reportage

porn?

poverty

t
PRINTED DREss, LoIN CLoTh aND ashEs; TRILby, babaTuNDE; hELENE ZubELDIa sNakEskIN Cuffs, ThaTs IT!
38
september 2012

LUXURY Fashion shoots in pooR LocaLes have caUsed an UpRoaR on Line. Marie Claire continUes the debate With a shoot oF oUR oWn cReative JUXtapositioninG oR JUst bad taste?

he term poverty porn brings to mind images of starving babies in developing African countries, their bellies distended, their eyes imploring, a swarm of flies buzzing vulture-like around them. Its a shock tactic, not always based in reality, thats been employed historically by NGOs to prey on the Wests guilt and compassion to garner sympathy and most importantly donations. And its worked. Despite this, the hard-hitting approach has been criticized for its emphasis on shock factor over solutions, and the suggestion that Western coffers are the only route to salvation. The term has also been used from a fashion perspective to point to the propensity of art and fashion directors to use poverty-stricken locations as a backdrop for couture and high-end clothing labels; a trend which has been criticized for its glamorizing of poverty. Earlier this year LOfficiel Paris featured Chanel Iman in a fashion story wearing couture labels such as Dior, Lanvin and Givenchy shot against a shabby-chic township background. High-end Pakistani-based fashion brand Sana Safinazs Spring/Summer 2012 Lawn Collection campaign showed model Neha Ahmed posing with Louis Vuitton bags
marieclaire.co.za

39

reportage

from left: Senait wearS shIRT, afRICaN MosaquE; DkNy PRINTED PaNTs, TIk LEE; TRILby, babaTuNDE; RED fIsh-sCaLE CoLLaR PIECE, DEMoCRaTIC REPubLIC; yELLow-aNDbLaCk wIRE hEELs, bLaCk CoffEE. ayor wearS EquIPMENT sILk shIRT, shoPLabEL.CoM; bRaNCh PaTTERN TRousERs, DETaChabLE CoLLaR, boTh LoIN CLoTh aND ashEs; kENZo oRaNgE wRaP bELT, CaThERyNE gaEyLa; oRaNgEaND-bLaCk wIRE hEELs, bLaCk CoffEE.

MaDRas ChECkED CoaT, ERIC LoubsER goLD NECk PIECE, ERIC LoubsER goLD EaRRINgs, aLL TIaaN NagEL; LILLITh gREy ChECkED DREss, ThaTs IT!; PRINTED fabRIC (woRN as TuRbaN), MaRIa MCCLoy; PaRIsIaN oDE ayERs-skIN wEDgEs, LouIs VuITToN.

and notoriously poorly paid porters. Twitter and Facebook users struggled to reconcile the insensitive use of porters who couldnt, in their lifetime of meagre earnings, dream of owning the aspirational luggage. The label designers flippant response? Were public figures and it goes with the territory everyone uses porters for luggage. No-one carries their own luggage. In a country so starkly and cruelly divided by class, critics felt that using the working class as a prop was in bad taste and brought sharply into focus the glaring differences between the rich and the poor. South Africa of course has a difficult (to say the least) socioeconomic history of its own. Racial segregation enforced by our countrys previous government is largely to blame for the crushing hardship and high unemployment suffered by the majority of our people. While hundreds of thousands live below the breadline, often with no means to support their families, many feel that wealthy consumers and insensitive magazine editors flaunt brands that could easily support households for several months. With this issue top of mind, Marie Claires fashion director Sharon Becker and photographer Alexa Singer shot the fashion editorial featured on these pages in Cape Towns Gugulethu township to explore whether there was validity to the criticism. Two models wearing garments and accessories
40
september 2012

PRINTED DREss, buRbERRy PRoRsuM; PaTENT-LEaThER hEELs, buRbERRy; sNooD (woRN as TuRbaN), IRaCEMa bouTIquE; aNa sRDIE NECkLaCE, ThaTs IT!; aPPaRTEMENT LouER baNgLEs, CaThERyNE gaEyLa.

by up-and-coming and established South African designers such as Loin Cloth and Ashes and Mantsho strike a pose against a poverty-stricken backdrop. Its beautiful. But is it appropriate? The debate is not entirely new. In 2008, a fashion editorial in Vogue India featured a poor, older woman, her front teeth missing, carrying a child wearing a Fendi bib. Another spread shows a family of three squeezed onto a motorbike on their morning commute, the mother swinging a Herms Birkin bag worth more than $10 000 (around R85 000) from her wrist. Why get local people to market luxury goods that they can never afford, wondered commentators. Distasteful and tacky was the conclusion of many. But Becker offers an argument for the juxtaposition: What if the decision to shoot in Gugulethu was entirely about complementing the fabric used by the designers who have been inspired by a South African aesthetic with the vibrant colours of the township? What if the fabric, styling, style and colours of these garments all reflected South Africas history? Why not take the opportunity to showcase the designs in a fitting location especially if some of the designers featured in the shoot came from these very areas. Would any of these explanations prove mitigating? Theres another argument. What if using locales like Gugulethu as locations for fashion shoots generated money for

the community? What if location fees were paid, the surrounding small businesses supported with food and beverages purchased for the crew, and the shoot wholeheartedly endorsed by the community? Well, in some circles, thats called slum tourism. A debate around the ethics of slum living being marketed, packaged and sold in a sanitized form was refueled by the runaway successes of City of God in 2002 and again in 2008 with Slumdog Millionaire. Both films were criticized for creating entertainment out of childhood suffering and struggle. More recently, the popularity of US TV series Shameless (featuring a low-income and dysfunctional family affected by alcoholism, drugs and crime), raises similar questions about indigence being prettied up for higher ratings. And of course closer to home, bands like Die Antwoord have taken zef to the masses, giving lower-class living both street cred and sex appeal. Do we perhaps secretly derive pleasure from viewing poverty? But when the commodification of poor circumstances is neither the agenda nor the intention can the term poverty porn still apply? Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood has earned

do we perhaps secretly derive pleasure from viewing poverty?

marieclaire.co.za

41

reportage
faux-fuR PaNELLED CoaT, MaRIaNNE fassLER; MasTIk MusTaRD DREss, sTaTus; DoLCE & gabaNNa woVEN bELT, CaThERyNE gaEyLa; NECkLaCE, LoVIsa.

DREss, MaNTsho; TRILby, babaTuNDE; CREaM LEaThER bag wITh baMboo haNDLE, guCCI; LIbERTINE sTRIPED wEDgE hEELs, aLDo.

SHANTY-TOWN CHIC?
From Africa with love. Vivienne Westwood poses with bags from her fair-trade accessories collection, Handmade with Love. The bags are crafted by women from some of Kenyas most deprived communities in Nairobi, using recycled materials. Westwood, who employs 250 local people and is aiming to employ 500, writes on her blog: Charity = dependence, Work = control over your own life. Local luxury. Chanel Iman covers the February 2012 issue of LOfficiel Paris. The bright and bold editorial inside features Iman wearing luxe labels Dior, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Burberry Prorsum (left), Givenchy, Ralph Lauren, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent. Shot against the colourful backdrop of Khayelitsha township in Cape Town, the spread is undoubtably beautiful but is it appropriate? Of her time in Cape Town, Iman tweeted: Once you visit Africa its planted in your heart forever.

a reality is still being captured by these shoots. and that is that our country continues to be economically divided - Zinhle
Mncube, blogger

42

september 2012

marieclaire.co.za

43

reportage

opInIon In poor TASTE?

MAIL & GUArDIAN tHoUGHt LeADer CoLUMNISt What is so discomforting about fashion shoots for luxury brands in underprivileged areas is not so much the insensitivity to the people actually living there though it certainly is but the way in which poverty is reduced to an aesthetic. Fashion photography asks us to admire the beautiful things worn by the model and the visually arresting way in which they are contrasted with the background. But there is no sense of anything beyond that two-dimensional page, because the purpose of fashion photography is to flatten the world and present it as surface. It reduces real social issues to set decoration.

SARAH BRITTEN:

a reputation for fighting for the underdog and shot her entire Autumn/Winter 2011/12 campaign in Nairobi, Kenya, using a rubbish dump in a slum as backdrop and context. Shed partnered with Ethical Fashion Africa to produce a fair-trade bag collection made from recycled material and provided training and skilled work to the people in the area her motto Not Charity, Just Work. Can the context provide justification? Most recently, the United Nations has teamed up with the fashion industry through an initiative called Fashion for Development (F4D) to fight poverty. Founded in 1996 by former supermodel Bibi Russell, the idea is to assist women in developing countries by creating new businesses and entrepreneurial opportunities within the fashion industry. According to the Ethical Fashion Forum, almost three quarters of the worlds clothing exports are made in developing countries. In South Africa, while we have seen devastating job
44
september 2012

losses in the industry over the last 20 years as a result of cheap clothing imports about 150 000 since 1996, according to South African Workers Union researcher, Simon Eppel in The Sowetan this appears to be slowing down. Perhaps some of the credit for the slow-down could be attributed to the success of the African fashion industry illustrated in part by the growing numbers of our designers showing on international catwalks and the employment created as a result. Might juxtaposing poverty with fashion and in so doing drawing attention to the local industry, be a way to improve peoples circumstances? Ray Chambers, a US philanthropist and humanist thinks so: I think the fashion industry will lead the emergence of so many of the developing economies. There is no denying that the industry is playing a larger role in empowering players like designers and seamstresses as well as communities. And there is nothing insensitive about that.

JEN THORPE: eDItor, feMINIStSSA.CoM It is exploitation of a landscape without wealth to generate wealth for a select few, and to sell goods to a select few. The current trend of bringing models and fashion in, and then taking the financial benefits out, doesnt sit well with me. But in the past, townships in particular Sophiatown were areas where fashion trends emerged and fashion was a big part of the jazz and music culture. So these are areas in which fashion has been part of the fabric of community in the past. GUGU MLAMBO MSOMI: fASHIoN

DeSIGNer, GUGULAM My take on the matter is that its artistic expression. As a designer, if I want to tell a nostalgic story I might want to use Soweto as a backdrop, like I would use [other parts of] the country in other shoots.

WORDS ZoDwa kuMaLo-VaLENTINE aDDitiOnal text saMaNTha sTEELE aND kaREN RobERTsoN PhOtOgRaPhS aLExa sINgER

EquIPMENT sILk shIRT, shoP-LabEL. CoM; DETaChabLE CoLLaR, LoIN CLoTh aND ashEs; fabRIC (woRN as TuRbaN), MaRIa MCCLoy; sPRINgbok Mohawk Cuff, MERChaNTs bouTIquE.

fASHIoN bLoGGer, zeefASHIoNIStA.bLoGSpot. CoM The point of the shoots would not be to make a mockery of those areas. After all, these areas are still part of South Africa. So I dont think that art (fashion is artistic) should only be done in economically sound areas. A reality is still being captured by these shoots. And that is that our country continues to be economically divided.

ZINHLE MNCUBE: