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The global fashion industry has set the standards for beauty.
Women empower themselves with her through image and clothing.
However, the challenge of fashion lies in breaking down stereotypes to promote fairness, equality, sisterhood and respect for the diversity of human beings.
In Western society there are beauty standards that are a pattern to be followed by millions of women. The fashion industry is closely related to the perpetuation of standards or the breaking of them; however, when it breaks with the established idea of beauty, fashion becomes a tool for women that allows the appropriation of visual codes, their resignification, and empowerment.
In addition to the consumption of fashion, women are involved in its creation, and in this environment, the industry faces great challenges for economic inclusion.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), the fashion industry in Mexico contributes 3.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the manufacturing sector and has a great capacity to generate jobs.
Throughout the Mexican Republic, the textile-clothing industry is a source of work, especially for women, who mostly (66 percent) work in the sector, according to figures from the National Chamber of the Textile Industry (Canaintex). .
Promote the empowerment of women, a task for brands
One of the keys for the world to have equal rights and opportunities requires the eradication of restrictive and stereotyped beauty standards and fashion has a wide spectrum of action, since it can become an extension of the daily life of women in their different ways, allowing empowerment.
“Empowered individuals become subjects of their own lives and develop a ‘critical consciousness’, that is, they understand their social environment, which leads them to action”, says Orsini in his text “The concept of empowerment in studies of gender and in the female press”.
Colloquially, when we use the concept of empowerment of women, it refers to their vindication, independence and recognition in today’s society.
Under that premise, brands have a social commitment to consumers, not only in garment design, but also in advertising.
And it is that many women cannot avoid feeling pressured to comply with certain body patterns, many times, the beauty model that advertising sells is based on perfection and unattainable standards achieved by digital alterations, the women in the ads do not usually have expression lines, wrinkles, pores, or scars, that is, there is a distorted conception of beauty.
People who consume perfection can be affected emotionally, physically and socially.
“Following her glamor causes major eating disorders, that can lead to diseases such as anorexia, bulimia, vigorexia and orthexia nervosa. As well as a life guided by narcissistic and hedonistic values that lead in many cases to an intellectual and moral vacuum”, assured Gabriel Gutiérrez Javán at the 24th Annual ILASSA Conference on Latin American.
Knowing that there is a great diversity of bodies, brands are developing campaigns in order to recognize the value of women’s beauty.
From his trench Illusion –a brand of Diltex Brands–launched the campaign “Together we write the future of all”, which seeks to recognize the work of women to generate positive changes in society.
“There is no doubt that the historical struggle of women is what has allowed us to achieve greater gender equality and equity in many aspects of society, therefore, with our campaign that year, (…) we want to recognize and thank to all those women who have made what seemed impossible before now a reality”, said Ximena Cortina, manager of Iusión.
For its part, El Secreto de Victoria After being criticized for making hypersexualized ads and making “sexist” lingerie, she opted to change her image with the collection “Cloud Love Collection” -Launched on February 14-. In it he presented to the first model with Down Syndrome, together with 17 models to advertise focused on “the needs of their clients”.
Other smaller and local brands such as lingerie such as Sister Sister They were born so that their product would adapt to all bodies, promoting the acceptance of diverse bodies, without stereotypes, self-esteem and making evident the falsehood that Internet images may contain. In this way, it invites its consumers to feel comfortable wearing lingerie regardless of “what they will say”.
Labor equality, a challenge for the fashion industry
Although fashion is a business where the image of women is the most exploited and its consumption is prioritized by them, “men have the singing voice of the industry”Maya Hansen, a professor at the Higher Center for Fashion Design in Madrid (CSDMM), explained to EFE.
In Mexico, according to Inegi and Canaintex, they estimate that 6 out of 10 people employed in the textile and clothing industry are women.
And it is that according to Hansen, the role of women in the textile sector is to consume and produce, not to make decisions. In this scenario, it is necessary to move towards equality at work by strengthening women in leadership positions, eliminating harassment and violence at work, as well as salary transparency policies, indicates the report “Working for a most promising future” of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
In short, women choose their empowerment based on their image and clothing. This, as non-verbal communication in the gender discourse. However, the industry must strive to support the cause through real publicity and initiatives that promote fairness, equality, respect and sisterhood.
The phenomenon of the influence of fashion exerted through visual and printed media goes beyond just the creation of ideals in society and affects women who consume the perfect. From another perspective, it promotes discrimination, prejudice and hatred.
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