While shopping for the newest
styles, the characters never once stop to think about who made the trendy
products they love or the condition they work under. These four women spend
their days shopping and sitting in fashion shows and their night making the
streets of Manhattan their own runway but they have been chosen to only see the
shiny exterior of the fashion world, never opting to think about the women who
endure 11 hour days sewing their designer outfits.
And we aren’t merely scolding
fictional characters or trying to create a message where there isn’t one. The
production company of the television show and the movie has stated in interviews
that they have never once
repeated an outfit on the show. The amount of
clothing that represents is astounding. In addition, Sara Jessica Parker, the
star of Sex and the City, has designed and sells a clothing line, Bitten, that
has been dogged by sweatshop allegations since it was launched. The show and its
stars are willing to pay to be best dressed women in world, but what about those
women who work in sweatshops, are they being asked to give too
much?
Because the real story of fashion
includes 4 other women characters, women who you never see. Four characters
named Gloria, Olga, Carmen, and Hilda who are ending their shift at the maquila
sewing sleeves onto shirts at the rate of 1,200 garments a day-two shirts a
minute, one sleeve every 15 seconds, for only $35 a week. You won’t see these
women spending hours deciding what pants to wear, instead they will be agonizing
over whether or to pay for food or rent this month since on their salaries they
certainly can’t afford to pay both.
At the end of a long week, we all
want a little escapism and glamour on our movie screens. And there’s nothing
wrong with that. But after you leave the movie theater, we hope that you will
think more about the message the women of Sex and the City are sending about
fashion and consumerism. And about what we owe not only to our close sisterhood
of girlfriends but also to women around the world who are busy sewing and
putting together our clothes.
STITCH and Go Left have collaborated on some discussion questions to spark
a real conversation on the price of fashion. We encourage you to talk to your
friends about Sex and the City and decide what you think.
- Women are the primary
buyers of fashion. Women are also the primary workers in factories that make
fashion. Do we have a responsibility to those that make our goods? Is there a
sisterhood across borders? Is that the type of sisterhood that is important? How
does that relate to the idea of sisterhood between friends that is shown on Sex
and the City?
- What does it mean that
all of the goods that we buy are primarily made overseas in developing or “poor”
countries? How do we feel about the fact that our clothes are cheaper to buy
because workers are not making enough to live on? Does it impact your
shopping?
Written with Cassandra Baker and
Christi Matthews
