By Cristal Jimenez

 

Is Europe truly the epicenter of fashion?

 

Personally, since a couple of years ago, and since fashion began to be a fundamental part of my life, I have rethought that question countless times, however, there are many more times that the media or social networks have spread and instilled in the audience that countries like France, United Kingdom and Italy, are the ones that dominate the fashion market worldwide.

 

It is enough to observe that every February and September, the world invites us to be attentive to the historical cities of fashion, because in the fashion weeks of Paris, London, Milan, and even taking into account North America with New York, is where the new trends for global fashion are generated.

 

The reality is that this approach has a historical context that refers to a colonial past. That is, in the past these nations sought new domains of regions to establish colonies, which included Africa, Asia, Oceania, and of course, America. And although this seems to be far away, currently the facts have not changed much, since a conquest still exists, but not in the historical way, but the new predominant tool for cultural, social, environmental, and economic conquest is the fashion industry.

 

Europe and the United States have taken advantage of their power as developed regions to create a fashion script where a hegemonic narrative predominates,generating domination to underdeveloped nations and subordinate groups. This script ranges from “the most superficial” such as the imposition of two fashion seasons, spring-summer, and autumn-winter, when certainly these seasons do not agree 100% with those managed in other regions of the world.

 

In the environmental area, it is evident that the global South is the one that faces the climate consequences, with fast fashion landfills that have increased in recent years in countries like Chile. While countries in the Global North maintain their luxury status, even though they are the ones that produce and propagate fast fashion. Likewise, in the cultural area, the dominant countries have dared to appropriate the cultural legacies of the dominated countries and classify them only as “Inspiration” without granting any credit.

 

However, historically societies have a fighting spirit, which has led them to want to change the status quo of social reality. In Latin America, it is happening with the revaluation of this narrative imposed by domination. Mostly, because for a long time, Europe and the United States have been the main source of “Aspirations”, granting it superiority and normalizing what these regions dictate and propose, but how is this change happening? Through the decolonization of fashion.

 

Decolonial fashion has set out to eliminate the colonial structures that have dominated the market, by celebrating diversity and truly recognizing the distinctive features and characteristics of this side of the region. This deconstruction of Eurocentric narratives is the work of every individual who creates or consumes fashion, from designers who should eliminate the desire for validation from the Global North and decompose the thinking that reaching the international market means achieving “success.”

 

And as fashion consumers, what can we do? In a conversation, Jose Forteza, Global Ambassador of Universo Mola and senior editor of Vogue Mexico and Latin America, commented: “It matters to me that people dress with Ñ, that is dressed in Latin American flavor, diction and message.” I believe that this is a thought that all consumers should adopt, since it means proudly wearing Latin American cultural identity and authenticity. Likewise, decolonial fashion promotes conscious consumption, therefore, it is essential to ask who is making the clothes you wear, under what working conditions they make them, and above all, if the salaries they receive are fair.

 

Undoubtedly the work of disseminating the approach to decolonizing fashion is being directed through one project at a time and now suppressing the prominence and superiority of Euro-American fashion means progress for the creation and dissemination of spaces for the representation of Latin American fashion, allowing us to rediscover and highlight the cultural heritage that defines us.