In this article, Bernadette Morra informs us that Fashion Week in Toronto will be frequented by a number of international reporters. The arrival of such reporters will naturally mean that Canadian reporters may be given lesser treatment than they have been accustomed to receiving in previous years. This message in the article arrives at the reader like a wink from the author – a sure sign that the article is being addressed to a readership of fashion-savvy, haute-couture obsessed people. One way we can determine this fact is that very little is written about the way the fashion industry works, the way a small number of people monopolize the world of design – the way those people are the beneficiaries of very controlled investment. Moreover, the article doesn’t say anything about the problems faced by the hordes of textile industry workers, who will later be forced to mass produce the garments that will be on display. Instead, the author of the article informs us about the decorations that will be put into place at Nathan Phillips Square, saying nothing of the difficulties faced by the people who will have to put them up in the cold. In that sense, the author is not only writing to a community, but she is also being a-moral, because she is failing to report on the very concrete ways in which hundreds, if not thousands of people will be affected by the upcoming arrival of foreign press at Fashion Week.
Finally, this article reinforces the common perception that the way the world’s economy works is nothing abnormal or inappropriate. The people coming for Fashion Week are the clothing industry’s stars, no matter how they got there, no matter what they do and allow to be done to maintain their place.
From the Toronto Star, March 14, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/article/345824
