I Want a Baby But I Work in Fashion (Part I)
Fashion comes with an ultimatum, and it's time we change that.
“I don't remember my son’s face when he was a baby,” laments a freelance designer as she remembers her early years as a mother when she was trying to balance her work and parenthood. Bitter realisations like this are not uncommon among parents working in the fashion industry.
Many of today’s fashion professionals are hesitant to become parents, and those who are, struggle to maintain a career that constantly makes them feel inadequate. Our conversations with in-house designers, freelancers, and brand owners reveal a common thread: they don’t feel like they own their time.
The fashion industry excels at pushing glamorous images of well-dressed parents who seem to do it all. Yet, there is often no explanation of what their practical realities actually look like. As is often the case in this industry: what we see doesn’t match reality. The image of the successful fashion professional we envision is often miles away from the experience of being a parent. This can be very confronting when you decide to have children and realise that your hard-earned career is more of an obstacle than a financial aid.
In the first part of this two-part series, we ask: How can we make big life decisions when we feel we lack control over our time and why does the industry push us to choose between a career and parenthood? The foundations of a fashion career are often unstable, but asking these questions can bring us closer to establishing personal boundaries and ultimately, autonomy over our decisions.
