We hear about factory collapses, and pollution, and the obsession with outer beauty, but let’s talk about why fashion is and should be good.

It is easy to look at the fashion industry from the outside and think its all bad. Quite frankly, I can completely understand why people might feel that way. We’ve been plagued with story after story about bitchiness, factory collapses, pollution, child labor, and other assortments of absolutely heinous activities. However, this is why, in spite of all that, I am suggesting that fashion is good…

Because the fashion industry is NOT fashion. The fashion industry might be a hub of everything we need to change in the world, and we should tackle that head on, but fashion itself — the clothes and accessories you put on your body — is not the industry. They are an extension of you.

Fashion shouldn’t be tainted with everything that is wrong with the industry. Fashion should be the most personal thing that empowers you and makes you a better member of society. There’s been research done that shows that you move with more confidence and are actually better at your job when you feel best in your clothes. Fashion should be something that empowers you to be your absolute best self. Fashion isn’t “dressing up” for someone or “being vain”, it’s putting your best foot forward and walking into the world confidently and more assuredly and bringing your best self into every aspect of life that is yours — mother, wife, assistant, CEO, doctor, teacher, husband, father, student, sick, healthy, old, young, gay, straight, male or female or every shade in between. Fashion should equal you.

The fashion industry is pretty bad. We use a lot of harsh chemicals. We utilize a lot of cheap labor. We pollute A LOT. This is not all doom and gloom, though. Despite the many faults over the years, this gives us a chance to be the change we wish to see in the world. It gives the fashion industry a great opportunity to be the poster-child for bettering an entire industry that has done so much hurt socially, environmentally, and otherwise, and to potentially set the scene for a much more considerate and aware global industry.

I’ll talk more about these things throughout this blog but I wanted to first just open up with an insight into why I started this blog — there’s so much good that can come from fashion, both the fashion that is you and the fashion that is the industry. All it takes it encouragement and education to make fashion an incredibly powerful tool to change the world for the better.