The Fashion Industry Continues to Suffer from Short Term Memory Loss

Balenciaga’s Fall 2023 Show Cover Photo: Acielle via Vogue

The cycle of forgiveness

The fashion industry has always prided itself with a sense of exclusivity and glamor. Many luxury fashion brands have hefty price tags along with wealthy and/or celebrity clientele that has allowed them to keep up this exclusiveness. However, within this exclusiveness and wealth, comes a dark underbelly plagued with various controversies, which have affected the fashion industry for decades. Many fashion brands go through the same cycle when faced with controversy. It goes like this: They do something terrible, the brand releases a half hearted or general apology and takes a short break from new releases then the brand comes back and the industry forgets about the controversy in the first place.

In a perfect world, these controversies would make or break a brand, forcing them to hold themselves accountable for what they do. However, most of the time, this is not the case. As the fashion industry is all too forgiving and often sweeps these situations under the rug.  

 Balenciaga Resort 2025 show Photo: Filippo Fior via Vogue Runway

We have seen this cycle played out recently with fashion brand Balenciaga. In 2022, Balenciaga caught themselves in an ad controversy when they released a campaign featuring children holding BDSM bears. The brand also released another ad that featured supreme court paperwork from United States v. Williams in which the court prohibited child pornography distribution of any kind. This controversy made a lot of consumers, including the brand's famous ambassador Kim Kardashian, publicly denounce the brand and pull back support. Kim is now back working with them, concluding the forgiving cycle.

The apology

The controversy spread on social media like wildfire with people adding their various opinions. The brand released an apology, sued the photoshoot’s production company and partnered with the National Children’s Alliance later that year.

Forget and applaud

Last week, Balenciaga had a huge fashion show in Shanghai, China for their new Resort collection. The show was promoted and talked about by multiple big fashion publications such as Vogue, with everyone having glowing reviews about the collection while not acknowledging the brand's ad scandal. Additionally, many celebrities that had once pulled back their support for the brand were seen sitting front row. 

Alexander Wang’s Fall 2024 Resort Show Photo: Alexander Wang via Vogue Runway

Another abuse, another cycle

Alexander Wang is another example of this cycle. In the years 2020 and 2021, Wang was accused of sexual misconduct and assault by multiple men. Eleven male victims being represented by high profile lawyer Lisa Bloom. Wang released a statement denying the accusations, however, he released another statement saying he will try to do better in the future. He was said to have met with and apologized to each of his victims. He never went to court with his accusers and stayed out of the spotlight until he debuted a new collection in April of 2022.

Last week, Wang had a show for his resort collection in his boutique in Soho, New York. Similar to Balenciaga, the front row was filled with A list celebrities wearing the brand and taking pictures. While some fashion publications did acknowledge his past allegations in two sentences or less, the high praise they give to both him and his new collection overpowers any acknowledgement that they wrote.

Rapper Ice Spice at the Alexander Wang’s latest show Photo: GC Images via WWD 

It was interesting to see how easy it was for the attendees and reviews of both shows to act as if nothing had happened. Highnobiety’s Alexandra Pauly said it best, it is easy for people to have amnesia about Alexander Wang's sexual misconduct but his victims do not have that same privilege.

This can be true for Balenciaga and other controversies within the industry. The truth is celebrities and the fashion industry are always willing to forgive and forget things that do not affect them firsthand because they have the privilege to. This allows controversies to come and go and makes it easier for them to be swept under a rug. There is a clear lack of empathy when it comes to brands and unfortunately, this probably will not change unless it affects a brand's bottom line. 

Front Row of Balenciaga’s Fall 2024 show Photo: Balenciaga via LA Magazine 

Selective amnesia?

I will say that although this is how the industry and celebrities see controversies, regular consumers see them differently. From what I have seen on social media, the public does not have the selective amnesia that plagues the industry. They remember these controversies and even document them.

This gives me a glimmer of hope for brand accountability and shows me that maybe the way controversies are seen is beginning to change for the day to day consumer. The tactic of fashion brands sweeping their controversies under the rug could affect the industry as a whole. These controversies are permanently ingrained onto the internet due to social media, digital articles, etc. So it is harder for people to fully forget what brands or designers do. If a consumer wants to shop a brand and look into their past, all they have to do is a quick Google search and/or look through their social media comments. The internet is a powerful tool for accountability and the fashion industry needs to change the way they address these issues. All these controversies piling up can affect the industry's overall image and public perception, which will have negative effects in the near future.