It’s no secret that women worldwide have long suffered in the name of beauty. First, African women slowly elongated their necks with iron rings. Next, Amazonian women stretched their bottom lips with discs. And then Victorian women apparently preferred corsets to breathing.
Today, American women practice drastically different, yet equally painful, beauty and fashion rituals. From body piercings and waxing to high heels and starvation, pain and primping have become virtually synonymous.
It seems the belief that beauty is pain has been replaced with the belief that pain is beauty. Recently, beauty and fashion photographers have been taking the term “fashion victim” too literally, portraying female models with bruises, burns and other violent injuries.
The most recent photographer to jump on the sexual violence and domestic abuse bandwagon is Tyler Shields. In one of his latest photo series, “Glee” star Heather Morris posed as a 1950s homemaker. But a fanciful frock wasn’t all the actress was sporting. Matching the big black dots on her dress was an equally big black eye. Adding fuel to the fire, one shot shows the hand of a male holding up a clothing iron to a smiling, playful, albeit injured Morris.
But Shields isn’t the first person to attempt to glamorize violence against women. Not too far back, fashion house Dolce and Gabbana was criticized for a series of print ads that showcased the clothing with a gruesome backdrop of rape and murder.
These distasteful depictions extend beyond mere photographs and fashion advertisements, however.
Clothing retailer Barneys has featured less than peaceful storefront windows in the past, for all innocent passersby to see. A couple years back, the company came under attack for its brutal display of seemingly dead mannequins dressed in evening gowns behind glass windows spattered with blood.
Sure, you could make the claim that this violent advertising is all just an artistic expression of fashion. But I can’t help but wonder how violence and abuse toward women could ever be viewed as compelling and inspired.
Even so, I just don’t see how sadistic images like these would persuade people to buy the products being advertised. The ads might receive lots of attention and hype, but I doubt they actually bring in the revenue their companies truly want.
It’s understandable that the fashion industry strives for shock value. Fashion has always had a penchant for pushing the envelope in order to garner attention, and controversial advertisements is just one of the many ways to do so. There is, however, a fine line between what is controversial and what is downright unacceptable.
No matter how subtle and subconscious the message is, it still exists in the images we see. And the more we see something, the more familiar and tolerated it tends to become. Fashion advertisements should primarily glamorize the clothes and accessories they are trying to promote. Glamorizing violent images alongside them is simply unnecessary and offensive.
The fashion industry should take a note and start sending a new message through its advertisements: Violence against women is never fashionable. I think it’s safe to say “black and blue” will never be the new black.
