Fashion Designers' Social Responsibilities

The fashion world definitely started off 2011 with a buzz. Besides the regularly scheduled fashion weeks of New York and London, fashion designers themselves made the headlines with their actions off of the runways. More specifically, John Galliano's seemingly drunken anti-Semitic rants in a Parisian café brought the personal lives of fashion designers into the spotlight. Fashion company Christian Dior's quick actions that terminated their formerly long-term relationship with the fashion designer brought both praise and criticism, and it is through incidents such as this that fashion lovers must reevaluate the role of fashion designers in society. In light of fashion label Dior's actions during the Galliano incident, it can be determined that Dior (and probably other labels) expect certain products from their employees:

1. Abstaining from racially hateful speech: John Galliano's allegedly anti-Semitic remarks were indicative of hateful intentions on the part of the designer. While "freedom of speech" might be argued as a "safe" grounds for the fashion designer to make such comments, the decision of Dior to subsequently fire their employee show that the while the company may permit the freedom of speech, it does not endorse such statements ever being issued. Dior's models and customers cover a broad range of people, including many of Jewish descent; racist, anti-Semitic statements by a well-known designer could be not tolerated. Similar to the situation in the summer of 2010 when reporter Helen Thomas made extremely anti-Semitic, bigoted statements that cost her position with Hearst Corp, a fashion designer's off-the-runway statements must not be hatefully issued against any people group.

2. Producing innovative designs: Perhaps a readily understood concept, fashion companies obviously expect their designers to produce original ideas that will inspire the sidewalks through the runways. Whether it is through a unique, flattering combination of textures, colors, hem lengths, or fabrics, a fashion designer is expected to deliver fresh content each new season. If a designer fails to deliver quality work each season, he or she can very well expect to find themselves without a job.

3. Speaking through fashion: While design companies clearly do not expect their employees to only find their voices through fabrics and to only amplify them through the runway, companies do seem to believe that the runway should be the loudest part of the designer's speech. In other words, if a fashion designer's actions or statements off the runway (in incidents unrelated to the fashion industry) are louder than their statements on the runway (and thus generate a greater amount of press interest), then a designer could find his or her job security at risk.

Overall, the job of a fashion designer entails more than just producing quality designs for the industry; it also includes leading a life off the runway that does not taint the image of their design label.