Essay On Sexism In Fashion

Fashion, or rather the fashion industry, is ageist, sexist, racist, fattist and fascist, but only in so far as today’s society is. This industry is merely an extension of capitalism, and as such its only concern is generating as much profit as possible. Trying to include and represent all different types of people is very low on its priority list, so it continues to perpetuate harmful societal patterns, be it on purpose or not.
The most blatant case of sexism in fashion is that women in this industry are by and large models, while the more powerful and influential positions of designers, managers and directors are usually taken by men. According to Natalia Borecka (2017), only 14% of major brands are run by female designers, even though the majority of fashion design graduates are women. (para. ????) Furthermore, the fashion industry of today is sexist in a more covert way. It tries to sell women a fake sense of empowerment, for example using symbols and slogans of women’s liberation movement on clothes and in advertisements. But only because it has found our weak spot and is trying to cash on it. In reality it gains trillions of dollars from women’s insecurities and keeps perpetuating the harmful notion that a woman’s value is solely in her appearance. That’s why the industry doesn’t care about you and your

Though many biggest names in fashion are older men and women (Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Wintour and the like), fashion advertising and marketing is targeted at young consumers. Models are usually in their teens or early twenties, and especially on magazine covers older models are never seen. The glorifying of beauty and youth is so rampant that it makes it seem like you don’t matter anymore once you are past your peek age of 25. As if you shouldn’t be in the public eye, as if you don’t deserve it – now you have nothing important to offer anyway and no one wants to look at