Paris Fashion Week highlights industry disparity with Gen Z

The top was designed to cover the face, with a red opening for the mouth that conjured images of 19th century minstrel performers.

These controversies tailgate fashion’s failure to keep up with environmental pressures.

Beyond the designs themselves, major houses like Fendi, Prada, and Dior continue to rank amongst the worst retailers for worker exploitation.

Despite growing pressure from Gen Z to adopt sustainable business models, these brands encourage insatiable consumption amongst the public, whilst using low-paid, mostly non-Western textile workers to produce supposedly ‘luxury’ items.

Even those who rely on European manufacturers, like Celine and Rimowa, often pay ‘staggeringly low wages’, according to an audit by KnowTheChain.

This begs the question: if luxury fashion is so ethically outdated, is it deserving of an innovative status?

Today’s young people certainly don’t think so. Amongst Gen Z, designer labels are being swapped for independent, inclusive brands.

Last week, Extinction Rebellion protesters stormed the Louis Vuitton show in Paris, holding banners marked ‘OVERCONSUMPTION = EXTINCTION’.

And in Milan last month, critics dismissed Fendi and Versace’s first collaboration, ‘Fendace’. Having relied on its famous ‘F’ insignia for years, Fendi revealed it had little else to deliver, and the show was dubbed ‘the last nail in the coffin’ for logo mania.

This resistance to high fashion is a testament to something that has been evolving for some time: in an era of environmental disaster and economic disparity, flaunting our wealth is a dated trend.

The same digital channels that have helped luxury brands to expand their marketing have also exposed younger generations to the consequences of capitalism. It’s harder to care about a Versace dress when thousands are fleeing war torn countries, and the climate crisis is escalating.

Social media is also allowing individuals to forge their own businesses, on their own terms. Ethnic minority and Indigenous individuals are gaining traction on Instagram with their handcrafted pieces, a testament to Gen Z’s concern for integrity over indulgence.

If there’s one thing to take away from fashion’s latest backtracks, it’s that there’s no use dwelling in the past. Social media fosters the inclusivity that’s stunted by a mainstream market. If big brands can’t keep up, then a social-change driven Gen Z will be sure to leave them behind.