Thinking about Bangladesh and following the collapse and fire deaths while simultaneously reading Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty makes for me constantly re-juxtaposing understandings of our consumer and audience responsibilities within fashion.
For myself and I'm sure others, fashion is a dream. The vast majority of designer garb is almost ephemeral as it is currently out of reach for my person, mostly monetarily, but also in regards to my body type and height. That's kind of the point; my beautiful is also grotesque and difficult. I want what's less attainable that much more.
Material goods are material though. Duh. To be tangible it must have a creation point and it must have history and the unfortunate history of our fast fashion garments is that their creation and history is rooted in near slavery of women and children of color across oceans with names we will never know. There's that Native Guns song whose title I can't remember right now about a message written in blood on the soles of his Nikes from a Filipino girl-child factory worker. Let's not forget the Foxconn suicide side effects of our iPhone, which I'm writing on right now. At the same time, high fashion is not blameless in this game. Ready to wear, be it J. Crew or Chanel, is made in Vietnam and China. It's always more complicated than a few lines of text. Let's keep thinking.
What can I take responsibility for right now with where I am? What can you do?
Army jacket with Cosby sweater replaced sleeves - borrowed
Leopard keyhole top - handed down from my sister
Lace skater skirt - H&M
Leggings - H&M
Belt - thrifted












