Fashion doesn’t empower all girls

A spotlight of the $3tn style industry befell the remaining week: the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) awards. These aren’t only a pat on the back; they’re profession-defining. But you’re much more likely to get one if you’re a person.

Does the style industry have a gender equality problem? Requested Fashionista.com? Research by American educational and sociologist Allyson Stokes found that from 1981–2013, ninety-eight guys obtained a CFDA award; however, the most effective were 29 girls. This year, the most effective lady nominees have been celeb style designers the Olsen twins. One guy, Raf Simons, gained for each menswear and womenswear. He is the first (man) to win the double considering any other (guy) Calvin Klein. His victory was quite eclipsed by using the furor over the “glass runway.”

Well, sure, Fashionista.Com, it does. It’s now not a lot of a gender equality problem but the sort of mass exploitation of women that future generations will look at as we do slavery. To discover it, even you’ll want to appear beyond the rarefied international of the grass runway. A global delivery chain produces a maximum of the arena’s fashion, and eighty-five percent of the seventy-five million garment employees toiling on this chain – stitching seams, sequins, and adding zippers to our everyday clothes – are young ladies.

Here, woman illustration is not the trouble. Physical abuse, unsafe factories, and poverty wages are. In a current record from women’s rights NGO The Circle, founded with the aid of Annie Lennox (disclaimer: I’m a member), human rights barrister Jessica Simor QC looked at girl garment workers’ wages in 14 hotspots, from Bangladesh to Romania, generating for high-avenue brands. The document indicates how brands and states are driving roughshod over the right of these ladies to earn a living salary. These slave-wage jobs are continually offered as empowering for women in style to upload in additional damage.

The 32-12 months-antique was one of these guys in saggy fits. Last year, he commenced Island Gentry, a lifestyle blog and YouTube channel that gives tips on everything from guys’ style and grooming to personal improvement.

He learned most of what he knows on the internet. He also gained perception from StyleCon, a guys’ convention in Atlanta in 2015.

“The largest fashion mistake I ever made changed into wearing garments that didn’t suit properly,” he said. “I’m a chunk short, so finding a healthy that fits properly became annoying.

“Often, the shoulders might be too broad or the fingers or legs too lengthy. Sometimes, I’d roll up the cuffs of my suits.”

He needed to up his sport while he carried out a process as a regulator with the Bermuda Monetary Authority 5 years ago.

“Things were a chunk more casual at my closing process; however, on the BMA, every person wore suits.”

He started following men’s style and found a narrow-suit Italian-cut healthy, which is probably extra flattering for his frame kind.

“The first time I placed one on, I felt like James Bond,” he said. “It became on a shopping trip to New Jersey.

“I felt courageous and effective. A nicely-fitting match allows you to rise and stride greater, hopefully, without a doubt, with the aid of the manner it’s far made.”

He wore a black suit, turquoise shirt, and a striped tie to the BMA interview.

“It was a bit too loud,” he admitted. “I nevertheless get to know what is appropriate. But they hired me.”

Today, he’s assured enough to advise others.

“Wear an army or gray suit. Black is a chunk too formal. Wear a white shirt and a blue or crimson tie. Keep it easy; not anything flashy.

“You need the focus on you, no longer what you’re carrying, unless you’re going for a job in the fashion enterprise.”

He buys most of his suits off the rack and has them altered. His dream is to one day own a custom-made pair.

“When the match is adapted to your body, it doesn’t get any better than that,” he said. “It is luxurious, so I even have one custom-made blazer.”

He has a particular love for Bermuda shorts and has about 15 pairs in his closet.

“On the Real Men Real Style Facebook institution, I posted an outfit in which I wore a blazer, purple Bermuda shorts, blue socks, and a tie that introduced all of it collectively,” he said.

“The group has forty-three 000 participants. About 60 in line, with a cent of them just tearing my outfit aside.

“Most of the participants didn’t know the cultural importance. Where they’re from, shorts aren’t acceptable business wear.”