The Fashion Industry Exploits Us.

[cleglaw]

Fashion is symptomatic of our consumerist society. It is an instrument of the clothing industry to exploit us and our children.

[Glance A'Lot]

Fashion is a centrifuge for creaming off buying power.

[cleglaw]

Well put.

[seeingpink7]

Fashion is my LIFE. I am in school studying every part of the industry. It means so much to me. I have nothing but love for Fashion.

[Cat]

Fashion isnt eploitation. It is life.

(Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly)
''This... stuff? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, 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. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St. Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. Then it 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 so it's sort of comical to me 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.''

Fashion isn't just about buying, it's about lifestyle, it defines who you are and what you do.

The fashion industry does not exploit unless you wish for it to exploit you. For a large industry thats built around the consumer then surely you are only exploiting yourself.

And indeed some may argue that in fact the industry tells us what we want to believe and such, but surely thats just the same as christianity and other religions that require people to follow rules, with fashion its more a freedom, because you don't need to adhere to rules even though you wear the clothes. To those who would say the likeness religion is false as the fashion industry is in for the money, would imply that religion had nothing to do with money, yet there exists such sayings as ''Love of money is the root of all evil.'' If money and religion did indeed have nothing in common then surely one couldn't use evil to describe it, as evil is a word very much rooted in religion.

The people in the fashion industry are smart, as we are seemingly the fools who buy into it.

And surely its from human nature to judge, and people get judged by what they wear, whether it be right or wrong, it still happens. So surely if the fashion industry influences our judgements then it plays a huge part in human life, like the influence that determine morals.

Really in the end, it's only yourself you're up against, so if you think it's some sort of exploitation then don't follow fashion, and wear whatever you like, whatever you think exempt from the fashion world, but if you are part of society then you are a part of the industry. Its the same as trying to hide from the law.

(I have NO idea what i just wrote)

[Elliot Kane]

Wow! Great post, Cat!

[Galadriel]

Fashion is harmless if you ask me. It's a fantasy world as movies and books are as far as I'm concerned. Maybe can be classified as art in a way.
You know you can't buy those clothes, you know you will never be that skinny (which I find horrible though) and you know that most of what the designers make can't be worn anyway.
I too have some favorite fashion designers, but I know none of this is real. Wear what you like, no matter how expensive or cheap it was, if it makes you feel good, it's your fashion.