by A robot baby was an unlikely guest star on the catwalk at the Schiaparelli couture show in Paris earlier this year. Maggie Maurer, who walked a few seasons before while pregnant, and shared last year breastfeeding backstage, was wearing a baby-challenging white dress.
It was a wonderful tender moment. “I had the ability to bring it to life because my own child is so big,” says Maurer, “to nurture it … it came very naturally.”
Although this baby was made from Swarovski crystals, flip phones and other electronic waste, real life ones were seen on the catwalk this season, in utero and out. At French designer Marine Serre’s triumphant show, a model carried a baby in a sling branded with the label’s crescent moon. On the New York brand Collina Strada, one model walked 32 weeks pregnant.
But for some fashion professionals, the sight of children on catwalks could “glow”, according to Natassa Stamouli, digital editor at 1 Granary. The global fashion education platform and creative network recently published new research showing just 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.
“We spoke to leading designers in luxury houses who hide the fact that they have children, for fear of being seen as not ‘committed enough’,” says Stamouli, “we heard many stories of HR departments rejecting d ‘educated candidate. because they might call them “his motherhood.”
Stamouli summarizes the industry’s attitude: “In luxury design studios, being a parent or wanting to be a parent, especially a mother, is seen as a threat to the only acceptable work profile: the ultimately devoted professional who fashion in his life.”
Maurer found her experience of being a mother in the industry “very liberating and very supportive.” But she points out that she is probably a role model. “I only work for one day, if you’re a designer, you’re working in a job that requires going to an office every day. Every designer I’ve worked with is a workaholic because that’s what the industry demands.”
Stamouli says that these expectations go beyond the highest positions: “In styles, writing and independent brands, it is now the norm to be freelancers, which means that fashion professionals have an end to financial instability and insecurity. Getting pregnant, going on a fertility journey, taking maternity leave, and being a mother requires time off, a calm state of mind, and some financial stability. Most fashion jobs can’t offer any of these things.”
Related: Mom’s say: Phoebe Philo’s necklace puts motherhood in the spotlight
The research involves sustainable fashion designer and mother of two Amy Powney, who runs her own label, Mother of Pearl. She once had a recruitment agent who wanted to know her next steps. “Part of the way I said, ‘I want to say again, if the opportunity ever came up, my kids come first and I won’t change that’.” The tone of the conversation changed after that.”
She believes that the expectation is that “if you want to be a creative director of a big brand, you just have to do the job, that’s it. I don’t think there’s a conversation about how you can be supported and be a mother and have flexibility.”
It’s a shame, says 1 Granary print editor Aya Noël, “because many of the mothers we’ve spoken to say they’re better employees and creative people after having children. They manage time more efficiently or have more patience or empathy. Our industry should not lose out on these skills simply because we have an old-school mentality in the way we structure the studio.”
There are anomalies. Phoebe Philo is famous for being the first designer to take maternity leave while being the creative director of a luxury fashion house. Not long after, however, she left the job at Chloé to spend four years raising a family. This season, designer Molly Goddard and Chloé’s new creative director, Chemana Kamali, made special efforts to hug their toddlers as they took a post-show bow – proving that the juggle is, for some, possible. .
Related: Is lack of diversity holding back the fashion industry?
Philo is often held up as a powerful example of a woman designing clothes for women, when male designers sometimes miss the mark. If the industry wants to retain this kind of talent, it makes sense to make the system more suitable for fostering parents.
There is a broader point here, too. This fashion moment for motherhood coincides with a worsening pay gap. According to figures released last week, mothers in the UK earned £4.44 less per hour than fathers in 2023.
The fact is that “catwalks are glamorizing the fantasy of ‘baby mama chic’ and birth rates among western women are rapidly decreasing”, says fashion and identity commentator Caryn Franklin. “Our gender-biased workplaces have never addressed the needs of their female workforce and, understandably, some modern women are choosing career advancement over childcare stresses and career neglect.”
What else could the industry do to support mothers? “We need a change in working mentality,” says Noël. “Dispel the cultural myth that creativity and passion can only exist through sacrifice. We are talking about mothers here, but this work culture affects everyone.”
