Fashion in History - Bridging the Gap - Essay Example

Bridging the Gap McRobbie describes two main things in her article Bridging the Gap regarding the economic aspect of consumption. In the article sherelates consumption in a proper way to females considering all its aspects and then she argues regarding the view that the fashion industry is a sector dominated by feminists. In this essay the main arguments given by McRobbie would be discussed in detail in relation to the evidences she provides regarding those very arguments. In her article McRobbie talks of consumption and she complains that all perspectives regarding consumption are not considered when the issue of consumption is discussed. She says that consumption by many is considered to be a feminist character and the different aspects regarding it are left untouched by many writers. The fact regarding the production of the goods of consumption, the money which accounts for the consumption are all missed when talking about it. That is there is no reference to the difficulties women have to face for the consumption of goods. The fact that the females actually consume goods not only for themselves but also their children and their house is not seen. She says that consumption is a wide topic and that females are considered to be the main consumers just explains one part of the consumption process. The ethnicity, gender and class are also missed upon when consumption is talked about. The problem of how poor females cope up with issues of consumption, the link between consumption and production is not considered. Thus McRobbie argues that a lot of major issues are overlooked and for a proper understanding of the consumption phenomenon, all criteria and facts regarding it should be seen. Many writers like Pumphrey, Felsky and Reekie have discussed regarding the fact that consumption has been dominated by females and Pumphrey and Reekie have analyzed the issue of consumption a bit ahead but again not all aspects have been viewed. With an advance in education, the issue of consumption started to get discussed in the late twentieth century but instead of giving a proper look to the matter, the feminists emerged with two divisions which were the materialistic and cultural feminists. McRobbie in her article discusses the stand of these feminists talking about the materialist feminists being the ones who talked about labor class that is poor women and the difficulties they faced in the production of products of consumption. In this group are included Tate and Phizacklea. Then she presents of the cultural feminists who according to her did not consider the factor of labor deeply and considered all these things to be of economic benefit and talked about consumption being governed by females due to the satisfaction they get from it. McRobbie argues that both of these groups present a part of the argument and their arguments if merged together would provide a broader view of consumption. McRobbie then critically analyzes the work of Celia Lury who in her book argues that production and consumption are two separate issues which should not be considered together. Here McRobbie presents a very strong stand and explains of her first hand experience. She cites the example of her childhood of her neighbors who were female tailors who stayed up all night completing their work till morning so that it could be delivered on time. She explains these women to be females too and tries to present that not considering their work means ignoring the concept of production of the products of consumption. She says that it clearly explains that production and consumption are closely interlinked. These females would first provide to production and the purpose behind this production is that these females can then consume themselves according to their needs. Hence McRobbie presents here with a very clear example of the link between consumption and production. McRobbie gives a broad eye to the issue of feminism as well. She argues that not males only but females also play a great role in creating gender and class inequality. To justify this she cites the example of the female attendants in the stores. She says that they are looked down upon by the middle class female consumers. These attendants if complained against for not providing help to their consumers properly are sacked there and then. She then talks about modernity in which writers talked about women achieving their freedom of wandering the streets towards the end of the twentieth century. Over here she presents a clear argument by the proof put forward in Sally Alexander’s work where it is clearly mentioned that the working class women passed the streets towards the end of the nineteenth century for going to work. This again shows the inequality and the closed eye that is posed towards these women. McRobbie then argues that so much writing has been done about where the middle class women go for the consumption of goods but nothing regarding the lower class has still been put forward. Differences between these classes have also been in department stores where only a certain class of consumers is allowed. McRobbie then presents the argument that females are considered to be the largest consumers. They are considered to consume for pleasure. But this thought actually limits the approach. A clear statistic is provided from the Social trends, 1996 in which it is stated that 65 percent of part time workers are female and 20 percent of households are run by single females. Considering this she argues that female consumers do not actually consume for pleasure. There is a broad perspective to this high consumption rate by females. They run households and hence they consume not for themselves only but for their houses and children as well. The fact that the number of things female consumers give as they have to purchase other things more important for their households should not be ignored. The last argument that McRobbie puts forward is that of the fashion industry. It is a feminized sector according to her with a very small male intervention. This industry according to her needs a proper integration between its different parts to make it a better place to work for all. She talks about the loopholes in the fashion industry and the exploitative conditions under which the females here work. This sector needs proper unions for the representation of the women. The interaction between the designers and the working women should be increased and the people involved in between them should be reduced. Fashion magazines should also take up the issue of the women who are paid low and their conditions should be put forward for the world to see. Government intervention is also essential to help this industry. Education regarding fashion should also be increased. McRobbie claims that students who study in fashion institutes are never taken to the factories and provided proper exposure. She says that if it is done this way they would get to learn a lot and the gap between the workers and these designers would get reduced which would be of help to both of them. The arguments that McRobbie presents are perfect. The way she connects production and consumption addresses many issues. She deals in a perfect way with issues of feminism, gender inequality and the fashion industry. If her arguments are actually looked upon seriously and her suggestions implemented, this would really bridge the gap in the fashion industry and help in overcoming the loopholes. Bibliography: McROBBIE, Angela, Bridging the Gap: Feminism, Fashion and Consumption McROBBIE, Angela (forthcoming) Fashion and the Image Industries London: Routledge. PHIZACKLEA, Annie (1990) Unpacking the Fashion Industry: Gender, Racism and Class in Production London: Routledge. Read More