Many cite difficulties of juggling a family with job demands and a lack of industry support
A robot baby was an unlikely guest star on the catwalk at the Schiaparelli couture show in Paris earlier this year. Maggie Maurer, whoIt was a surprisingly tender moment. “I had the ability to bring it to life because my own child is that size,” says Maurer, “to give it nurturing … came very naturally.”
But for some fashion professionals, the sight of babies on catwalks might “sting”, according to Natassa Stamouli, digital editor atlaying bare how difficult it is to be a mother in the industry. They interviewed female designers and found that the majority cited the lack of support for motherhood as a prominent example of gender bias in fashion.
Stamouli sums up the industry attitude: “In luxury design studios, being or wanting to become a parent, especially a mother, is seen as a threat to the only acceptable working profile: the ultimately devoted professional whose life is fashion.”Maurer found her experience of being a mother in the industry “incredibly liberating and incredibly supportive”. But she points out that is probably because she’s a model.
She believes there’s an expectation that “if you want to be a creative director of a big brand, you’ve just got to do the job, that’s it. I don’t think there is a conversation about how you could be supported and be a mother and have flexibility.”