Lydia Gilbertson shares her personal experience of working in the fashion industry and explores the potential danger of our clothing becoming the source of our identity.
I studied and worked in the fashion industry for seven years and can’t help but feel as though there is a problematic relationship with the way we, culturally, use clothing to form the foundations of our identity.
Gaining millions of views online and the rise of “clothing hauls” on TikTok and Instagram have started to normalise the overconsumption of fashion. These social media videos often involve showcasing huge amounts of clothing, concerningly low-price tags and are usually purchased from brands with questionable ethical standards.
Trending phrases such as “quiet luxury”, “cottage core” and “mob wife” are all being used to describe different aesthetics. Encouraging people to use clothing in order to create and present a perfectly curated visual identity.
The fashion industry wastes 92 million tonnes of textiles a year, which is hardly surprising, as an item of clothing will only be worn a few times before being discarded or until it is no longer ‘fashionable’. The fashion calendar used to consist of two trends per year, but now as many as 52 are designed and manufactured. From my experience, I know that fashion can be a source of creativity and fun. It uniquely connects people and expresses our heritage and different cultures. The fashion industry is full of skilled creatives and craftspeople.
But I can’t help but wonder how much we depend on clothing to help form our identity.
And prompts the question; what exactly are we grounding our worth in?
The vast amount of clothing waste is evidence that we are putting our hope in items that are disposable and expendable. Our relationship with fashion has become deeply unhealthy and futile
Whilst working in fashion retail, I would watch season after season the same loyal customers coming back to buy the same items, but in updated prints or new seasonal colours. It was alarming for me to see first-hand how we treat items of clothing as disposable objects. Especially once you consider the laborious processes, the number of resources and the amount of people it takes to create these items.
I get it. I have battled with the pressure of the industry and have struggled too with the urge to ‘over-buy’ clothing myself. And while I enjoy and acknowledge my interest in fashion, I am learning not to depend on the opinions of fashion designers, fleeting trends and viral aesthetics to gratify me.
Fashion trends encourage us to conform to the ideal of the fashion industry. But with our cultural story telling us to embrace our individual selves, which one do we pick? Suddenly our identity is under pressure and up for constant renewal, something to always work on and be adjusted accordingly. The industry is designed to make its money by making you feel that you’re never enough.
Securitising our aesthetic and keeping up to date with trends makes life exhausting but it doesn’t have to be.
The identity that we find in Jesus doesn’t need updating or changing and will never grow old. In Him, we will find a consistent source for our identity that is true and stands the test of time. Jesus drew His identity and significance from God. Being in Christ allows us to take off the mask we have created and rest in Him.
If we know and truly believe that our significance and source of identity comes from Jesus, then fashion trends and the standards of the industry become less overwhelming and hold a lot less power over us.