Published in Issue 1 of Elbow. Magazine
Does The Fashion Industry 'Glamourise' Mental Health Problems?
The fashion industry has often been portrayed as the devil in disguise and has been blamed for glamorising smoking, drug abuse and been linked to the sexualisation of youth. Olivia Kelly looks into if the fashion industry glamorises mental health issues, such as depression or ‘insanity.’
Mental illness has always been a tricky topic to cover, it’s a minefield, filled with doubts, sitting, waiting to explode when someone puts their foot in it. A ‘mental illness’ can be anything from depression, anorexia and schizophrenia, so under the overarching title of mental illness it can be easy to cross the line as people are misunderstood. 1 in 4 British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in one year, and it is estimated that approximately 450 million people worldwide suffer with a mental health problem. These people, and those that look after them aren’t likely to share the same ideas as the fashion industry when it comes to portraying mental health.
The fashion industry is worth £21 billion to the British economy, and is always under the watchful eye of the public; because of its celebrity following, fans frivolous shopping habits and influences over trend and style in society. Like any large industry they have made mistakes and had their fair share of bad press. Recently with the eruption of the ‘slogan’ and ‘logo’ on the catwalks, like any trend this has filtered down to the high streets. Urban Outfitters in particular jumped on the bandwagon with a t-shirt with the word ‘depression’ sprawled across it, however
after coming under fire from the ‘twitterati’ they eventually stopped selling the t-shirt and quickly blamed the designer saying their label was called ‘depression’. OK, right. Actually, no. Back in 2011 they had a similar issue when they sold the t-shirt with ‘eat less’ printed on it, the t-shirt was taken off the website. Both examples were said to glamorise mental health and champion negative body image. But could this be the way to get the conversation started about issues that people suffer with?
Vice magazine, known for its satirical and hard hitting content, according to their media pack “represents a whole generation of young people – influencing what they see, hear, wear, think, put in their mouths, dream about, and flush shamefully down the toilet when no one’s looking.” So when they did a photo shoot which imitated how female writers committed suicide called ‘Last Words’ they most probably assumed that it would go down well with their audience. It probably did, but others didn’t think so and the whole feature was taken off their website as soon as you could say ‘glamorisation of mental health’. The magazine posted on their website saying “…Our main goal is to create artful images, with the fashion message following, rather than leading… we apologise to anyone who was hurt or offended." If this is the case then they are arguing that they are sending a message to people about suicide, does that make it right though?
Throughout time there are many examples where the fashion industry has, some say, captured mental illness in a bad light. Take the ‘heroin chic’ look of the late 90’s, in particular the photography of Corrine Day, where models like Kate Moss were said to be glamourising anorexia and drug abuse. Or the controversial work of Steven Meisel who photographed in a psychiatric ward for Vogue Italia in 2007.
Fashion photographer Ryan Garwood says “I don't think the fashion industry glamorises mental illness', fashion has always been what it is and I think the public (particularly women) compare themselves to what they see on the catwalk too often and then when they start trying their best to look like models, issues of anorexia and mental illness are then linked to fashion.” Looking through the catwalk shows I came across Thom Browne’s spring summer 2014 collection. The concept of a psychiatric hospital was used and saw dazed models stumble down the runway in all white creations with their hair and make-up looking as if they had a few rough nights out. Black ringed eyes, pale china white faces and a soundtrack of repetitive beats unsettled the audience in a dramatic way. The designer said, “I just wanted to do something that was really humorous but in a way that it’s taken very seriously, put in a very surreal and kind of crazy atmosphere”. Despite having this theme which included padded walls and two nurses with white M&M’s this collection and portrayal of mental health has been practically ignored or just regarded as ‘artistic’. Perhaps this is just a performance, similar to a theatre play that takes a concept and explores it. Or is it a clever way to bring forward discussion about mental illness, especially in the fashion industry. Director and chief curator at the Fashion Institute of Technology said “he gives you a show the same way that McQueen used to give you a show”, who actually suffered from depression and sadly ended his own life in 2010.
Many would say that this depiction of mental health is exactly what the fashion industry does wrong. It takes mental health and uses it to sell products at the expense of peoples real life problems. It’s very difficult to point the finger at a person to blame for this type of glamorisation, Catherine from Mental Health in The UK says, “It’s not necessarily the whole 'industry'. It comes down to certain individuals working in the industry who we hear about, more than those in the industry who appreciate the very sensitive nature of 'fashion' and 'body image'.”
The fashion industry has become the scapegoat for issues such as anorexia but it can be said, having looked at examples it’s unlikely that the whole industry will feel the full brunt of blame and it’s rather the few individuals that push ideas that develop into what looks like glamorisation. Catherine then went on to say, “There is no doubt that there is a lot of scare mongering going on, but at the same time there will be bad practice within the industry that needs reported. So the more transparency there is the more trust and respect the industry will gain.” The recognition of something that is tasteless should be easily be picked up by the fashion industry, but that very thin line between what is right and wrong is what the industry thrives on.