In chapter three, Pullman talks about framing. He says it’s a way for people to “control an argument’s outcome by constraining terms, trying to force people to see the issue as one way when it could be others.” Immediately following he presents a couple ways to identify frames and break through them – Pullman’s Frame-breaking Strategies. However, before getting to specifics, he gives an overall tip. He writes, “the most general strategy is to shift focus from the object of attention to the context that object is in and vice versa.”
One of these framing strategies that struck me the most was the one about process to product. Pullman writes, “If someone is focused on the product, consider the process that created it. That awesome pair of sneakers you’re wearing: Were they made in a sweatshop?”
This reminded me of a project I worked on with a good friend of mine recently. She is a photographer, and she was looking for inspiration and ideas for her latest photography project. She was looking to get me involved since I had modeling experience from my own blogging, and I could get something out of the deal then as well. She’d get content for her assignment, and I’d get content for my blog.
My friend loves to shoot in nature, so we were trying to find a way to essentially do a fashion photo shoot in the middle of the woods. After brainstorming and tossing a few ideas around, we came to a decision that we would do a series of photos using pre-loved or consigned clothing, and we would tie it back to the idea of being conscious of the effects fashion has on the environment.
The fashion industry has a big impact on the environment as it is one of the top producers of waste. This is largely because of culture surrounding fast-fashion. Many people, due to financial reasons, preference, or whatever, choose to buy more inexpensive pieces of clothing than invest in a few costly pieces of clothing. Fast-fashion retailers quickly churn out trendy merchandise for low prices. This satisfies consumers’ wants for trendy items without breaking the bank for something that may not stick around.
So my friend decided to use her project as a platform to talk about fast-fashion, and I took the challenge to style outfits for her shoot with items of clothing that had been pre-loved because consigning and vintage shopping are ways to not “buy” into fast-fashion.
Fashion advertising is typically framed as “this is trendy! you can be trendy too! buy our trendy things!” However, like Pullman says, “that awesome pair of sneakers you’re wearing: were they made in a sweatshop?” We decided to break that frame and switch it up to “this awesome jacket I’m wearing: it’s been living in the back of my mom’s closet for 20 years!” The process to obtaining that jacket, amongst other things, was digging through my mom and dad’s clothes, dating back to the late 70’s, that they’ve held on to all these years. Just as trends recycle, clothes can be recycled too. That’s a fairly ethical process to product, whereas a dress sold for $12.99 at Forever 21 that was made in a sweatshop in Thailand is not.
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