Essay (study) about the impact of fashion industry on society PDF

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Does fashion industry have an impact on society?

Introduction What comes to your mind when you hear the expression “fashion industry” or the word “fashion”? Probably you think about stylish clothes, wealthy designers, anorexic models and loads of money. You may be familiar with it, what is more you may be interested in the world of fashion or you just simply ignore it because other things are more important. Despite your attitude towards fashion industry, it may happen that it has some impacts on your life. In my essay, I would like to share my own experience and then I am going to investigate this issue and find out whether fashion industry affects society or not.

Fashion industry in our everyday life

In this part of my essay, I would like to prove that fashion and fashion industry directly or sometimes indirectly appears in our everyday life.

In the beginning, fashion and appeal industry were completely separated. Fashion industry dealt with the production of expensive designer clothes and appeal industry was the one that produced ordinary, cheaper clothes. According to experts, by the 1970’s it changed and the distance between the two industries reduced. Nowadays when a new trend appears on the scene firstly it is presented by the world famous designers, but only a small layer of society are able to access these clothes due to their high prices.

Meryl Streep, who portrayed a powerful fashion magazine editor in The Devil Wears Prada sums up the process perfectly: “...that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns... And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department

stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.”

Average people usually buy clothes in cheaper, low budget shops because they simply cannot afford designer clothes. When you are about to buy a shirt for example because you like it and think that it will good look on you, you are unaware of the fact, that probably the same cut or colour appeared months or years before on the catwalk. As the quotation says above, people who claim that they are not interested in fashion industry – or they even completely condemn it – do not notice the real power and influence of it. They may say that fashion industry is all about money, luxury and that it is a very superficial world but the truth is that indirectly these wealthy designers are the ones who design their clothes.

Secondly, fashion and the way we dress tell a lot about ourselves, more than we would think. “Fashion is a medium by which people communicate messages about gender, occupation, class, and wealth.” (Fashion Essays, 2014) It is a beyond important thing that a person must dress according to several unwritten rules for example to wear the right clothes on a certain occasion. Imagine a situation when two different people would like to apply for the same job. One of them wears an elegant costume and looks sophisticated, while the other wears a casual shirt with a pair of jeans so she looks rather unassuming. Which person has a higher chance of getting the job? Of course the first one, mostly because of her appearance. As I mentioned it before, people tend to judge each other on the basis of their appearance while they forget about their real values. I believe that this problem cannot be solved, because it is always our appearance that gives the very first impression. That is why it is beyond important to always pick the right pieces of clothes and be slightly up-to-date about the latest fashion trends. Everyone should have basic dresses that fit them perfectly and give them confidence because it is one of the keys of success in several fields of life.

In addition, fashion industry also has an impact on the way we judge ourselves especially in the case of women. If we look back in history it is crystal clear that the ideal woman body type went through a huge change. In the medieval ages, the average woman was portrayed in a different way: a modern person would say that they were rather chubby and fat.

Perfect examples are The birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, The Judgment of Paris by Lucas Cranach the Elder or The nude maja by Francisco de Goya. In these paintings women are not skinny at all, however these images have a lot to do with reality. Later on, in the 1950’s the famous, attractive actress, Marilyn Monroe also showed the world that a woman should be well-shaped and a little bit plump. However by the 80’s and 90’s a new tendency appeared. Experts claim that it was the English top model, Kate Moss, who brought the skinny body type into fashion. At that time she was really thin and fragile what is more some of her bones were visible. Thousands of young teenagers and older women wanted to look like her. This tendency has not really changed since Kate Moss appeared on the scene: fashion designers employ only skinny models and the fact that a woman should be thin is still encoded in the minds of people which is quite sad. As a result, women all over the world struggle in order to correspond to the expectations of others but in reality, they are controlled by the fashion industry.

The study

I prepared a questionnaire in order to find out whether my statement – that fashion industry influences society – is true or not, and to find out what individuals think about this issue. Also I was curious about the attitude of people towards fashion and trends.

Questionaire 1. What is your gender? (Circle the right answer)

Male

Female

2. How old are you?

14-18

18-30

30-50

3. Are you interested in fashion?

Yes

No

4. On a scale from 1 to 5, how important for you is to dress fashionable? (1 – not important at all, 5 – very important)

1

2

3

4

5

5. On a scale from 1 to 5, how important for you is to keep up with the latest fashion trends? (1 – not important at all, 5 – very important)

1

2

3

4

5

6. Have you ever bought something (a dress, a pair of shoes etc.) that was not very neccessary, but it was in fashion and you felt that you have to buy it?

Yes

No

7. Have you ever dressed differently in order to fit in? (Circle the correct answer)

a.) Yes, it happened several times because I did not want others to judge me.

b.) Yes, it happened sometimes but I try to dress according my own style and personality.

c.) No, it never happened because my personality is more important and I do not want to change it.

8. Do you think that people judge each other by their appearance?

Yes

No

Maybe, I do not know.

9. Do you think that fashion industry influenced the way women (and sometimes men too) see themselves? (They think that they are fat because of skinny topmodels, etc.)

Yes

No

Maybe, I do not know.

10. Have you ever been dissatisfied with your body because of the photos a models, celebrities etc.?

a.) Yes, it happened a lot of times.

b.) Yes, it happened sometimes.

c.) No, it never happened before.

11. All in all, do you think that the impact of fashion industry on society is positive or rather negative? Please give your short personal opinion.

....................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................... .

The results I posted the survey on my Facebook page and 13 friends of mine participated in it. Only one man completed it (I believe that it happened mostly because of the topic), the others were all women. They were between ages 14 and 30.

For the first question, whether they are interested in fashion or not 61 % of them said yes. When they had to answer about the importance of dressing fashionable, most participants (8 of them) circled the number 4 which means that they find it quite important. The next question was about keeping up with the latest fashion trends: nearly all of them (84 %) chose 3 and 4 so usually they try follow the latest trends but only within certain limits. I had an assumption before asking the following question: people often tend to buy unnecessary pieces of clothes and according to my survey, it seems that I was right. 10 participants out of the total 13 said that they bought unnecessary things just because they were fashionable. For the next question, 76 % of the participants chose answer b.) which means that sometimes it

happens that they leave their personal style behind and they change it in order to fit in. However they try to avoid it. The following question was about the judging of people by appearance and with only one exception, all of the participants agreed that it is an existing phenomenon. The majority (10 out of 13) agreed that fashion industry changed the way women see themselves and of course in a negative way. What is more, they have personal experience about it too. For the last question, I recieved a lot of interesting opinions: one of the participants said that the world of fashion is wonderful, but people should not let it influence them and ruin their personality. Another person wrote that he or she wish fashion industry did not exist so people would be able to wear whatever they want without any boundaries. Three of them claimed that it is a really sad thing that a lot of women would like to look like models and they are not satisfied with their bodies.

To sum up, it seems that my hypothesis is supported by the results of the survey. Paprticipants agreed that fashion industry influences society, it changes the way people think and it is a device that is used on several fields of life.

Negative effects of fashion industry

In this part of my essay I would like to mention some of the downsides of the fashion industry. Firstly - as I mentioned it before – it has a great influence on women, mostly on teenagers and younger adults. Even little girls meet with distorted body images when they are playing with abnormally skinny Barbie dolls. For those women who do not possess “the perfect body”, the desire of getting skinny is a really burning issue. But what is the purpose of it? Well, unfortunately we are living in a world where people treat you in a different way when you are fat and chubby and not skinny and fit.

I also have personal experience concerning this topic because I was always dissatisfied with my body. I started dieting at the age of 13 and I still do it every single year mostly before summer. It is always a great struggle because I really enjoy eating, but I have to deprive myself of the pleasures of it. It happened a lot of times that I completely stopped eating for a while and it led to the development of depression and certain health problems. It is sad to say but I admit that I would like to be skinnier mostly because of the advantages that come with it and I also would like to love my body.

However, the life of top models and celebrities who embody the ideals of many women, is not always that perfect and luxurious. They had to stick to a very strict diet which leads to a life-threatening way of living. At the time of fashion weeks for example, they have to rush from one fashion show to another so usually they do not have time to eat until the end of the day. A lot of models suffer from anorexia and bulimia, what is more several of them died in the past few decades because of malnutrition. But not only the life of models requires a lot of energy and time. People who are employed in the fashion industry have to face a lot of challenges day by day and they often have to give up on their private lifes.

Conclusion To sum up, I believe that I was able to prove that my hypothesis is more or less true, although there can be several ideas that challenges it. As I mentioned it before, fashion industry has great power but people should be smart and should think twice when it comes to new fashion trends. Also it is important to create our own style and do not copy others because what will happen if everybody looks the same in the world? What will distinguish one people from one another?

References:

"Free Essays - Fashion Essays." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2014. http://www.ukessays.com/essays/fashion/fashion-industry.php

"Quotes about The Devil Wears Prada." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 24 June 2014. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/quotes

"What Form of Women's Body Shape Was Preferred in Medieval Europe?” N.p., 03 June 2008. Web. 24 June 2014. http://www.femininebeauty.info/medieval-body-size-preferences...