Fashion that celebrates all body types -- boldly and unapologetically | Becca McCharen-Tran

46,104 views ・ 2019-11-13

TED


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Translator: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Krystian Aparta
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As fashion designers,
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our decisions have the power to change our culture.
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We choose who is cast in our runway shows and campaigns,
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and ultimately, who is celebrated and considered beautiful,
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and who is not.
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Having this platform is a responsibility.
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One that can be utilized to exclude people
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or to empower others.
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Growing up, I was obsessed with fashion.
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I pored over all different types of fashion magazines
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at my local Barnes and Noble.
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To be fashionable was to be tall, skinny, with long, shiny hair.
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That's what I saw as the ideal,
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and it was reinforced everywhere I looked.
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And to be honest, it still is.
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I wanted to be like the models, so I stopped eating.
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It was a dark time in my life;
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my eating disorder consumed me.
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All I could think about was counting every single calorie,
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and waking up early before school every day
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so I could run a few miles.
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It took me years to finally release the grip
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that the eating disorder had over my life.
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But when it did,
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it freed up so much brain space
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to think about what I was truly passionate about.
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For so long,
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the fashion industry has worked hard to set an ideal of beauty
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that celebrates thin, young, white, cisgender,
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able-bodied models as the ideal.
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It's impossible not to be bombarded
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with images of models that have been photoshopped
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to where there's not a single pore,
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fat roll or stretch mark in sight.
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You don't need to look hard to find examples.
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This definition of beauty is damaging, dangerous and destructive,
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and we need to explode it immediately.
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(Applause)
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I'm glad you agree.
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(Laughter)
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One of the worst things I've realized over the years
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is that my experience with disordered eating
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is not an anomaly.
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In fact, it's par for the course.
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I think there's a study that says 91 percent of women,
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and likely those of all gender identities,
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are unhappy with the way they look.
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It's unforgivable
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that we live in a society where it's normal or expected
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for teenagers to grow up hating themselves.
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We've been fighting for fat acceptance and women's body autonomy since the '60s.
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And there has been headway.
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We have plus-size models like Ashley Graham
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and musicians with body-positive messages,
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like Lizzo, breaking into the mainstream.
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Thank God.
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(Laughter)
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There's brands like Area
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that have released campaigns without any Photoshop retouching.
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But we're still inundated with unrealistic expectations.
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I love this quote by Lizzo, who said,
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"Body positivity only exists because body negativity is the norm."
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So how do we change the stigma around looking different
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or not fitting into this narrow definition of beauty?
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I believe it's by celebrating beauty in all different forms,
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bold and unapologetically.
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But many fashion designers continue to reinforce
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this narrow definition of beauty.
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From the way they are taught in school
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and into the real world,
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they drape on mannequins that are only size four,
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or sketch on bodies that are super stretched out
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and not anatomically proportioned.
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Different-size bodies aren't taken into account
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during the design process.
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They're not thought of.
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So who are these designers designing for?
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But the conversation around exclusivity in fashion
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doesn't begin and end with size.
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It's about seeing people of all different gender expressions,
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different ability levels, different ages,
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different races and ethnicities,
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celebrated for their own unique beauty.
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In my own work as a fashion designer,
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I started a brand called Chromat,
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and we're committed to empowering women, femmes and nonbinary #ChromatBABES,
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of all shapes and sizes,
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through perfectly fit garments for every body.
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Swimwear has become a huge focus for me,
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because of the power that this single garment can have
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over the way people feel about themselves.
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We wanted to take our focus on celebrating all body types
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to a garment that's fraught with insecurity.
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On our runways, you see curves, cellulite and scars worn proudly.
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We're a runway show, yes,
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but we're also a celebration.
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I didn't start designing 10 years ago
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with the mission to change the entire industry.
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But the models we cast at the time,
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who just happened to be my friends who had begged to be in my shows,
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were so radical to some people,
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and, unfortunately, still are different or strange to some,
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that it became a huge part of what we're known for.
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However, inclusivity means nothing if it's only surface level.
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Behind the scenes,
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from the photographer, to the casting director,
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to the interns,
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who is making the decisions behind the scenes
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is just as important.
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It's imperative to include diverse decision-makers in the process,
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and it's always better to collaborate with different communities,
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rather than trying to speak for them.
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And this is an important piece of the puzzle
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that many young designers may not think about
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when they're first starting their careers,
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but hiring a plus-size or a transgender photographer,
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or a woman of color as your casting director,
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or a black makeup artist -- hey, Fatima Thomas --
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who intimately understands how important it is
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to be able to work with all skin tones:
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it's essential to creating a holistically inclusive output,
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like this one.
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As a fashion designers that do a lot of swim,
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we wanted to rewrite the rules around having a bikini body.
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So we cast a team of babe guards
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to enforce guidelines around inclusion and acceptance at the pool.
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Instead of "no diving" and "no running,"
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how about "celebrate cellulite,"
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"body policing prohibited,"
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and "intolerance not tolerated."
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And this was enforced by babe guards Mama Cax, Denise Bidot,
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Geena Rocero, Ericka Hart and Emme,
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all activists in their own right.
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I've always felt it was important to show a range of different bodies
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in our runway shows and campaigns.
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But it actually wasn't until recently
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that we were able to expand our size range in a major way.
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We first launched our curve collection
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five years ago;
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we were so excited.
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But when it launched, it fell flat.
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Nobody was interested.
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None of our department stores stocked above a size large,
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and if they did, it was somewhere else in the building entirely.
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In fact, one time our sales team said,
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"You know, it's so cool you have trans models
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and curve models on the runway --
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I love what you're doing.
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But when the buyers come in to see the collection for market,
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they want to be sold a dream,
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they want to see something that they aspire to be."
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Implying that our models weren't that.
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But I've realized it's so much more important
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to open up this dream to more people.
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I want the consumer to know
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that it's not your body that needs to change --
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it's the clothes.
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(Applause)
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There needs to be more fashion options at all sizes and in all retailers.
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So finally, in 2018,
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Nordstrom actually placed an order up to 3X.
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And this was a huge game changer for us
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to have a major retailer invest in adding these units,
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so we could go to the factory --
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now we go up to 4X, which is about a size 32.
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Having that investment
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helped us to change and realign our entire design process.
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We now have different-sized bodies to sketch and drape on in the studio.
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And if more fashion schools taught these skills,
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more designers would have the ability to design for all bodies.
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(Applause)
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So as fashion designers, it's our job to utilize our platform
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to explode this narrow and restrictive definition of beauty.
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My goal is that one day,
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teenagers growing up don't feel the same pressure that I did to conform.
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And I hope that our work contributes to the fashion industry's opening up
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to celebrate many different identities.
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Thank you.
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(Applause and cheers)
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