Caryn Franklin is a British fashion expert. She was former Fashion Editor and Co-Editor of i-D Magazine in the '80s and has been a fashion commentator for 32 years. A broadcaster, writer, director and producer, she has worked with many major networks to produce TV shows and documentaries. This included BBC's “The Clothes Show” which ran for 12-years from 1986-98. She has contributed to many national newspapers and magazines. She has four books to her name, including a novel. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honors for services to diversity in the fashion industry; she has also chaired panels and facilitated events for brands and organizations as diverse as Coca Cola, Meryll Lynch, Wella, and L’Oreal. Most recently, Franklin blasted the very industry that she has spent her life analyzing and promoting. In a scathing editorial for The Daily Mail, she wrote:
“…since when did adverts for women's clothes go from being fun, frothy and often empowering to little more than pornography targeted at boys and men rather than the females who buy the products? What message is this conveying to the generation of young girls who have grown up surrounded by such imagery? My fear is that the more we are exposed to it, the more normal it seems…This isn't selling fashion. This is selling nothing except sex, and it is being sold to girls when they are at their most impressionable by an industry whose influence is titanic and goes practically unchecked.”
First of all, her bravery should be commended, for her words will probably make Franklin persona non grata is the fashion world. Because, what she has done: is to make the decisive connection between porn aesthetics and modern fashion merchandising. She does this most convincingly by demonstrating how corporate fashion has taken on some fairly sordid allies; from sleazy photographers to talentless and crass pop-stars; all for the sake of profits. In her estimation, art has lost out to artifice. Much of the blame she places solely upon “the rise of internet porn.” In her article, she doesn’t quite fully flesh-out her point, but I think its spot on. As in all sectors of pop-culture, and entertainment, which includes fashion, the marketplace is extremely crowded and cluttered with thousands of choices; since the advent of the web. There is also a wide range of quality, yet, in order to rise above the chaos - there usually has to be the ability to shock; to stand out. The current penultimate example is the pedo-chic performance of Miley Cyrus at the 2013 VMA Awards: who managed to even out-scandalize the queen of shock herself (Lady Gaga; who opened up the show almost completely naked.) It’s become the new benchmark. In the end it’s tragic. Prophetically, Franklin ends on this rather somber note: “Fashion is powerful. Fashion leads opinions. It conditions how men, women, girls and increasingly boys view their world. It sells much more than clothes; it sells values and standards.”