You could be forgiven for thinking that for Abercrombie & Fitch the answer is: ‘Frankly, no.’ The high-class American sports leisurewear chain opened its first British store last week in London’s Burlington Gardens. Once the purveyor of hunting gear to American presidents, A&F now has its sights set on Brit teens with big bucks to spend.
And how does it aim to entice them? Not just by stocking quality clothing but by filling the store with ridiculously good-looking staff. Rumour has it A&F has employed part-time models, and when I wandered in – for research purposes only, of course – certainly the gentlemen posing topless for the cameras in the lobby had the buffed bodies of catwalk veterans.
The shop was full of beautiful people, but it felt unbelievably ugly. The staff were there to act as eye candy, to tempt us in, but also as a reminder that – with the help of a simple brand – we, too, could be as desirable as them.
Our society is still selling our young people the lie that as long as you look good, life is beautiful. It’s easy to see why: the fashion industry is worth £20 billion a year and ‘youth’ clothing accounts for roughly a third of that. No wonder outlets such as Top Shop, New Look and H&M have secured the ‘talents’ of Kate Moss, Madonna and Lily Allen to design new lines for them.
No wonder, too, that fake modelling agencies are scamming thousands of pounds from teenagers, promising them work, extracting a fee for a photo portfolio and then disappearing with the money.
I’m sure someone once said there was more to life than being ridiculously good-looking; that we were to take our cue from the beauty of the natural world, to grasp that our Creator has provided us with all we need to be attractive. If only we could take it to heart.
‘Why do you worry about clothes?’ says Matthew 6.28-29. ‘See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.’
Jason Gardner
Reproduced with permission: © The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
