No, you're right. It's not the actual 'fashion' side of things, the glammed up outfits, and zany, left-field costumes etc that I have a problem with. It's the inevitable celebrity culture that seems to come with it. Regrettably the focus seems more often to be on the models these days than the clothing. I get that the whole catwalk thing is all part of the performance, and that seeing the clothing in motion, skirts fluttering in the tail wind, can be part of the aesthetic effect. But many of the outfits would be just (or, at least, almost) as successful as 'art' if they were instead just displayed in a gallery. I don't think that the additional artistic capital (to coin an ugly phrase!) which is gained from having the outfits on people, as opposed to on mannequins, is worth the kind of ethically-questionable culture that the high-fashion industry, in it's current manifestation, produces. In my opinion, the industry's dependence and emphasis on its human models is out of line. It's scarcely necessary from an artistic perspective and perpetuates this terrible potential for people to earn wealth, fame and status based on (literally!) nothing apart from their looks.
