We hate our bodies. What does fashion have to do with it?
Reflections #1: A conversation with esteemed psychoanalyst Susie Orbach
We’re excited to launch a new column in our newsletter: “Reflections", a series that explores the intersection of fashion, identity and socio-cultural impact. Through conversations with thought leaders in fields beyond fashion, we consider a broad range of themes including mental health, habit formation, ideas around failure and success, behavioral sciences, happiness, addiction/workaholism, slow productivity, gender equity and more. The aim: to investigate more deeply why we do the things we do within fashion, and how we can potentially change them for the better.
Fashion has always had a great influence on ideas around self image, the body and its modifications, gender formation – this is nothing new. But right now, it’s on steroids. In the past three decades, fashion has become deeply established as a form of entertainment – with its tentacles gripping cultural and business fields around it – while continuing to shape how we ‘fit in’ on the relational plane. But what is the significance of identity formation and how we dress on a wider social level? What does it mean if there’s hardly any respite from being presented with idealised bodies? How does body psychology come into the frame of the image sold to us everyday? What responsibility could a new generation of designers and image makers take?
We set out to answer some of these questions. For this first edition of Reflections, we had the privilege and pleasure of speaking with the UK’s leading psychotherapist, Susie Orbach. Susie has been making significant contributions within the field for decades. A child of the women’s liberation movement in the 60s, she co-created The Women's Therapy Centre in 1976 and The Women's Therapy Centre Institute, a training institute in New York, in 1981. In the time between then and now, she has written over twelve books including Fat is a Feminist Issue, Bodies, and In Therapy. She is also a frequent columnist for the Guardian. With her deep understanding of themes such as body image, eating disorders, and transgenerational trauma, we thought of noone better suited to kick off this series. Susie received us in her Hampstead home, which is also her office. A stunning piece of modern architecture, flooded with light, it certainly helped clear the mind to discuss pressing issues.