Caryn Franklin MBE X Fashion Roundtable

Caryn Franklin MBE is a renowned Fashion and Identity Commentator and Agent of Change. She is also currently the Professor of Diverse Selfhood at Kingston School of Art. From her early days as fashion editor at i-D magazine to a TV presenter on The Clothes Show, Caryn has been a central voice in the conversation surrounding fashion, culture and identity politics. Caryn sees the importance of diversity in fashion and the beauty of inclusivity where others have historically overlooked it. In a new series of interviews with Fashion Roundtable’s community of experts, Caryn Franklin shares her personal insights and thoughts on the greatest issues currently facing the fashion industry. It is a pleasure to share the following interview with you.

On the impact of her early career 

My career began in 1982 with i-D Magazine— my job was to pick people on the street and photograph and interview them. I was excited about the way people looked. They were into self-styling and making their clothes. I took the huge range of people I saw on the London streets and in clubs at that time for granted. And as a young fashion editor, I cut my teeth at Bodymap catwalk shows. Designers Stevie Stewart and David Holah were darlings of London Fashion Week, showcasing their clothes on their clubland friends as well as relatives like mums and aunties. There were two amazing women with grey hair up there on the catwalk. For me it was as it should be.

On recognising the power and opportunity of diversity in fashion

In the mid 80s I began to present fashion on a BBC prime time show for 12 years. We had a 13 million audience in the UK and we reached the homes of 157 million people throughout BBC World Service—that was when I fully understood the impact of fashion and fashion images upon people’s sense of self because they would step up and talk to me in the street. This was decades before social networking and it seemed at the time that I was the only person they knew who worked in fashion. They talked about what fashion made them feel emotionally and how it made them feel invisible or upset not to be recognised. Standard models presented unachievable body ideals that made them question their own appearance and even their right to be happy if they didn’t fit the ideal. I have three sisters and during those times I was able to see their needs and confusion about how fashion made them feel so for me it wasn’t difficult to understand that what will women wanted from the fashion industry was to be seen, to be celebrated and to be included... not to mention to have size diversity in clothing.

Throughout the years I tailored my personal projects to fit my ideals as best I could but the industry was mesmerised by the emaciated teen and I began to be vocal in press about its impact upon impressionable women and girls. All Walks Beyond The Catwalk with Erin O’Connor, Debra Bourne was born in 2009 to challenge the fashion industry’s dependence on the tall, thin, white and very young model and to propose a broader spectrum of aspirational appearance. We quickly realised that this would only happen with a broader spectrum of identities as part of the creative teams to do the casting and create the ideas, hence our slogan and call to arms: “Diversity in front of and behind the lens.” We wanted to make this issue a big talking point amongst existing practitioners but we saw our real power in education by empowering future generations to challenge the system in terms of politicising students to all the issues. Design for those with body difference as one example, is very under resourced – where was the encouragement for students to investigate the gaps? Now new and exciting narratives are becoming more vocal. Non-binary, fluid and trans humans are telling their stories and this has positive implications for all of us. I’m learning so much about myself as human by being present to the experience of others.

On the topic of diversity as a trend

Some people talk about diversity as though it’s a trend and something that we need to get our heads around while it’s here. But it’s a social movement. It’s recognition by a wider group of people that the standardised body as a representation for what it is to be human lacks currency and authenticity. We are not responding to a one size fits all culture any longer. And this is not just about portrayal. We can’t have leadership that consists of a purely one type of human. White, cis-gender, able bodies, hetero-patriarchal thinking also represents the old school one size fits all mentality.

The power of social networking has allowed us to stand up and be visible and to mobilise behind authentic conversations about identity and truth. Women are just one example of the identities who have been very vocal through body positivity movements and are empowering each other through honest display and conversation about their bodies to de-centre male gaze. 

We all have to be mindful of the power of fashion now that it can access the minds of very young fashion consumer via digital platforms. I didn’t grow up with such a torrent of hetero-patriarchal, male-gaze imagery but I know how it has impacted my daughters; and as a mother, it has been a full-time feminist job to counsel them through their adolescence to believe in their worth. The imagery and gender stereotypes young women are shown every day that focus purely on idealised femininity, messes not just with their confidence, but their ability to achieve equality socially and economically. 

On the responsibility and role fashion plays in shaping wider societal perceptions

Fashion has to be accountable for the psychological plaque it deposits in people’s minds by sheer repetition of suggestive imagery. I studied an MSc in applied psychology in order to deconstruct the obstacles and the arguments that I was receiving from people who didn’t want change. Throughout my practice I had always challenged people who subscribed to fixed mindsets about what it was and is to be human and why fashion was exempt from caring about these issues. But psychology has given me access to more tools.

I now know through my studies that there are significant findings to influence business towards diverse portrayal. One for example by Dr Ben Barry from the Judge Business School, Cambridge University used 3,000 cross-cultural participants to find that when people make a bond with a model in an advertising image through shared characteristics, they show increased intention to purchase by 300%. We now have this knowledge and much more to discuss issues. There are also studies to support the value of diverse perspectives and identities on teams to produce greater creative solutions. And vocabulary delivers more power. Race priviledge, gender priviledge, health or body conformity priviledge frames the conversation quickly and clearly.

On how to achieve true diversity in fashion

Let’s take the time to understand the lives of others who are marginalised to understand why diversity and inclusivity matters. Dominant culture masculinity has engineered a centrality in our unconscious perceptions of human existence. To broaden those perceptions, let’s include a wide range of voices and perspectives in our lives and especially our workplace. I urge all creatives who are thinking about messaging to other humans through either photography, marketing, PR, design, film, advertising etc to investigate their privilege and their responsibility. When we perpetuate our idea of what it is to be human through the lens of priviledge or bias we are not engaged in a meaningful way. I believe we can begin to work in a more inclusive way for the sheer joy of engaging with the breadth and depth of human experience. 

All I’m doing is saying something that has been said by marginalised people for decades. When we acknowledge that we have been conditioned since birth by a system which ranks human beings in a hierarchy according to dominant culture ideals, we can begin to see our own privileges and the way in which we have benefited from that system dependent on where we fit in. I’ve been allowed to promote this messaging because my many privileges afford me a voice. Doors have opened for me and I’m here because I fit dominant culture ideals. I’m excited by the diverse voices and perspectives that are coming through and I look forward to stepping back and being an ally to those voices.

On what to expect in fashion over the coming years

Creatives can recognise that they are not working in a vacuum and that there is an audience out there who will vote with their money. If their ideas are exploitative or disrespectful even without recognition of the things that matter to audiences, then they will pay a price through sales or popularity. Dolce and Gabbana are just one example.

We are seeing change and audiences now realise they have clout as they move from a position of mindless consumer to powerful citizen participant. We can all vote with every purchase we make. The creative world is waking up to that.

Edited by Lottie Jackson