Peering into the ups and downs of fashion industry
Think of a documentary about the fashion industry and then have an Italian leader Mussolini infamous quote; “Say bad, say good, but say about me for it’s all publicity.” Brandy Hellville and the Fast Fashion Cult, HBO film by Eva Orner was entirely based on this statement.
The film examines the highs and lows in the garment area of fashion in United States, Canada, Italy as well as Ghana where we can see some insights on work culture at top apparel brands, their hiring practices, their popularity ratings among customers and how they present themselves to public. Moreover, it also reveals how first-world countries force African nations to take part in it.
Moreover, it shows that Brandy Melville once had a hand over society where one had to own something from there to feel like he or she belongs. This HBO movie traces how people used to perceive Brandy Melville which was once seen as a status symbol where wearing or owning it made you be treated like someone famous but later turned out that everyone started hating it.
The very first chapter of Brandy Hellville and the Fast Fashion Cult starts off by talking about obsession with Brandy Melville. It was the ultimate status symbol ten years ago. If you didn’t have one, you were boring. You just felt cool when you owned anything from Brandy Melville store leading many young girls who wore anything other than clothes from this store being discriminated against as if they were not enough good for them.
This is because people thought that Brandy Melville had super soft materials and cute girly patterns thus becoming a pop culture phenomenon.Amongst teenagers’ brandy melville is everythingand one reason behind such massive following among teenagers is its affordability. It positioned itself correctly and targeted its potential clients accordingly.
It also illustrates how advertising has changed completely through social media platforms Recently however there’s more behind these fashionable Instagram posts and throwback photos. Orner interviews a few former employees of Brandy Melville, one of its ex-Vice Presidents, and a past store owner to this effect. Several others didn’t want to speak on record due to ongoing suits.
Moreover, Brandy Melville’s owner Stephen Marsan is accused of being prejudiced and power abuser. There are reports about racial discrimination and physical abuse; hence it seems as if the company has no rules against same. Ex-employees say that women in particular are being exploited at the workplace.
He can fire someone just because he doesn’t like the way they look without any explanation whatsoever. Furthermore, even if she does not have all the qualifications for the job but she is beautiful in his eyes a girl will be hired straightaway by her boss. This is not only discriminatory against women but also denies other qualified prospects such opportunities.
Not too long ago “One size fits all” was Brandy Melville’s catchphrase which doesn’t make sense in today’s world where diversity thrives. Nevertheless, fashion has become more inclusive in terms of sizes recently except with Melville who seem to exist in the past. They insist that skinny and tiny are right sizes which could do more harm than good if taken literally.
In fact, some employees of the company have had to face the brunt of this obsession with one-size-fits-all. This film also explores fast fashion from a broader perspective. It demonstrates how online purchasing has revolutionized our consumer behavior and caused people to buy things they do not need. Accra in Ghana is one such place that is littered with unwanted clothes from Europe and America.
Afterwards, it details ramifications of fabric and clothing waste on waterways. This, consequently, affects marine life by killing fish and other seafood consumed by humans as protein. To put it in plain English, there’s a chain reaction that could wipe out many kinds of sea creatures. Essentially, the garbage introduces detrimental chemicals into fish food chains for nearly 3 billion individuals who depend on fish as their primary source of dietary proteins.
Some people who have FOMO (fear of missing out) don’t understand even why they’re obsessed with something so much. They only follow suit because everybody else does so too. Thus, this can be highly interfering with their lives when they fail to stop and think what they actually really want. No person could possibly know everything irrespective of his/her status.
It isn’t just possible like that. There’s a tale about a famous athlete who during an interview revealed that she did not know Sachin Tendulkar – the cricket star legend. Even though this little anecdote appears quite humorous; it is perfectly fine for her not to know him as well as anything else about cricket according to the movie’s storyline. In reality we must all come into terms with our minds which are like limited cloud storage capacity since we cannot retain everything.
Initially you might think it is about Brandy Melville but actually it goes beyond the story of Stephen Marsan alone in this show. At first if you are not interested in fashion it sounds boring but gradually I found it more interesting because of being diverse enough to cover a lot of topics. On the whole, Brandy Hellville and the Fast Fashion Cult is a decent film.
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