'Repetitive proliferation of narrow body and beauty ideals creates negative outcomes for audiences' - Caryn Franklin MBE

Representation and Inclusion in the Fashion Industry: A report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Textiles and Fashion

A Foreword by Caryn Franklin MBE Member of Representation and Inclusion Advisory Committee, Visiting Professor of Diverse Selfhood, Kingston School of Art and FACE Council member.

The fashion industry has enormous power, communicating intended and unintended messages about identity and cultural relevance. As studies show, repetitive proliferation of narrow and unachievable body and beauty ideals found in editorial image, catwalk performance and advertising, creates negative outcomes for audiences young and old across the gender spectrum. Further study can attest that a curated multiplicity of diverse humans presented in our fashion media, delivers many positive benefits.

The same can be said for the teams and leadership groups operating within the industry itself. Despite multiple findings for business efficacy, still the white, androcentric, able-bodied, cis-gender, binary conforming viewpoint dominates. Fashion education, forced to acknowledge the huge contribution of Black culture and style to our industry, scrambles to address the shocking deficit of Black and Brown academics in fashion institutions, (and indeed our industry), nationwide. This disservice to all learners is exposed. Our students ready to purchase a fit-for-purpose degree-level education and scouting for diverse representation amongst university staff, will find a woeful imbalance with nearly 16,000 white male professors compared to well under 50 women of colour occupying the same educational rank.

But what of top-down business responsibility, purpose and integrity? After 40 years in fashion, I conclude that vital pro-social advance must be embedded within corporate governance by stakeholders with vision. As this report makes clear, there are new and untapped sources for business expansion requiring a wider variety of perspectives. Attention to progress and intention to swiftly engage, involves transformational leadership from the highest level. This then poses the ultimate question: Are the leaders currently holding such power – the right ones?