they establish brands in these new markets, companies have to be aware of what in permitted socially and morally acceptable in terms of products and advertising  and have to adhere to the new markets rules and regulations. When establishing new flagships in the emerging market, fashion houses have ensure hey sustain their brand ethos and identity, so the brand image created in the new markets is fluent to the established image of the brand in the western world.

The new value economy:
In order to stay current and attractive to consumers, brands have to think of new innovative ways to sustain customers loyalty. The new value economy is the idea that consumers no longer look to trade with just monetary values, and frequently use loyalty schemes and other monetary alternatives such as accrued points to pay. This develops a relationship between the brand and the costumer, as they are persuaded to return to the brand if they know if there is a sense of reward, for example free products for continual loyalty. Examples of this are nectar points or Boots reward cards.

Change to sustain:
Brand will have to be more innovative and employ new tactics of promotion in order to sustain. In the digital age, brands  should encompass new technologies in order to saturate the market place. They can do so by creation handles on all social media platforms to ensure consumers are always up to date and aware - sustaining an of moment brand presence.


Collaboration:
Businesses can become more sustainable both environmentally and economically by collaborating. Big brand collaborations such as Apple and Burberry and Alexander Wang and H&M have been successes due to the fact they offer a sense of exclusivity to draw the customer in and the fact that each brand sits of opposing ends of the market allows them to tap into each other's audiences. The collaborations create something new and innovative, allows the success of the brand to be sustained in their own market as well as being generated in a new one.

POLITICS OF FASHION: SOCIAL CONDITIONING

Fashion is an industry inspired by culture, a channel of communication through the medium of clothing and the semiotics associated are a constant source of controversy. The rules of fashion for many may be 'there are no rules', the creativity and opportunity for expression meaning that there a very little, if not any, guidelines to be adhered to however there a still some lines of what is acceptable and what is not that are increasingly becoming extremely blurred and vague. Due to social conditioning of what society has deemed previously and sees now as acceptable - the opinions of what can be used/shown/portrayed to society are even more muddled.


Fur in fashion

Fur in fashion has been a constant source of debate for centuries. For what was thought to be the end of fur in the mainstream fashion industry in the last decade after relentlessly campaigning by animal rights charities such as PETA, with million pound campaigns featuring supermodels such as Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford baring all with little other on in the poster except the strap line 'I'd rather go naked than wear fur',  in the last few seasons there seems to have been a fur renaissance. The autumn/winter 2014 catwalks featured real fur in the shows of high end designers such as Christopher Kane and Roksanda Ilincic, consequently then followed the media being bombarded by influential celebrities unashamedly flaunting their fur affair. Despite the recent resurgence of fur in fashion,with in march the biggest auction of furs ever seen in the industry in Helskini with prices reaching record highs and demand being so high there is a desperate skills shortage, a poll 3 years ago by RSPC revealed that 95% of people in the UK would refuse to wear fur at all. But in recent times, with technological advances, the industry is able to make faux fur that looks as realistic as the real thing, so consumers can achieve old hollywood glamour minus the guilt of animals having to be cruelly (and unnecessarily) slaughtered for a garishly dyed (a la Prada) pelt. As the younger generation has discovered fur, the industry has been able to do more with real fur in terms of mixing it with other fabrics, thinning and dying the product - however designers such as Charlotte Simone have created realistic alternative but offer a fully plastic pelt. The designer Charlotte Simone commented on her collection as " a collection that was as luxurious and soft as the real thing, yet purely faux",  the faux alternative also meant the designer and more freedom stating: "  I could experiment more with colours, designs and my collection using faux fur which was interesting to me as a designer."

The faux fur debate is a choice that is hard to justify in this day and age, after years of relentless campaign by organisations some may see it as the industry taking a step backwards,  however ultimately the decision is up to the wearer.

semiotics

Semiotics in the simplest sense is the study of images and how they can be read as communication. Looking at what the image can denote and its associated connotations, the consumer can decipher the intended meanings to understand what the brands message was. 

Semiotics can be included in advertising as well as clothing it self, for instance Vivienne Westwood's designs within the 1980's were controversial and implied messages that were symbolic to the punk culture at the time. In recent times, most semiotics within fashion are less controversial - for example just brand logos and it's associated use with a social class. However, this kind association can be damaging for brands.

An example of how associated may damage a brand is Burberry. In the late 1990's and early noughties, the signature Burberry check was a pattern associated with the working class and 'chav' culture as they adopted the Burberry brand as their subcultures ideal of 'desirable'. This meant the high end consumer that was Burberry's target mar get no longer wanted this type of association and the brands image was one of negativity rather than matching the brand identity of heritage, tradition and english values.The brand has managed to disassociate itself with the relations of the past through a brand revival, with the introduction of Christopher Bailey as creative director and the Burberry nurturing young talent to gain a perception of the brand being young, up to date and 'cool'.



lack of subculture

In post war britain, after the restrictions of war life where children were pulled into adult hood as quick as their physical development would allow there was a youth quake,  a youth revolution. The 1950's brought the birth of the teenager, a new rebellion with rock and roll. Britain was the epicentre of youth culture birthing the Teddy boys and Mods in the late fifties to the skinheads and hippies of the sixties, punks and goths of the seventies and new romantics and disco of the eighties. For decades teenage subculture was booming, the expression of the clothing defining generations as you style was sculpted by your background, fashion, ethnicity and status. Youth cultures created divisions, not only between each other but generations too - the extreme presentation on an individual in a subculture encapsulated the pure,creative freedom that one has in the rebellion of youth.

But as the male make up wore of and the ravers came into the nineties and nineties norm core and grunge was born it seemed that subcultures had had their moment- everything had merged into one, as fashion took it back to basics of high necks, low rise jeans and simplistic branding that was norm core. Everything had become just that - normal.

It seems at the moment in 2014 fashion is having a nostalgic moment and the nineties norm core is back running on a high. The sleek silhouettes, muted tones and basic shapes bring a uniform to fashion, it appears the motto has become 'if you want to look fashionable, all look the same'. 

With this lack of subculture, fashion has lost the variety and controversy that it had before. There is no longer key styles to define a generation. It could be said that the internet has played a contribution to this, it has speeded up the process of sharing a lot faster, so trends are being spread and fizzling out before they have had a chance to develop.

Fashion has become a cyclical process, trends revolve around until they are back in the for front, repeating was we have seen before with a slight rejuvenation.

For a new subculture to be born, fashion will have to do the same as trend forecasting - get inspired by other cultures, innovate and regenerate so we are no longer stuck within the norm.