Opinion article: The right way to fashionably spread mental health awareness
Fashion has always been an industry that draws inspiration from controversial and seemingly taboo topics. One of which is the topic of mental health. Whether it be McQueen’s ‘asylum’ runway or Burberry’s recent noose hoodie, there’s a very thin line between raising awareness and romanticisation.
The most recent case of fashion crossing the line would be the silent protest that went on in Gucci’s SS20 show in Milan Fashion Week last September. The Italian brand opened their show with a series of models being propelled along a conveyor belt catwalk wearing all white outfits that resemble straitjackets.
One model, Ayesha Tan Jones, then flashed their palms on which the words “MENTAL HEALTH IS NOT FASHION” had been written.
In a piece Tan Jones wrote for Gal-Dem, they state that the models were informed about the straitjacket attire only a few days before the show. Ever since it was announced, other models were also on the fence on whether it is right to use this imagery in a fashion context.
Tan Jones said, “I could have stayed silent, walked off the job, and let another model take my place. But I was raised with a voice and armed with hands whose duty is to heal. For me, to remain silent would be choosing the side of the oppressor.”
As someone who’s personally been through severe anxiety and depression, Tan Jones decided that it was the right time to speak up on a cause they were passionate about.
Before the show, the models were all dreadfully anticipating at how media would perceive Alessandro Michelle’s (Gucci’s Creative Director) vision. Moments before they walk in the show, Tan Jones headed to the bathroom and quickly yet nervously scribbled the words onto their palms.
As they stepped onto the platform, the room was filled with sensory noises resembling the inside of an asylum, and at that moment, Tan Jones knew it was the right time to use the platform to spread their message of hope to people that “society stigmatises, and the people who fashion houses still overlook while they try to convey their concepts.”
That simple act quickly sparked a reaction on international scale, with global media covering the silent protest which shine the spotlight once again on the topic of mental health.
Tan Jones decided to donate 100% of their earnings from the show to UK-based Mental Health Charities, and some of the other models followed in their footsteps.
152.3k Likes, 707 Comments - Gucci (@gucci) on Instagram: "Uniforms, utilitarian clothes, normative dress, including straitjackets, were included in the..."
Since Tan Jones’ protest, a spokeswoman from the brand on an Instagram post stated that the straitjackets and other utilitarian pieces will not be sold and were used to present “the most extreme version of a uniform dictated by society and those who control it. – [Alessandro Michele] designed these blanked-styled clothes to represent how through fashion, power is exercised over life, to eliminate self-expression.”
The public gave mixed reaction to the post. Some gave heart emoji, but the majority of comments expressed disappointment towards the brand. User @shawnanchs commented,
“This bothers me so deeply.
I understand the message that was trying to be portrayed, but to delude the meaning & history of straitjackets to “loss of self expression” is really unintelligent and disappointing. Straitjackets are so much more sinister than anything fashion can say about it. “Loss of self expression” is a deep underSTATEMENT and extremely insulting to mentally ill people around the world, myself included.
Straitjackets actually represent a very dark, un evolved and medieval time in medicine and psychiatry, with the real statement being how wrongfully we’ve treated patients in the past (and continue to) and how far we still have to go.”
It’s the second time Gucci has been under fire for insensitive clothing, with the previous issue involving a Balaclava sweater that received backlash for resembling blackface. Although these two ‘scandals’ were seemingly viral and had an international widespread, they didn’t have much impact on the business side of Gucci.
According to Vogue Business, Gucci experienced a 10.7% growth in the third quarter of 2019. It was higher than analyst estimates of 8%-10%, but still lower than the usual growth rate of around 20%. Gucci experienced a 42.8% growth in 2017 and a 34.9% growth in 2018, so this 10.7% rate is quite low in comparison.
“I think a lot of clients who buy Gucci are very young. Some of them are completely clueless, and if it doesn’t affect them personally, they may have dismissed it very quickly,” Thomas Serdari, an adjunct professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and a brand strategist at Brand(x)Lux, told Complex.com.
With this seemingly being a failed attempt in visualising mental health as a fashion concept, the new generation of fashion brands and designers are tiptoeing in how to bring this topic into light and have it perceived in the right way by audiences.
An example of this is Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss, who earned his spotlight for his A/W 2016 show that was dedicated to mental health and his S/S 2016 show to the suicide of Black Lives Matter activist MarShawn McCarrel II.
Although Jean-Raymond has a reputation for being a designer that stays ‘woke’ and incorporates current events into his runways, he fears that he will be known for a political black man instead of a designer.
The designer stated that his “Double Bind” collection addresses the experience of going through depression, something he’s suffered from in the past. The point of him creating simple yet evident designs to showcase this was to discourage issues like this from being swept under the rug, as it is repeatedly due to the overarching "taboo" status of any illness that isn't physical.
Now, more than ever, it seems like the fashion industry is trying to be as socially aware as possible. Although it is a good thing, the industry will never be 100% right when it comes to these topics as they can’t be responsible for how audiences react to their visualisation of mental health, with everyone’s experience being different in their own way.
Regardless, this shouldn’t discourage those creatives in fashion to continue trying their best in speaking up and bringing issues that matter into light.
The view expressed on opinion article doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinion of The Finery Report. The opinion belongs to the author of the article.