I salute you 2020. You’ve been a total Bitch but as we move to your conclusion, I see your gift.
A Moments Silence if you will Fashionistas … for in our hearts, in our minds, and in our lives, so many of us are mourning the state of what was the Australian fashion industry.
This is an article with a difference. A reflection if you will of 2020. The year where many say twenty-twenty vision represents the spiritual blending of our 3D lives and the deeper understanding of our own souls and purpose for being here.
No longer are we completely satisfied with the cursory glimpse into our fashion futures but I believe so many of us have become moving beacons of light driving forth the importance of our personal dreams and using this awareness to step solidly into our new paradigm. For those of us who see, it is the opportunity for us to step into the finer awareness and greater understanding of all things in our lives, not only our careers but everything that does not ring true or hold proper value.
It has been a time of great sadness to witness the demise of the fashion world, Fashion Week, the retail market; the general fashion vehicle as we know it. The ripple effects of the current destructive mechanisms worldwide have caused the irreparable havoc that is 2020. Paradoxically, it is also a time of pure excitement, incredible opportunity, where long needed changes to the fashion industry can now come into full effect for the benefit of us all.
For those of us who have made fashion industry work our lives, it is a demoralising period indeed. I know I speak for many when I say that many of us are wondering if we will ever work in fashion again.
I have been privy to many complex conversations over the last while. People who seem convinced that at some point everything fashion will return to normal and we will all breathe a huge sigh of relief. Naturally because of the work I do, I have been asked repeatedly what I see as the ultimate fate of the industry.
It is a sobering moment, is it not, when one realises that the vaults of the vehicle they have supported for so long are completely empty. In this, I realise I am not alone. In a world where the term “equality” was used ad nauseam and so liberally, when there simply wasn’t any is disappointing indeed.
I have been witness to so many talented, creative, and hard working individuals who have never been recognised for their work over the period of many, many years.
At the same time, I have been witness to five minute wonders who have experienced almost celebrity status idolatry in their success and the ridiculous ease of upward movement.
Surely the initiations of talent, hard work and experience should count for everything.
The sad reality has been that it didn’t.
Change as we have seen this year has been incredibly difficult for many.
For the people I know and love in the industry, I have watched carefully their pain through redundancy and their change of choice around their fashion careers, mainly through having no choice at all. Like so many, I too lost many booked jobs and opportunities due to the unexpected 2020 shenanigans.
I am here however, to bring good news on the fashion front and although you will not be breathing a total sigh of relief after reading this article, I do hope it will bring some level of hope to an industry that we all love.
I promise you, just as the sun greets us every day, we will rise again.
Will it ever be the same, you may ask? Will the industry recover and how might it be fixed?
Certainly not. I don’t believe for one moment, it will be “fixed” or return to what we knew as the norm. I do believe it will most certainly be re-written.
Why?
Because the good folk have been burned people. Badly.
Scorched, in a way that will never be forgotten. And good folk always win in the end. In the exciting rebuilding of the years to come, their work will not only be recognised but they will take their rightful place as the solid, quite achieving leaders they always were.
I hate to say, I told you so, but I have been writing and speaking about this demise for a very long time, not because I have super powers of knowing, but because for way too long I have been witnessing the unfair distribution of goodies within an industry that forgets and disregards far too easily the people who have underpinned the vehicle generously with their beautiful energy, undying commitment, creativity and hard work.
Since when was is it okay to ignore key people in any industry where the loosely used expressions of equality and creative talent swirled around backstage or auditoriums with gay abandon and with no real benefit to anyone? This reality was never a sustainable model and was only ever designed to support those at the top helping themselves to the cream. The Australian fashion industry will no longer just serve a chosen few, many of whom, were self appointed and not even chosen.
Fashion is for everyone, all people, from all places, of all origins, and all ages. It is one of the reasons that my latest project, The Ageless Runway was developed in the first place.
In our new fashion paradigm all creatives will be involved and their work recognised. All designers will be represented and applauded. All models will be glorified and appreciated. All editors will be invited to sit in prominent positions from which they can report and write their articles. All fashion enthusiasts will be welcome. All budding fashionistas, designers, and groupies will find a place to enjoy one of the most beautiful art forms the world has to offer and nobody will be left out. Simple. I firmly believe that Australian fashion will be rebuilt in a manner of which we will all be proud and I for one cannot wait for the day.
This world needs beauty and lots of it. Beauty uplifts, brings hope and joy to the hearts of us all. Fashion belongs in our world, even more so when we enter periods of change and dystopia. For those of us who have always resided in the fashion realm, it is inconceivable to think that fashion is on a slippery slope even though it is our current reality.
I predict that much of our fashion world, at least for the moment, will be about community and the people with whom we are already connected, until we have completed our personal Moments of Silence.
We are living through a time where each of us are being asked to stop, reassess, look at our lives and the people in them and decide on our continued pathways. To know who we truly are is the greatest gift on earth, and then, and only then, can we know how to visualise the way forward and the future which is designed for us and therefore, truly authentic.
If you would like to be a part of The Ageless Project please get in touch. It is the kind of fashion project you have been waiting for. Inclusive, different, and all encompassing in its connection to other industries. If our Moment of Silence has taught me anything, it is that we are not alone. It may feel that way but the way of all of our conscious futures is to know that we are here to work together for the benefit of all.
Australian fashion has taken a hit, there is no doubt, but we will rise again like the Phoenix from the Ashes in a sustainable, productive, and respectful way. One which will pay homage to the real reasons that beauty exists in life and pays ultimate respect to those who are truly deserving.
Enormous thanks to …
Terri Anderson Photography for the love and her devotion to The Ageless Project.
Until next time,
Jade xx
