The four of us were dressed in the height of fashion, which in those days was a pair of black very tight tights with the old jelly mould, as we called it, fitting on the crotch underneath the tights. Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange pp1-2
Fashion is the science of appearance, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be. Henry Fielding
After a decade of war, after all my years as a foreign correspondent, someone somewhere in the network thought it would be a good idea to send me of all people to New York fashion week. Uncensored with Michael Ware: Fashion Week Wars, National Geographic 2017
Models, magazine editors, photographers, the most stylish travelling roadshow on Earth. ibid.
Kanye West … the show was slammed by the critics. ibid.
This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make these clothes, and the impact that it’s having on our world. It’s a story about greed and fear, power and poverty. The True Cost, 2015
Today we only make about 3% and the other 97% is outsourced. ibid.
Cutting corners and disregarding safety measures have become an accepted part of doing business in this new model. ibid.
‘An eight-storey building has collapsed near the capital of Dhaka killing more than seventy people.’ ibid. news
Rana Plaza: ‘Two weeks after the catastrophe and the death toll now stands at a staggering of 931 making it the worst garment industry disaster in history.’ ibid.
‘Bangladesh is now the second largest apparel exporter after China … Unions have limited power.’ ibid.
‘I have formed a union at work … We had an altercation with the managers. After the altercation, managers closed the door, 30-40 attacked us and beat us up.’ ibid. garment union president
The most labour-dependent industry on earth. ibid.
Over 80 billion pieces of new clothing each year. ibid.
Fashion today is the number two-most polluting industry on Earth, second only to the oil industry. ibid.
A perfectly engineered nightmare for the workers trapped inside. ibid.
We live in a golden age of fashion. A time when almost anyone can buy the glamour and the lifestyle of the latest trends. Clothes are cheaper than ever, and last year we spent nearly £50 billion on them. But there’s a problem: all this cheap fashion is damaging our planet … The industry is accused of being one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Stacey Dooley: Fashion’s Hidden Secrets, BBC 2018
Uzbekistan: These dust storms are so vast they can be seen from space. They contain huge quantities of pesticides that have been washed into the Aral from the cotton farms and left on the seabed. ibid.
Cotton: Here is like just a regular shirt and a pair of jeans, right: it’s likely that it could have taken up to 20,500 litres [of water]. ibid.
Some in this industry are working to clean up fashion. ibid.
I didn’t care about what people thought of me. And I didn’t care what I thought of myself. So I would go to the far reaches of my dark side and pull these horrors out of my soul and put them on the catwalk. McQueen, Lee, 2018
St Martin’s was the place to go, but what I liked about it was the freedom of expression. ibid.
I just thought, What have I unleashed? ibid. St Martin’s tutor
You just don’t move forward if you play safe. ibid. Lee
The king of yob couture. ibid. newspaper article
Scottish designer Alexander McQueen has taken over at Givenchy and is designing the 1997 collection. ibid. French television news
Sod the lot of ya. I do what I like. ibid. Lee
Gucci group swoops for Alexander McQueen. ibid. newspaper article
Everything I’m reverting to is darker. ibid. Lee
Lee was HIV positive. ibid. friend
11 February 2010: On the eve of his mother’s funeral, Lee Alexander McQueen took his life. ibid.
The night before Vivienne Westwood’s London Fashion Week show: I don’t know if I want to show any of this shit. And I don’t know what the fuck this is. Westwood: Punk – Icon – Activist, BBC 2019
At the age of 11, 12, I was making my own clothes. ibid.
We invented punk. ibid.
We wanted to undermine the establishment. ibid.
It affected fashion such a lot … It was being marketed all the time. ibid.
We weren’t attacking the establishment. We were just part of the distraction. ibid.
One who has become the most famous and sought-after fashion model worldwide: Twiggy. With her androgynous look, pageboy hairstyle, freshness and spontaneity, Twiggy was the icon figure of this new generation. Twiggy: The Face of the 60s, Sky Arts 2020
The 1950s in Britain is a time of austerity. The country is suffering from the after-effects of six years of war, and London is still scarred by the results of German bombing raids. Basic consumer goods continue to be rationed, and a class-ridden society sees an aristocratic elite lording it over a deprived working class. ibid.
The world’s first international super-model. ibid.
I love fashion, beauty, glamour. It’s the mark of civilisation. David LaChapelle
Casuals is an untold story because they developed outside of the normal realms of youth fashion. They developed it in football rather than in music. Casuals: The Story of the Legendary Terrace Fashion, Amazon 2021
Everybody wanted to attach themselves to the most expensive sportswear they could get their hands on to. And it made us feel good about ourselves. ibid.
For more than 50 years Britain has been a melting pot of youth subcultures … As the ’70s ended and the ’80s began, the Casual movement took grip across the UK. ibid.
Being a football Casual brought a common identity and a confidence some couldn’t find anywhere else at the time. ibid.
‘Lagerfeld told an interviewer that he is giving his riches to his pet companion among others. And this cat has a lifestyle to maintain.’ The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld, BBC 2023
Designer Karl Lagerfeld was one of the most flamboyant and recognisable figures in fashion. And one of the most mysterious. His influence was immeasurable. ibid.
‘I was a rebellious child. A rebellious lover. A rebellious fashion designer. A true Lucifer.’ Arena: Coco Chanel Unbuttoned, BBC 2023
‘She takes her revenge on the respectable women of her era, and she turns the trade into an art, she turns the art into a multi-million-dollar fortune. And turns the little orphan girl into the most glamorous women of her age.’ ibid. woman
For almost three years I’ve been investigating a dark secret in a US fashion industry. At the heart of this secret was one man, the man behind one of the biggest fashion brands in the world. The modern-day founder of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries. Panorama: The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool, BBC 2023
Men who say they were exploited and abused. ibid.
I’m undercover at the headquarters of fashion giant Boohoo. The company’s built its reputation on selling cheap, on-trend clothes. Boohoo’s been criticised for its pursuit of low prices. It promised to change. But has its founder? I’m told by a colleague she lies to suppliers to drive costs down. And discover workers making Boohoo clothes pushed to the limit. Panorama: Boohoo’s Broken Promises, BBC 2023
Promise #1: Be fair to suppliers … Time and against I see them trying to cut prices even on orders that have already been agreed … Promise #2: Realistic timescales … Promise #3: Better transparency. ibid.