Students to Explore the Role of the Fashion Industry on Mental Health
Posted by See Me, 13 March 2015
SCHOOL pupils are to team up with models and designers to examine the role the fashion industry has on young people’s mental health.
Lauder clothing company Jaggy Nettle are working with See Me and Edinburgh Charity Libertus Services to explore issues around body image and young people.
The six month project will see 13 to 15 year old school pupils meeting with professional models, designers, printers and marketing executives to examine the fashion industry’s role in defining beauty and success.
Young people with lived experience of mental health problems, particularly anorexia, bulimia, depression and self-harm, will lead the project in exploring how the industry can impact on mental health.
It will also explore whether or not the stigma and discrimination around these mental health problems can stop young people from speaking out and seeking help.
The project will work to debunk the myths around fashion advertising to give pupils more realistic ideas on body image.
Students will then create their own range of t-shirts, with positive messages about mental health, and design and run their own advertising campaign to promote the t-shirts to a global audience.
The t-shirts will be designed and created with high end Scottish clothing company Jaggy Nettle.
The project has been funded by See Me, Scotland’s programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination, as part of the Community Innovation Fund programme.
We are building a movement of people and organisations all over the country whose collective action will help to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with poor mental health.
The work by Libertus and Jaggy Nettle is vital in bringing this movement to Lothian and Borders.
Jason Lee from Jaggy Nettle said: “One in ten young people experience mental health issues in one shape or form.
“25 years ago I would maybe pick up my big brothers Face magazine once a month and feel a strange deflation as I read about and looked upon the otherworldly black and white chiselled beauties trailblazing culture and identity. However I could just put it down and crack on with my day.
“When you consider the level of cognitive and visual stimulation young people now encounter and engage with throughout the day – it is completely unique.
“No other generation has faced it and the consequences are as yet unknown.
“This project is about getting young people talking about their feelings.
“We can all remember that pressure to conform and be accepted that comes with being 13 or 14, being slightly awkward and having typically ill fitting clothes and bad skin.
“The last thing you need is contorted images of physical and lifestyle perfection being sold to you by everyone from fashion through phone companies.”
Judith Robertson, See Me programme director, said: “We are passionate about ending the stigma and discrimination that is unfairly attached to having a mental health problem.
“This project is an interesting way of tackling the issues that young people face, which have a real impact on their mental health.
“We know that young people feel like they can’t speak out if their experiencing mental health problems. In turn this can make them more unwell.
“We hope this project can open up some of these conversations and tackle the self-stigma faced by many young people.”
If you have an idea for a project which can tackle the stigma and discrimination around mental health and would like to apply for funding, click here.