Luna de Casanova x Numéro Russia
As far as I can see, people have been predicting the end of the world since the beginning of history. I’ve concluded that this tells us more about people than it does about the earth’s longevity.
Currently, we seem to be in a particularly acute period of collective angst with commentators bemoaning the adverse impacts of Covid 19 and social media on our society and on the next generation.
I am more optimistic about both phenomena.
Covid 19 is a dreadful virus which has brought suffering and misery to many people, both those infected and those forced to lock down at home for extended periods. Many people have lost their jobs as airlines, hotels, restaurants and bars have been forced to shed workers. The fashion industry has also been badly affected. Fashion week shows and other client events have been cancelled; shopping has become a marathon of queuing, masking, and sterilising; customers are not buying; while key suppliers and the brands’ own workshops are locked down.
However, coronavirus has had some positive impacts. It has forced the deeply conservative fashion industry to re-evaluate many parts of its business model. The most important change has been a significant shift towards digital fulfilment with buyers reviewing collections via Zoom, customers being given digital access to shows, and the shows themselves being filmed in virtual reality. It remains to be seen how many of these innovations will out-live the end of Covid 19 but for the first time in many years, the fashion industry is looking at new ways of doing business, potentially replacing an operating model which has been unchanged for fifty years.
As regards social media, it seems that a number of Silicon Valley technologists who became very rich working for Google, Facebook, and others, have had a sudden change of heart and come to believe, rather like the famous Dr Frankenstein, that they have created a monster. Of course, there are some negative aspects to social media but there are also some extraordinary benefits. For the first time in history, a teenager with a great idea can attract a global following in a way that simply wasn’t possible before social media. Yes, social media does not paint the world as it is but as it would like you to believe it is. This is not surprising as it is an advertising-funded model and advertising has always been about manipulation, even in the days when it was restricted to television, magazines, and billboards. Just as the current older generation grew up sceptical of the advertisers’ straplines, today’s youth have long ago worked out that nobody has legs that long or smiles that perfect without some generous post-production magic.
Consequently, I don’t worry about Instagram users renting clothes or green-screening bags onto their photos firstly, as I think most people see through it, and secondly, because I wouldn’t know how to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. There are, though, areas of social media which I do think need to be policed more effectively, most notably the implicit and explicit promotion of cosmetic surgery, fillers and Botox to young women. Such promoters target vulnerable women by exploiting their lack of self-confidence and selling them an impossible dream. I don’t blame social media for this – it is simply an enabling technology - and I suspect it would still be happening even if social media never existed. The real challenge is to help young women realise that that they do not need cosmetic surgery, that they should be comfortable in their own skins, and confident in their abilities. The march of technology has allowed younger people to be more exposed to the world than ever before. It has given them a level of sophistication at an earlier age than any previous generation. What it hasn’t done – and what social media cannot do – is provide the human contact and inter-actions which lead to emotional maturity. There is no point in being the most attractive hologram on Instagram if nobody ever asks you for a date.
