This excerpt discusses how we ignore the people our garments have touched before they were ours. It touches on the dark history of the fashion industry’s working conditions, and how this issue has not disappeared just because it is no longer prevalent in the West.
I was particularly intrigued by the physical connections the excerpt briefly touches on. Corner opens the excerpt by stating, ” When we first try on a garment, we are making a direct and intimate connection with the person who has made it. We are also implicitly stating that we are happy to place it next to our skins.” I appreciate the word choice used and how it gets you to think about garment workers abroad outside the context of othering. The garment itself is the bridge between the two realities of excitement towards a newly acquired garment and those who likely slaved to create it. “Skin to Skin” is a very direct, visual introduction to this widely discussed issue. Visualizing the human skin that has interacted with the garment creates a sense of intimacy that is essential, yet lacking in the conversation surrounding garment workers.
Branching from the excerpt, the human intimacy that the history of a garment holds leads me to think about how fashion is considered a feminine industry, with mostly women stereotyped to enjoy clothes, and how garment workers are majority women as well. The history of a garment should draw unity and solidarity with our sisters abroad. Personally, this is my experience and cause of my stance against fast fashion- because I know I am enabling more women hurting somewhere. Yet I fail to see this in effect with the majority of women shoppers.
