Midway through the last century, fashion and style began totake on a much more complex connection to the social issues of the day. Whenthe Beatles exploded on the scene in the early 60's, style became much moretightly connected to point of view and political persuasion than at any time inthe past. As time has gone on, the fashion world has been increasingly vocalabout many of the social problems of the day.
One of the first points of contact between fashion andsocial issues was the Vietnam War and the developing opposition to thatconflict. Invariably, those strongly opposed to the war wore their hair longand favored tie-dyed "hippie" clothes while those who supported theconflict wore their hair short and chose clothes that were much more conservativein nature.
When the opposition succeeded in hastening an end to the Vietnam conflict, it seemed only natural that these activists (as they were now called)would turn their attention to other pressing social issues and style andfashion offered several flashpoints which could be exploited.
Animal rights activists came down hard on the fashionindustry for supporting the cruel capture and killing of animals in order tosupport many of the popular styles of the day including furs, minks and otherclothing. This led to a number of consumer boycotts and those wearing theclothing were often confronted on the street.
It was about this time that Hollywood began to inject itselfmuch more strongly into social issues and thus began a long line of actors andactresses who would take strong stands on these issues and again, the fashionworld was the perfect target.
When the United States began to lose its' once predominant position in the textile industry, most of the industry shifted to lesser developedparts of the world where working conditions often approached"sweatshop" status. With Hollywood taking the lead, consumersboycotted many of the companies that used these ill-treated workers to make thegarments and, in many cases, succeeded in changing company policy. This type ofboycott was especially successful in getting companies to stop doing businesswith areas of the world that employed child labor under unusually harshconditions.
In today's world, fashion is becoming more closely alignedwith the Green movement and it is becoming fashionable these days to be"eco-chic" and this trend appears to be gaining momentum. Asconsumers become more educated about the complexities of the garment business,they will want to know about all the details that are involved in gettingclothing to the marketplace and will expect to get the same level oftransparency from clothing companies that they now expect from the foodindustry.
Fashion and style, in the past, were all about creating animage but now that image can also include the personal value set of the wearerand it looks as if this connection between fashion and social issues is here tostay.
About the Author:
The Teacher (aka John Pawlak) has been involved in educationfor over 25 years. He has developed a series of fashion websites which include:Juicy Coutureclothing, handbags, footwear and accessories
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