I recently attended the BBC Clothes Show Live at the NEC in Birmingham. The day being a school trip, I paid a perfectly reasonable £40 to attend. Now, not only is the Clothes Show a huge fashion show, it is also an opportunity for concessions, both popular and obscure, to peddle their goods to the all too eager public. This seems odd to me – I have paid for a ticket to an event where I am essentially expected to spend more money...

"Beauty is only skin deep." At least that's what they say. In practice, the reality is something quite different. Very few people are completely happy with themselves. In the day of airbrushed models, celebrity culture and false perfection, who could be?

 

Sometimes I feel like a bit of an outsider. Western consumer culture is overtaking our lives, but I am just as guilty as anyone. I probably didn't need those new boots, or that slightly kitschy ring – but I bought them anyway. Yet I, unlike so many of my peers, always feel a slight nagging guilt when I spend money, along with an uncontrollable urge to phone my mother and get her advice on whether she considers the purchase practical or frivolous.

 

I fail to understand why spending a large amount of money on pretty useless things is such a draw for people everywhere. I was practically mocked by my friends because I walked out of the event empty handed, whereas they were weighed down with various goody bags and purchases. But is that really normal? It makes me vaguely ill to see the sheer amount of "stuff" available to purchase at a single event.

 

For example, we passed a large stand where representatives for the makeup brand, Barry M, were selling goody bags (aside from being excessively large for the tiny items inside, the bags were a particularly garish shade of pink with black leopard print. Need I say more?). One of the salespeople approaches us.

 

"Would you like to buy one of our goody bags? Pay just £10 for a bag of cosmetics worth £60!" Immediately my friends start chattering excitedly.

Friend 1: "Only £10! What a bargain!"

Friend 2: "I'm going to buy it! Are you?"

Me: "NO."

Friend 1: "But look – you're saving £50!"

Me: *facepalm*

 

Yes, you're saving £50. But if you didn't buy it at all, you're saving £60! Especially seeing as you probably have an unholy amount of makeup sat on a shelf at home anyway. I'm not going to say I wasn't tempted. But my motto has always been "Want, don't need". Of course I'm going to be tempted to buy something which could save me money. I might very well want a bag of brightly coloured cosmetics. But do I need it? The simple truth is no. I don't need it, and I will not be miserable or distressed for the decision not to buy it.

 

But most people can't see this. Most people are so absorbed in their world and ways of utter decadence, that all they seem to strive for is to accumulate as large a collection of "stuff" as possible.

 

The most interesting part of the day for me was seeing the colleges and universities from around the country showcasing their work. Being a GCSE Textiles student, this was pretty much the reason I attended the show. Whatever my reasoning for attending was, it wasn't to catch bargains!

 

The majority of the visitors when I attended the show were teenage girls, many probably GCSE Textiles or Art & Design students, come to gain a bit of inspiration and an insight into the industry. Despite the obvious marketing traps, most of my peers are happy to fritter their time and money away on useless trinkets. That's down to them. But let's not forget that although many teenage girls like to play at being grown ups, plastering on the makeup and wobbling along in high heels, they are still impressionable young people.

 

They are impressionable enough to think that this is right. Impressionable enough to believe that what they see on the catwalk is the norm, that "skinny" is desirable.

 

I didn't even begin to imagine before I attended the show, that in this day and age, with an audience of young people, who are facing enough pressures as it is, it would be the epitome of everything that is bad about the fashion world.

 

Think back to all those stereotypes about the modelling world you've ever heard. Models are all anorexic. Fashion is over sexualised. Modelling is a sick industry. High fashion makes normal people feel bad. You need to be a certain build to be a model. The list goes on.

 

I'm not saying that all models are dumb, or all models are anorexic. That's not true – not by a long shot. But from what I saw at the clothes show, I can't help but think that the industry itself encourages these stereotypes. The modelling world needs all the hype, otherwise where would it be now? It is an attention seeking enterprise, and we all buy into it like fools.

 

If I had known that the show was going to be the way it was, I would never have gone. I guess I just thought they would make some attempt at inclusion, considering the audience, and current age.

 

But from the very start I could see that few of the models were above a UK size 6. Without a doubt, none of them were above a size 10. In 2006, the Clothes Show Live claimed that they were banning models under a size 6. I beg to differ. From what I saw, "stick thin models" are still very much a part of the Clothes Show Live.

 

All the models were reed thin and extremely tall. I would go as far as saying that some of them looked extremely unhealthy. Legs like beanpoles, and generally looking like a breath of wind would knock them over.

 

Representatives said that they needed to "set a responsible example" to the young women and girls who flock to the show each year, but I can't see much improvement. The average woman in the UK is a size 14 – 16, yet heaven forbid that we should ever see a size 16 woman grace the catwalk in a world renowned show. Yes, plus-sized models are beginning to be more featured in fashion. But most modelling agencies count a size 12 as plus sized.

 

I can't help but think that any "plus sized" model taken on by an agency, such as Select Model Management who were recruiting at the Clothes Show Live, would be merely a token, the sole purpose of whom would be to fulfil a quota.

 

Using a few bigger models allows the agencies to turn to any critic and say, "Look, we use plus sized models too. We aren't discriminating." But we know they are. All model agencies say the same thing.

 

"High fashion clothes look better, hang better on smaller girls. Sample sizes are always size 00!" Well, then perhaps the sample sizes should be changed. These shows aim to sell clothes, overpriced though they are, to normal people. Surely, then, using normal people would be the best way to showcase the clothes?

 

One of the model agencies, Select, were scouting at the Clothes Show Live. I saw many girls eagerly hovering around the stand, my age and younger, hoping to be picked up by the scouts. Many of them went in for test shots, but I'm sure that deep down they knew that most of them would never make it in that world. I feel sorry for those girls.

 

I, being of the opinion I have outlined here, declined the offer from a chirpy scout to take a "test shot". I know many girls would call me mad, but I don't want to fulfil a quota for people who constantly put across the wrong message. Besides, I'm not tall or skinny enough to be a model, (I was wearing high heeled boots that day...) and you know what? I don't care a bit.

Apparently I am one of the only people at the show that day to hold this, in my opinion perfectly reasonable, view. Even my peers came out of the show gushing about how brilliant it was. Yet I'm willing to bet that nearly every single girl in that room, deep down, felt a flicker of unhappiness at not looking like one of those models.

 

Seeing fake perfection, the result of surgery and makeup, is bound to make any normal person feel bad. But it isn't real! This is the impression the industry likes to give, that skinny is ideal, and if you're normal, well, you may as well not bother.

 

At the Clothes Show, I saw girls as young as 11 looking around, watching the show with eager fascination. The fashion show itself, sponsored by Suzuki, was set out in the format of a journey through a department store at night, where the mannequins all came to life. Objectively, as fashion shows go, I'm sure it was quite good. But I didn't write this to be objective. I have a pretty clear cut view of the industry, as I'm sure you've realised by now. If you don't agree, what are you still doing here?

 

Apart from the models generally being too thin, too tall and far too perfect, some of the outfits were a bit... dubious to say the least. Typically, most of the male models, obviously ridiculously well toned in a way which reminds me of those athletes reported to rely on steroids to get them through the day, were dressed in normal, if slightly baggy and low slung, clothes – jeans, board shorts etc. The girls, on the other hand, were wearing some of the skimpiest outfits I've ever seen.

 

If this isn't a blatant example of sexism, then I don't know what is. I was admonished by the rest of my group for complaining about the industry whilst they were all practically drooling, so grudgingly, I made noises of agreement whilst they chatted about it later.

When in Rome, as they say, do as the Romans do.

 

Don't even get me started on the lingerie section. As soon as the models came out onto the catwalk I knew it was going to be suggestive at best and downright sleazy at worst. The men – wearing only black briefs which left little to the imagination – came strutting down the catwalk to the delighted whoops of many female audience members.

 

But the women were dressed in skimpy bits of lace, and all were wearing leather masks scarily reminiscent of blindfolds. It was pointed out to me by a couple of my friends that there were, in fact, eyeholes, so they weren't really blindfolded. This was small comfort to me as I cringed at the sight of the models gyrating against each other.

 

Is this really the sort of message that the fashion industry should be sending to impressionable young people? Is this kind of over sexualised show which should be displayed to the youth of today?

 

Unfortunately, our society has grown accustomed to this sort of thing, and not only accepts, but encourages it. I know I am among the few who take this view, but I can only hope that this article will make at least one person reconsider their own opinion.

 

And so ends the account of my first fashion show, and as I have said countless times, much to the chagrin of my classmates, hopefully my last. I hope never to have to sit through something like this again, unless of course, I am employed to write a scathing article about our society's decline into Western consumerism... Then I'm all for it.

 

Benedikta Fones

Title lyrics © Price Tag – Jessie J