Fashion's Mental Health Crisis — The Lexington Line

With the strong desire to achieve society’s definition of “perfect,” life can become overwhelming, often having a strong impact on the state of mind of a vulnerable victim. What can we, as a student body and empathetic human beings, do to help those who find themselves in a battle between the obsession with perfection and staying true to who they are?

We’ve seen it in movies; we’ve laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. We’ve thought that the idea of someone trying to manipulate their body, control their habits and try everything in their power to look and live the “right way” was just a concoction made up by Hollywood to exaggerate the way people really think and feel. The truth is that while Hollywood may dramatize a lot of things, there is no exaggerating the truth that there is an immense amount if pressure to strive for the “right” goals. But what is right? Being able to literally slip into a size 0? Exhausting yourself to the point when you’re delirious and losing sight of your own life, just so that you can reach the “success” that you see others achieving?

As fashion students, we are endlessly working hard to not only graduate, but to go above and beyond everyone else in our class so that we can be noticed. Face it—we all see each other as our competition. When I’m in a class made up of 90% Fashion Media majors, I realize that one day soon I’ll be in the running for jobs against them. I start to wonder things like, Who’s better than me? or What are they doing or not doing that I can or can’t do? In all honesty, it gets to me. I’m looking at who I’m up against now while also having the knowledge that there are millions of others who will eventually be fighting for their own place along with us. That’s what life is: a competition. We are always looking for who we can beat with by using our own strengths or taking advantage of their weaknesses. It’s a sick game we play in the fashion industry called “Who’s Better?”, and it drains us all out completely.

The fashion industry is often thought to be fun, attractive, and glamorous, but besides the parts that are desirable and magnetic, there are ugly sides to it all. There are models who are suffering from eating disorders, designers who suffer immense anxiety, influencers obsessed with being picture perfect for their audience just so they aren’t “cancelled,” and fashion students who are constantly fighting for their passions and striving to prove they can really do it all.

Why would we put ourselves through all of this just for a career? Because fashion ultimately isn’t just a job, it’s a completely different world that everyone wishes they could be part of. But why would we even consider being part of something that could eventually send us into mental disarray if we don’t conduct ourselves with some sense? We do it because there is a fire that burns within all of us that ignites whenever we use our creativity to turn our imaginations into reality. There is something about creating something and making it become real that pushes us to keep working.

We want to see our visions come to life, because maybe someone else would appreciate our visions and dreams as much as we do. We all fall into the desire to be validated. It’s not just about wanting to be rich and famous, but as creative people, we want others to experience what we experience. If no one sees what we see, or why we see things a certain way, it can really damage our egos. Our egos are sensitive things that can often create madness out of genius.

As fashion students, we don’t do all the “normal” things that other college students do. Instead of going to football games, we go to fashion shows and events. Instead of spending five hours reading a book on human evolution, we spend five hours creating visual content for our portfolios. To many people, all of this can be considered frivolous and useless, but this is our art. Being the creatives that we are, we often pour all of our energy into projects, taking care of our projects more than we take care of ourselves. When someone judges or criticizes our projects in a negative way, we take it personally. It’s not just a project, but a representation of ourselves. This leads to our flimsy mental health that can make us fall down the rabbit hole. There have been fashion students who’ve committed suicide, designers who’ve taken their own lives, and models who have had fatal ends from trying to live this life while remaining sane. All of it is a consequence of the pressure that not only the industry puts onto them, but the pressure they put on themselves to obtain perfection and out-do anyone else who tries to compete against them.

Creative people have extremely high expectations for themselves because they know what they are capable of, and the people who follow them expect more than anyone else. The fashion documentary “Dior and I” serves an example of the pressures placed upon designers, as we see Raf Simons freaking out backstage at his first show at the iconic fashion house. He’s crying and shaking with nerves, because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen to him or his reputation if this show isn’t a success. On social media we see posts about a certain influencer being “cancelled” because they did something that many people found offensive or simply because they had an issue with another big influencer. Being cancelled by the public is terrifying, because it means that our careers, reputations, and lives are over. Instagram is the biggest platforms for people to put their business on display, where they often post about their amazing lives. This causes comparisons between people—women looking at other women and wondering, “Why can’t I look like her?”, or perhaps someone who just got out of a relationship looking at a couple’s beautiful wedding photos and thinking, “I wish that was me”. All of this goes back to what I said earlier about being in a room full of people with my same major. We look at one another as competition, people who we are up against because they are threat to ourselves and our goals.

A recent report released by the American Psychiatric Association in May claims that more than one in three adults (that’s about 38%) agree that social media use is harmful to one’s mental health, and about half (45%) believe that social media has both positive and negative impact on mental health. Very few believe that social media has mostly positive effects on people’s mental health (only 5%). We are all struggling with our mental health, whether we are going through a rough time with our anxieties, trying to survive our own disorders or battling our inner demons, we all know what it feels like.

As fashion students, we must start taking measures before we hit the real world.
Take a rest. Put down your phone and delete your social media apps for as long as possible. Stop looking at everyone as competition and start looking at them like a partner. Think about how you can create a team or alliance with your “competition” and stop worrying “are they better than me?”. Another way to get through this struggle is to remember that being yourself and no one else is what is really going to take you all the way to the top. Find who you are already, not who you think you should be or what you think society wants you to be. Accept others for who they are while embracing yourself, because being unique is what will ultimately make people take an interest in you. Stay true to who you are and what your brand is representing, because you are your brand. Forget about who’s better, because in all reality, no one is better than anyone else. There may be a certain skillset that someone has, but you can always develop the skills you have in order to better yourself. Don’t try and change who you are to fit the image you’ve convinced yourself is better than yours. Why not befriend your “competition”? The more you think and judge someone and their work, the more enemies you’re going to make, and the worse you’re going to feel. No one wants an enemy in the fashion industry or in fashion school. Let’s be real. We can be really petty here, and it can get worse if you bring out the lions in us.

If you need emotional support, there are plenty of resources. Humans of Fashion is a foundation that has developed an app to help people involved with the fashion industry get the necessary help they need with whatever they are going through. Here at LIM, we have counselors who are here to help if you’re through something and realize you can’t deal with it on your own. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a professor or a friend. People are willing to help you if you speak up. Don’t keep things to yourself—there is always help, encouragement, and assistance. Just say something.

NYC Mental Health Resources: NYC Well

Mobile crisis teams (MCTs) respond to mental health crises in the community within 48 hours of receiving a referral. Response time depends on the urgency of the call. Any concerned person can make a referral to the mobile crisis services by calling NYC Well at 1-888-NYC-WELL (1-888-692-9355). Teams are staffed by mental health professionals who can assess the person and their situation, provide crisis counseling and make referrals to community-based mental health and substance misuse services for ongoing care, and emergency services as needed.

Text WELL to 65173