Australian Fashion Week Brings Us Shame… Again

Lisa Cox — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 01:47:22 +0000

Australian Fashion Week has again let us down and again, the world was watching.

As it is home to Australian Fashion Week, Sydney could be regarded as our fashion capital. The annual event is an opportunity for homegrown designers to showcase their latest pieces and let the world know just how ‘on-trend’ the Australian fashion industry is.

But this year, Sydney has again disappointing us on the world stage with a fairly predictable lineup of models and styles.

Instead, it’s little ol’ Brisbane that is leading the charge and (thankfully) letting the rest of the world know that we’re not as behind-the-times as the Sydney-based Australian Fashion Week would rightly have you believe.

The long-standing issue of fashion media, shows and runways not being reflective or representative of society is a debate that’s decades old. Severely underweight and often underaged females (especially) being used to promote clothes for the ‘average’ woman has long been the subject of international outrage.

As the author of two books about body image and the media and as someone with both an academic and professional background in media, advertising and marketing, I’ve written and spoken widely on these issues.

In the last couple of decades, I’ve also been paying close attention to local and international trends across popular culture, particularly in advertising and the fashion industry.

With the rise of social media’s body positivity movement and a growing group of influencers challenging stereotypes, there have been fantastic flow-on effects to the fashion industry.

The industry is now including a more diverse mix of models in various shapes and sizes, with different abilities and from different cultural backgrounds. All over the world, the catwalks are reflecting the community and the consumers.

Everywhere, that is, except Australia.

Sure, there is diversity but only ever in relation to skin colour or body size. While I’m thrilled to (finally) see this change, I’m disappointed that Australian Fashion Week is still failing to represent 20% of Australians.

Milan, New York, Moscow, Paris Fashion Week and others, have had models with wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs or other visual differences grace their catwalks for years. But Australia’s fashion industry is still too afraid to ’go there’.

I’m saying “visual disabilities” because it’s the only way of truly identifying a disability in a single glance. I know my invisible disabilities are much easier to conceal than my wheelchair.

I also completely understand that it’s not the responsibility of the fashion industry to include every single minority group that’s feeling underrepresented.

After all, it’s Australian Fashion Week. Not Australian Representation Matters Week.

But 20% of the population – that’s the approximately 1 in 5 Australians who identify as having a disability – is a relatively large portion of the community to ignore. Not forgetting the millions more family, friends and others who will support the brands and businesses that support their loved ones.

So to save Australia from this embarrassing international debacle comes the Mercedes-Benz Brisbane Fashion Festival.

If Sydney won’t evolve then Brisbane will.

This year, the Mercedes-Benz Brisbane Fashion Festival featured a number of models with disabilities and I was thrilled to be one of them, wearing Carol Taylor’s MeQ Designs (below).

Members of Brisbane’s fashion-forward scene (we’re still waiting for some to join us in 2019) have been leading the trend for more inclusive catwalks a few years now. I’ve been on the runway for different events and shoots on a number of occasions and only wish Sydney would follow Brisbane’s lead and signal to the rest of the world that Australian fashion runways are not as bland as they currently look.

So why is the inclusion of disability even an issue?

I’ll answer that from two perspectives.

Firstly, the disability community is not recognised or included across popular culture. I know that as both someone with disabilities and someone who spends a lot of their personal and professional life consuming various forms of popular culture. From mainstream media, independent media, advertising, the arts, fashion and more.

People with disabilities rarely, if ever, appear in any of the above. If popular culture doesn’t want to think about us then the rest of the population must not want to either. That’s just one of the damaging messages a lack of representation is sending.

Those sorts of messages, on repeat, day after day, can be incredibly harmful to the identity and self-worth of people with disabilities.

Secondly, I’d like to address the inclusion of disability from a business perspective.

Like many people with disabilities, I too am a loyal consumer with a disposable income and will support brands that include and represent me.

As I said in my most recent TEDx pitch, a 20% market share is an enormous one not to capitalise on.

So, back to Australian Fashion Week. Maybe next year we should hold the event in Brisbane because Sydney clearly isn’t keeping up. Times are changing and so should Australian Fashion Week.

Forget Paleo, Vegan, high fat, low fat… whatever. This is the diet for you! It’s guaranteed to improve your mood, boost your energy and even renew your relationships, in just minutes!

“But wait, there’s more!” As an added bonus, it’s inexpensive and incredibly time efficient.

The Media Diet is the diet you’ve been waiting for and it’s the only diet you need. Your self-esteem will soar and there’s no juicing, plucking or sweating required.

As a self-confessed media junkie, I’m on The Media Diet and would love you to join me!

When’s the last time you flicked on the television, opened a magazine or jumped onto your Facebook account? Yesterday? A few minutes ago?

On occasion, you might get that sugar rush from an uplifting story or inspiring news item. But then there’s the crash. Those comments, reports, pictures or videos that just leave you feeling a bit blah, uninspired and generally crappy.

“My isn’t like that so I must be doing something wrong!”

Hold it right there. It’s time you got your mind back into shape and went on a media diet.

As we all (should) know, quick-fix, food based diets are a waste of time (with the exception of food allergies or intolerances). Period. It’s no coincidence that DIE-t is spelled the way it is. But the beauty of a media diet is that you can adorn your life with what’s real and what really matters to you.

Your family, health, relationships and work you love should all be the main courses. Instead, you find yourself binging on unhealthy media, procrastinating on social media and filling up on news bulletins about every murder, sex scandal, neighbourhood spat, extortion and celebrity baby bump.

This sort of reckless media consumption leaves no room for the healthy stuff that will really nourish and fulfil you.

What really matters to you?

What sort of things do you want to fill up on? Quality relationships, for example, should not just be a garnish or a side dish in your life.

It’s important to understand that The Media Diet isn’t about living a Pollyanna-esque existence, wearing rose-coloured glasses and thinking that clouds are made of fairy-floss.

Some serious sh*t goes down around the world and I want to know about it. Although, I care more about the arse falling out of the Greek economy than I care about Kim Kardashian’s arse.

The truth is, I love the media and have been working in facets of it for years. It’s a great source of inspiration, motivation and education but there’s a difference between staying informed and going insane (read about my rapid media detox below).

Without the media I’d have no idea what is happening around the globe. Living with your head in the sand is no way to survive, for anyone – although it would appear some Politicians have made a lucrative career out of it.

Most forms of media offer us so many wonderful opportunities to learn, grow and (especially in the case of social media) save time.

But what if all that free time is just being spent scrolling through your news feed and listening to or reading yet another report that leaves you feeling deflated, unworthy or inadequate?

I think about bad media like I think about dairy. I can stomach a little bit but too much just leaves me feeling yuck.

As Joshua Rosenthall from The Institute of Integrative Nutrition, New York says, “One man’s food is another man’s poison”. Any good Dietician will tell you, no two people are alike so there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ diet that we should all be following.

The same can be said for a media diet. What’s right for me might not be right for you. A large portion of my work is conducted online so starving myself of an internet connection just wouldn’t be right for me – but it might be ideal for you.

There are countless benefits to a life filled with what’s real and what really matters to you but here are just a few:

9 benefits of a media diet:

Boost your self-esteem – Reduce the negative self-talk and regain confidence in exactly who you are in real life – Not what you do or don’t look like through an Instagram filter.
Reduce anxiety – Feeling chained to media can leave you unnecessarily stressed and even affect your sleep.
Restore your faith in people – Not every stranger in the street is a nasty, hateful criminal.
Reduce your tendency to stereotype – The media is full of narrow stereotypes about people and places. That part of town isn’t just full of welfare cheats. I’ve written about the media depicting beauty and disability here).
Renewed self-worth – Remember that your value in society is not dictated by your physical appearance.
Renew your passion for…
Boost your IQ – In my humble opinion, keeping up with current affairs is more important than keeping up with the Kardashians. It’s not about becoming Einstein but becoming more aware of the real world around you.
Improve the quality of your social interactions – Suddenly you will have more real and interesting things to talk about with others. Real feelings and emotions can’t be expressed with emoticons.
Remind you that you are enough, just as you are – It’s great to have goals or aspirations and strive to be the best version of you. However, overconsumption of unhealthy media can leave you feeling like you need to change, be it your car/appearance/partner or whatever.

Plan to make the media diet more than a passing fad. It can be a permanent lifestyle choice and may even include the occasional rapid detox – you can read more about my rapid media detox below!

Anyway, I should really get going. The news is about to start and I’m overdue for a media hit! #timetoroar

Love life,

P.S… My own rapid media detox

One way to approach The Media Diet is to fast for a period of time. A few hours, days or weeks. It’s up to you.

I did a rapid detox once when my husband took me away for a few days to a beautiful little cabin in the hinterlands. It was a surprise for my birthday that he’d been planning for months. Bliss!

The scenery was exquisite and the log fire was so romantic… but… there was no f*cking phone coverage! No internet, newspapers, television, NOTHING! How could he do this to me?!

I was fidgety and jittery for the first day without my media fix. On day two, anxiety and paranoia set in. “What if I missed a news bulletin or didn’t get a chance to like a picture of my friend’s cat on Facebook? Maybe he’ll unfriend me? Oh crap, I never replied to that email and now my clients will think that I don’t love them anymore. I wonder what Lorna Jane’s doing on Instagram? I need to know what the US dollar is doing before I go there soon! When is Matt’s birthday again? Facebook usually reminds me about this stuff. Fuuuuck!”

There’s a difference between staying informed and going insane.

After the side-effects of my rapid media detox wore off, I was free to enjoy our holiday. My sleep improved and I generally felt more relaxed. It was a refreshing experience to stop looking at life through a media filter and simply enjoy the breathtaking views – my husband and the landscape. This what real life was like and I loved it!

Warning: If symptoms persist, please consult your internet service provider or newsagent to cancel media subscriptions.

beauty | Lisa Cox OAM

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Australian Fashion Week Brings Us Shame… Again

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5 Ways You Can Get Lasting Confidence

The Confidence Diet

What really matters to you?

There are countless benefits to a life filled with what’s real and what really matters to you but here are just a few:

9 benefits of a media diet:

P.S… My own rapid media detox