Research by the media-savvy Clique Media Group found that wellness-themed articles on their lifestyle site MyDomaine saw a 235 percent increase in traffic; global social media platform Pinterest found that self-care searches went up by 121 percent; an article in The New Yorker stated that “the activewear market is now a fifty-five-billion-dollar industry”; and according to The Global Wellness Institute, wellness climbed its original figures and is now worth $4.2 trillion. It grew by 12.8 percent in a short two-year span. Wellness as it seems is the new trend. But what does this have to do with fashion?

It could be a coincidence that the wellness industry has received such an interest and consumerism rush. But on the other side of the coin, the luxury goods market has experienced instability and sluggish growth over the years. And currently, there is a retail apocalypse wave being experienced globally.

During the Business of Fashion VOICES 2016 conference, health and wellness was the main topic of discussion; and with a more thorough explanation, The State of Fashion 2017 [a report by BoF and McKinsey & Company] described the economic transformation being experienced is rapidly growing due to the consumer behaviour shift of spending their money on mind and body enhancing experiences than standard products. Health and wellness pioneers joined in the conversation like Dr. Nigma Talib, a naturopathic doctor to a number of A-list clients who states that “people want experiences... to feel transformed – not to continue to collect more clutter or more things”; and Joseph Pine, the writer behind The Experience Economy [which explores the next phase of consumerism after the service economy] mentions that these experiential feelings of self-care are resulting in happiness: “...purchasing experiences make us happier.”

Fashion – is making us unhappy.

It can be said that the economical and consumerism shift is also attributed to many other external factors. The millennial and gen-Z generation are now consciously aware of what they do, eat, and wear; Fflur Roberts, a luxury goods analyst at Euromonitor believes that young consumers are now valuing these inner transformational experiences [preferring them over material goods] because it is also affiliated with their status: “people want to show that they care about their bodies and self- preservation.” From an industry fashion point of view, the profound interest in the wellness scene is becoming the forefront of conversation because of the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 – therefore the industries protest for sustainable and social change; and also, the rising phenomenon of epidemic stress within the working lifestyles of fashion. Regardless of what is fuelling the wellness trend, it seems to be clear that in this present moment, everybody wants to be — well.

For the first time in a long time, the people are paving the way for the future of fashion. Ever so quietly, there is a silent protest going on but, yet statistics make it loud and clear: wellness is outpacing fashion by a milestone. If consumers are shifting their habits to flaunt their newfound interests in wellness by humbling indulging and investing themselves into various forms of self- care, then perhaps fashion also needs to follow suit. What would life look like if fashion was made to be well and good?

Practicing Mindfulness.

“The idea of mindfulness isn’t mean to end in perfection. But it is being fully aware of our habits to create change.”
—Thich Thein-An, 1975

The epidemic stress breakout has caused a notable amount of fashion designers to infamously leave the pressures of the current system. In 2016, designer Demna Gvasalia moved his Vetements studio from Paris to Zurich to pursue a much quieter lifestyle. Nicolas Ghesquiere abruptly left his creative director role at Balenciaga in 2012 after realizing the struggle of balancing an iconic brand’s fast-paced creative and commercial directions. In a 2013 interview with The New York Times, Ann Demeulemeester spilled the beans that she finally, liberatingly “didn’t have a rope around her neck” after retiring from fashion altogether. And when Raf Simons left his dream job at Dior in 2015, he admittedly did so after craving to focus on his personal life. He also felt the pressure to churn out collection after collection, which resulted in affecting his design process.

In the current state of the fashion working lifestyle, anxiety and stress are profound common experiential traits amongst its community. New Zealand based fashion designer Karen Walker mentions in her interview with Elle Canada that “designers and people in fashion are constantly anxious about what’s next and about all the new ideas you need to generate...you’re 100 per cent living in the future in this business.” Struggling to keep up with the fast-paced pressures, Walker pulled out of New York Fashion Week in 2016, after showing her collections for over a decade at one of the most infamous events on the fashion week calendar.

But fashion seems to be banking on the introspective wellbeing movement little by little, with its people embracing a slower approach – and avoiding physical and mental burnout at all costs. After Gvasalia moved to Zurich, he started to hop onto the mindfulness bandwagon – like prioritizing to practice meditation every morning. Khajak Keledjian, a founder of retailer Intermix, opened Inscape, a 5000 square foot mindfulness centre in New York after selling his company to Gap in 2012. And London-based fashion designer Jonathan Anderson worked with the idea of a homely sanctuary in a hectic reality at his spring/summer 2018 show, mentioning backstage during London Fashion Week: “media makes us hysterical, we have to go back to what we know to be humanly grounded.”

Like Gvasalia and Keledjian, Walker now too practices meditation, a mindfulness exercise she does on the daily. From a design perspective, she says it has helped her creative process as she can design from a “neutral, calm, unreactive place.” Mindfulness, which is the practice of paying attention to the present moment and avoiding self- judgment, has been an ever-growing practice that people from various walks of life are now using to increase productivity, improvements in reactions to stressful situations, and of course happiness.

There are many forms of mindfulness practices. One of the most common of all would be a yoga class where postures are flowed to breath cycles to calm down the nervous system. But another form of mindfulness practice that is rising specifically, especially for designers, is meditation.

There is now scientific evidence of the power of meditation with plenty of wellbeing benefits – and Bob Roth is pioneering the way with it. Bob Roth is the suave Californian, a senior meditation teacher/guru – and the chief executive of the David Lynch Foundation, which aims to bring meditation to the masses. He released his book Strength in Stillness which seeks to demystify meditation and raise funds for the foundations outreach program. He also happens to teach many A-listers such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and the fashion community including London designer Stella McCartney. He has also been a spokesperson for the Business of Fashion VOICES conference and podcast channel.

Roth specifically teaches Transcendental Meditation which is a technique to avoid distracting thoughts and promoting a state of relaxed awareness – by silently repeating a mantra whilst sitting comfortably and with the eyes closed. Whether the mantra is a word or a sound, concentration levels start to elevate, and the ordinary thinking process or monkey chatter is transcended.In this state, a practitioner is purely conscious, still, and restful. In Roth’s book, he mentions the power of TM to heal and transform, reduce stress, boost creativity, productivity, resilience, innovation, focused attention, sustained energy, clarity, and better sleep.

It seems clear that practicing meditation is like entering a portal into another realm – a calmer one in fact. In a recent published book and soon-to-be released documentary, The Portal speaks about how society has been trapped in “unsustainable patterns of behaviour” which is a result of outdated ways of thinking. Relating this into a fashion context, without a doubt the fashion industry has outgrown its fast-paced system and unsustainable lifestyles; if anything, the noted designers are great examples of human beings leading a way for change: to live life more happily, progressively, slowly, holistically, and close the book on a once very conditioned fast-paced life. The industry needs to start considering what the future of fashion will look like from a personal wellbeing standpoint, even if that means systems needing to backtrack a little – or a lot. Could a daily practice like meditation benefit the industry? Make the industry realise that they don’t need to work as fast? Or stress as much? Get rid of the irrelevant noise in their heads? And help practitioners become more creative? And help them appreciate their love for fashion like they use to?

Whether it is for university programs, small businesses or large corporations, if a new way of programming was introduced into the system of practicing meditation or any kind of mindfulness on the daily, how would that affect the current normalcy of working hours? And producing fashion? Will that mean the industry will work a much more slow-paced lifestyle? Contributing to slow fashion? Lower their financial status but receive back more freedom to live a fulfilling, happier life? The industry currently needs to educate the importance of one’s psychological, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. And it is perhaps the basic human experiences like moving the body, closing the eyes, opening the mind, and watching the breath – and making time for it – is what fashion really needs right now.