Stories of ordinary madness from the Milanese fashion world We spoke to some young creatives about their most agonizing experiences with power in the local industry
We all know the story behind Meryl Streep’s award-winning performance in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. If you haven’t seen the movie yourself, you surely wouldn’t have been able to miss the numerous meme references made throughout the years of the magnate that was Miranda Priestly and her pitiful assistant, Andrea. The 16-year-old film, rumoured to be based on Vogue America’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, has become a somewhat problematic staple in the fashion industry. Many people think of the film as a light humorous commentary on the industry but what some fail to realise is that the story in itself was a glorification of emotional abuse and to an extent manipulation as well.
Issues like these serve as a modern-day reality for many of the industry’s young up and coming talent while fashion editors, stylists and industry insiders used and still continue to use these standards as guidelines to affirm their success. Throughout the last decade, many young creatives on their journey into the industry are still being sold the idea that being treated like nothing, with little or no compensation is all a part of the job and are expected to humbly accept this as a fact. We reached out to a few young creatives in the industry to find out some more about their experiences of emotional abuse within the industry.
The She-Vampire who didn't pay salaries
“It started for me landing me in a maelstrom of toxicity listening day in and day out to the verbal abuse of assistants, the fat shaming of potential young female interns, and emotional manipulation of everyone around her to bend them to do her bidding backed up with threats to ruin our reputations and destroy our careers in Milan. It’s a chapter I’m relieved to be finally closing the door on. Having to chase someone for months to receive a paycheck that thinks she as a white woman should be able to say the N word and that “nobody wants transgender women to advertise anything to real women” , someone that tries to take credit for anything you do or achieve on your own, someone who crushes yours and others self esteem in order to build herself up now reinvented as an activist is not someone that is conducive to any sort of future I see for myself if I want to be part of progress and change.”
- Louis Pisano, writer
The most unfortunate part of this is that a lot of these cruel offences aren’t punishable by law as emotional abuse isn’t technically against the law. According to law firm Scott Wagner & Associates, in order to file a workplace harassment lawsuit or claim, you must be a member of a protected group and you’d likely need to show that you experienced abusive behaviour based on Race, Colour, Religion, Sex, National Origin, Age or Disability, and many of these incidents have occurred outside of those boundaries.
At the moment, the most powerful tool that victims of emotional abuse in the industry have on their side is the use of social media. Although things are slowly improving, it will still take a while for the industry to entirely let go of the idea of using cruelty as a method of teaching, but with this new age of digital transparency, many are being given the opportunity to speak out in a way that raises awareness also comes with real consequences of financial and opportunistic loss for their abusers.
The reality is that fashion is in need of a more effective filtering system which supports and ensures the safety of it’s younger counterparts in ensuring that they are not being taken advantage of, not only on an emotional level but also physically, financially and sexually. However, until then, we must listen when they speak and do all we can to make the industry a much more appealing space.
