The CFDA

     The CFDA, or Council of Fashion Designers of America, is a non-profit trade organization. The Council has grown a ton since its establishment in 1963, pushing for progression in the fashion industry in America. The goals of the CFDA are along the lines of furthering fashion as an American culture, advancing standards and ethics in the industry, and promoting and improving public understanding of fashion arts.

[CFDA Current President Diane von Furstenberg with Vogue Editor Anna Wintour]

Johanna Blakley: Lessons From Fashion's Free Culture

   The following TED video is a speech from Johanna Blakley. She is the Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center, which is a media-focused think tank at the University of Southern California. Blakley spends much of her time exploring how our entertainment interacts with our political, commercial and social habits. She is especially interested in the surprising impact of intellectual property rights on innovation. She organizes conferences around the lack of creative ownership in fashion as well as technology and the ownership of creative content.

Designing Controversy

     Provocative ideals on clothing. How far should freedom of speech go? Some companies have been called out for their controversial slogans on tee shirts, and some have had to cancel styles. However, there have been plenty of others who pride themselves on what they might say is "making a statement". 

      I came across an article which talks about the first image below. It is from an Urban Outfitters advertisement featuring a girl that appears to be in her teens wearing a tee shirt which says in fuzzy letters "I drink you're cute". Many complained that this encourages teen drinking and teen sex.

[Image Source]