Fashtivism: Does the ends justify the means?
In May 2022, Australian luxury brand Camilla & Marc launched their ‘Ovaries: Talk About Them’ campaign to raise much-needed funds for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and awareness for this insidious disease. “Every dollar from the sale of these limited-edition t-shirts, hats, totes and crews is donated directly to ovarian cancer research, to make an early detection test a reality within the next four years,” the brand said. A noble cause and the third year in which the brand had embarked on such a campaign.
I happily forked out the $110 dollars for a cotton t-shirt with the words ‘OVARIES Talk About Them’ emblazoned on the front. But as the t-shirt continues to sit unworn in my drawer, I’ve been reassessing my decision ever since. Not the charity part, of course. Ovarian cancer is among the least detected in its early stage and hence comes with a high mortality rate. Research to develop an early detection test is critical and scientific research is expensive, so the OCRF needs all the help it can get. But couldn’t I have just donated the money directly to the organization instead?
If a cause sits alone with no-one to wear it, does it make a sound?
A mere three months later, on my scrolling through the online consignment store the RealReal (from where I buy most of my clothes these days), I noticed several Camilla & Marc ‘Ovaries’ products for sale, meaning their former owners had already symbolically and literally discarded the message (probably because as far as social media was concerned, the campaign was over). It just goes to show how short our attention span is for this sort of thing.
For the merchandise sold, the RealReal makes a profit, and the seller earns a tiny commission. The charity, however, doesn’t see a cent and the second-hand buyer can do all the virtue signaling they want. At a discount.
Fashtivism is complicated
It’s a relevant discussion to be had this week, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Balenciaga’s creative director Denma as an ambassador for United24, the primary fundraising platform in support of the war-ravaged country to support refugees and rebuild critical infrastructure. Wouldn’t you know; the brand has released a t-shirt this Thursday and 100 percent of net profits will go exclusively to the humanitarian Rebuild Ukraine Direction for helping refugees.
At €200, it’s very much entry-level Balenciaga, but given the legions of Denma faithful will splash out much, much more on anything stamped with the brand’s logo, you have to wonder how many sales of the Ukraine t-shirt will be authentic or just another piece of Denma to add to their collection.
Then again, does that matter? In the age of fashion activism, do the ends justify the means? I’d be inclined to think they do if fashion weren’t such an enormous contributor of waste. (As a sidenote: I do not think either Camilla & Marc or Denma themselves are being disingenuous. They are fashion designers, after all, and we use the skills we’re given to hopefully make the world a better place.)
Thanks to social media, we’ve become an increasingly performative species and if that’s what it takes to get our jaded asses to care about something, I’m all for it. I do have to wonder, though, how many of Denma’s Ukraine t-shirts will find their way onto the RealReal when the war ends. And when the cause is no longer relevant, where does that merchandise end up? Unfortunately, probably in landfill.
