Food For Thought: The Perils of the Fashion Industry

As much as I love fashion as a form of creative self-expression, I am aware that the fashion industry definitely has a dark side at many levels.  I heard an interesting story about the perils of the fashion industry for fashion designers, specifically high fashion designers.  The report on NPR featured a book by Dana Thomas called Gods and Kings:  The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.  Thomas describes the shift of the fashion industry from family owned fashion houses that were bought by big conglomorates.  As a result, the demand and pace of the high fashion industry increased rapidly, and has led to some of the top fashion designers falling, some due addiction and depression.

While I think that there is still creative inspiration from high fashion, when any institution becomes a part of big conglomerates, greed consumes and results in injustice and loss.

Learning these things about the fashion industry deepens my conviction that sustainable, eco-friendly fashion, thrift stores, and vintage clothing and items are the way to go.  Some people feel uncomfortable wearing used clothes.  When I find any item that someone decided to give away to a thrift store, I feel a sense of delight, like I'm finding treasure.  When I research vintage items for the Sonshine Shop, I delight in finding that these old items are worth something, worth quite a lot.  And the older something is, the more it is worth.  Someone else's trash is another person's treasure.  I hope that the world can come to see it more this way...and I hope to help with that!
Peace.