PRINTING FASHION #04
PUBLISHED ARTICLE
REPUBLISHING FASHION SCANDALS
RESPONSIBILITIES
Researching fashion scandals
Fact-checking for accuracy
Writing in the luxury fashion style
Collaborating with editors
Handling sensitive topics professionally
Upholding industry standards
SKILLS
Research and analysis
Content creation
Storytelling
Critical thinking
Brand awareness
Confidentiality and sensitivity
Industry knowledge
Communication
Time management
REPUBLISHING
FASHION SCANDALS
FASHION SCANDALS
While some will continuously reject their involvement in the fashion industry, we can’t shy away from the influential power this industry holds. Whether you are a ‘fashion lover’, ‘anti-fashion’ or generally ‘not interested’, if you dress yourself on a daily basis, you have become a part of it. Do the math and you quickly realize that this industry, like only a few others, is supported by all 7 billion of us. As supporters of the fashion industry and our access to the ever-evolving social media and direct-to-smartphone commentary, we have become the most active publishers of fashion and its trending fashion scandals.
Scandals are controversial actions, statements or events that cause a strong emotional response and debate on all media platforms. According to fashion researcher Annamari Vänskä (2021) this public event invites people to witness the unequal treatment, take a stand in the matter and re-think the dominant structures and institutionalized practices rooted in various forms of discrimination while questioning its acceptability. In the past, “to shock” (the unwritten action verb of scandal) was a deliberate choice and tool for being seen and remembered in market communication, proving its effective marketing power through fashion scandals. While the shock factor has not changed much since then, the power balance between brands and the audience has; and we have become the marketing tool. As newly appointed publishers of fashion scandals, our job description’ is rather simple. A brand participates in the intentional or the unintentional scandal where they deliberately, or not, touch on a sensitive issue.
Scandals are controversial actions, statements or events that cause a strong emotional response and debate on all media platforms. According to fashion researcher Annamari Vänskä (2021) this public event invites people to witness the unequal treatment, take a stand in the matter and re-think the dominant structures and institutionalized practices rooted in various forms of discrimination while questioning its acceptability. In the past, “to shock” (the unwritten action verb of scandal) was a deliberate choice and tool for being seen and remembered in market communication, proving its effective marketing power through fashion scandals. While the shock factor has not changed much since then, the power balance between brands and the audience has; and we have become the marketing tool. As newly appointed publishers of fashion scandals, our job description’ is rather simple. A brand participates in the intentional or the unintentional scandal where they deliberately, or not, touch on a sensitive issue.
These sensitive issues are usually linked to different forms of discrimination implying the notion of a dominant or privileged group, offending and harming a less privileged or a socially vulnerable group. We reshare, critique and comment on the scandal, often generated by the press and media, and in an instant, we have republished a fashion scandal as outsiders of the industry. Our involvement in the latest fashion scandal makes us nothing less than successful ambassadors and promoters to the brand. For some of them, fashion scandals have been elementary in building the brand’s image as ‘contemporary’ and ‘cutting-edge’. For others, at the turn of the millennium, a scandal was a way to refresh and rejuvenate the stuffy image of the fashion house. Once we respond to the scandal on social media and despite of the reason behind it, the brand is caught flat-footed. We have the power to either polish the brand image, create more fame (which ultimately leads to more revenues) or proceed to do the opposite and attempt to ‘cancel’ the brand. Recent scandals have often fallen into the latter category with a less desirable outcome. In this case, brands are required to publish a statement, acknowledge their mistake in a public apology and take corrective action. In our dynamic and highly saturated fashion space, it is imperative that brands keep pace with customers preferences, demands and collective values to retain business.
In an article for ES Magazine fashion publisher Susie Lau wrote that not too long ago your average fashion scandal revolved around short hemlines in haute couture salons, models being divas and critics getting angry when a show was a few hours late. As we enter the age of e-commerce, on-demand retail, and virtually endless customization of manufactured products, the fashion industry that was once niche, naive, and sheltered from mainstream criticism has become a powerhouse of consumer influence and control. We understand that the fundamental intention of brand campaigns and events is to sell their products and reach their numbers, today in an ever-growing digital marketplace their power and influence is wielded through online reviews and forums. The problem? When you take away the noise, backlash and criticism, major brands almost always succeed in continuing to sell their products. According to fashion journalist Petter Olivia (2022), beyond the obvious criticism, there’s something deeper at play here that raises further questions around accountability and consumer incentives. As we are the driving forces behind a brand’s visibility, and recognition, it’s rather paradoxical that our engagement statistics and purchasing behaviors are not lining up with the conversation played out online and in the comment section. We very often find ourselves criticizing online by commenting and resharing scandals on brands we weren’t spending our money on in the first place. The small demographic group that does spend money on the brand will most probably find themselves avoiding the physical store shopping but continue to lash out online. Although our capability of maintaining influential and powerful positions is shortfall by our spending habits and our eagerness to lift the lid on fashion’s misdemeanors and failings, our social-policing strategy: cancel culture could arguably bring the change.
While we lift the lid on fashion’s misdemeanors and failings, cancel culture has become our tool to be heard and shed light on the misdeeds of the powerful. Cancel culture, originally known as “call-out culture”, is the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure with the end goal of shutting out any form of influence and power. This practice of ‘canceling,’ ‘defaming’ or ‘mass shaming’ often occurs as an effect of published fashion scandals on social media platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook. As targeted brands are expected to make a shift towards a more sensitive and socially responsible conduct, this social policing strategy has helped bring rightful justice to some of those who had been constantly abusing their standing. As fashion is constitutive of and constituted by society, the study of the fashion scandal as a market phenomenon is informative of conflicts over the social and cultural status of difference. Highly influenced by inspiration and the use of cultural happenings as references, the fashion industry is bound to step on toes in the process of its art and event making. Cancel culture has placed creatives in a wary position of pushing the envelope in fear of offending. Susie Lau (2023) explains that at the end of the day designers are still human and they can’t be a perfect machine of communication. She says: “You need to leave the creatives to their job. You cannot tell them don’t do this, or don’t do that. Because in the end, there will be no creativity.” If cancel culture is proven effective, perhaps no room will be left for self-improvement and dialogue in a restrictive creative industry.
In today’s social media-obsessed landscape, scandals are a way of maintaining cultural relevance. It starts a conversation, and the orbit of controversy pulls people in as it opens a window into the world of self-destruction. As long as there are creatives in the fashion industry there will be an event, a story, message, interpretation, and opinion. Where there is an event there is money and marketing, and perhaps that is why fashion wants to get it wrong? Fashion scandals sell. Whether we threaten to cancel or avoid the brand, if we are reading, reposting, sharing and by word of mouth discussing it, we will continuously be used as marketing tools in our new position as re-publishers of the next fashion scandal.
While we lift the lid on fashion’s misdemeanors and failings, cancel culture has become our tool to be heard and shed light on the misdeeds of the powerful. Cancel culture, originally known as “call-out culture”, is the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure with the end goal of shutting out any form of influence and power. This practice of ‘canceling,’ ‘defaming’ or ‘mass shaming’ often occurs as an effect of published fashion scandals on social media platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook. As targeted brands are expected to make a shift towards a more sensitive and socially responsible conduct, this social policing strategy has helped bring rightful justice to some of those who had been constantly abusing their standing. As fashion is constitutive of and constituted by society, the study of the fashion scandal as a market phenomenon is informative of conflicts over the social and cultural status of difference. Highly influenced by inspiration and the use of cultural happenings as references, the fashion industry is bound to step on toes in the process of its art and event making. Cancel culture has placed creatives in a wary position of pushing the envelope in fear of offending. Susie Lau (2023) explains that at the end of the day designers are still human and they can’t be a perfect machine of communication. She says: “You need to leave the creatives to their job. You cannot tell them don’t do this, or don’t do that. Because in the end, there will be no creativity.” If cancel culture is proven effective, perhaps no room will be left for self-improvement and dialogue in a restrictive creative industry.
In today’s social media-obsessed landscape, scandals are a way of maintaining cultural relevance. It starts a conversation, and the orbit of controversy pulls people in as it opens a window into the world of self-destruction. As long as there are creatives in the fashion industry there will be an event, a story, message, interpretation, and opinion. Where there is an event there is money and marketing, and perhaps that is why fashion wants to get it wrong? Fashion scandals sell. Whether we threaten to cancel or avoid the brand, if we are reading, reposting, sharing and by word of mouth discussing it, we will continuously be used as marketing tools in our new position as re-publishers of the next fashion scandal.