MENTAL HEALTH
Maria Molina- Executive Life Coach
Tackling associated Stereotypes within the fashion industry.
- Do you think there is pressure for women to be perfect within the industry?My response is yes, there is pressure, but in a very unconscious sense.It is a gradual way in which you are born and there are expectations and standards already formed, which you don't question or choose for yourself. There is a very unconscious part of the pressure on women, especially when we are younger and we don't have the capacity to question ourselves or wonder about it.We go into automatic mode, without thinking, without questioning the expectations and standards of beauty already established in society. To show off you have to suffer''.If you are not a beautiful woman; slim, tall, without wrinkles or cellulite... you won't fit in those standards.... If you want your clothes to fit you, then slim down!Wanting to fit into something that the fashion industry emphasises is undervaluing yourself and not liking oneself as you are.And this connected to the new era of digitalisation where especially teenagers who still don't know what is real or not and more so with Photoshop, they focus on a reality that is not real where they trigger negative behaviours about themselves.
- How do you think fashion advertising affects self esteem and body dissatisfaction?
- Do you Think the fashion industry is tackling this issue ? How? There is still a long way to go. But we are becoming more aware of everything; mental health, more connected to women, individual recognition .... Fashion is trying to adapt to every woman's differences in the sense of acceptance, it is following the process but the fashion industry is the one that dictates and sets the standards of beauty so they have a huge responsibility and they should use their influence in a positive way. I would like to stress that what fashion is doing now, in order not to be left behind, is not adapting to women in a genuine way but to be able to sell, I think it is inauthentic. From my point of view.
- What do you think is empowering about being a female?I think the most important thing is to work and get to know oneself, to put the focus on the inside.
Don't give power to the external factors and to what is expected of you, but honestly wonder what you really want.
To accept yourself as incomplete, and by accepting yourself in this way and assuming that as a human being we are not perfect and in constant change, that is when you feel free and from that incompleteness, you can feel complete.
To stop giving power to that fictitious physique and to appreciate what is really valuable as human beings; diversity and uniqueness. Understanding yourself and knowing what your needs are. And above all, the emotional management, because when we feel unpleasant emotions and we start to boycott ourselves, that means that there is an unsatisfied necessity. Knowing yourself is key.
5. How can women address the stereotypes associated with being a woman in the fashion industry? Question whether the standards established by society is the actual measure in which you want to see yourself, separate whether you are choosing them as your own or just to fit in.
Then you will see if you lack self-acceptance, thus you may work on yourself.
Accept yourself as you are and not go by what society dictates. Build your own standards, learn and unlearn. Choose what you want to feel comfortable and free with yourself.
This is very much connected to understanding your inner self and learning how you are and what you want, because otherwise you are a slave to a society with fictitious standards.
Learn to let go, for which you need to be brave and courageous as you will get a lot of criticism. How many times have we dressed up in ordert for someone to tell you how beautiful you look? Instead of actually wearing what you feel most comfortable in and mainly wanted to wear?
We have to take the wheel of your own life. Express the art within you.
6. Do you think women are often questioned in all aspects of their lives?
Absolutely. Women are in the spotlight most of all. When a woman is a teenager, there is so much pressure to please and fit into society, but once a woman reaches a stage in her life she is constantly criticised.
Either you are a very strong woman, with a well-structured mind and a rock-solid self-esteem, it can affect you in a relentless way. I think there is little freedom that is very much connected to a male-dominated society that has not yet evolved in terms of overthrowing inherited beliefs.
We have assumed many different roles that are impossible to maintain and do to perfection; wonder women, mother, sister, working girl.... There is a constant pressure for women to be perfect.
Stay at home mum- Little ambition
Working women- Iron Women
If she takes care of herself- she dislikes ageing, denies herself and is shallow.
Does not want to have children - selfish.
If she doesn't take care of herself - Lazy.
Trying to be someone who is far from who you really are takes you away from the possibility of accepting yourself and listening to your body and going within the natural course of oneself. The fact that you are competing with yourself to fit in with society and the standards set, there is a distortion of what is real with what is established by society. That comparison makes us focus on those lacks and those 'flaws' and if the focus is so much on the negatives at the end you will distort your own body.
You are never satisfied, it is never enough, you are always looking for that superficial change. This happens because you don't value yourself, you don't accept yourself and you are determined to be something you are not. To be more loved, to be more attractive, to feel more recognised and accepted.
And when you give so much power to all this, you stop working on yourself and you forget about all the positive qualities you have. It is a constant scarcity, a vicious loop of fictitious perfection... a search that is unrealistic and generates high health costs such as illnesses associated with a negative relationship with food that triggers serious problems.