Julie Zerbo Vs. Fake News

A lot of law firms are still stone age, even the ones that are fashion law firms. They think that with visibility or with an opinion, you make yourself unmarketable to clients. And while there’s probably some truth to that, I’d rather have an Instagram and write opinionated pieces.

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I don’t want a conglomerate’s investment. I’ve run the website in such a selfish way for all of these years because I don’t operate it based on what I think people want. If that’s what I was doing then it would all be pictures of me in Zara, writing about how everything Gucci is doing is fabulous. I put out what I think is interesting.

For a long time it’s been the Federal Trade Commission and ethics in advertising. I’m really interested in the dissemination of less than accurate news and headlines. I’m obsessed with how fashion media views and values their readers. I just feel like there’s a total lack of respect.

I don’t think fashion is different than any other industry. I do think, however, the argument that "this is just fashion" is completely absurd. Fashion is an industry that touches so many lives. Whether you’re interested in it or not, it’ll affect your life in some way.

It’s a consumer rights issue, first and foremost. People should be able to go to a website and trust that what they’re reading is accurate. Consumers deserve to know when something is being sponsored. Viewing Instagram and social media as inherently or always sponsored, that’s probably the safe bet. But there are a lot of people who aren’t up on the FTC. Gen Z-ers, some of them just aren’t old enough to process what this could actually be. A lot of these advertisers’ practices are preying on uninformed people. I do this survey on The Fashion Law twice a year about which influencers are and are not disclosing properly. Going into it, being like, “Is this an ad? Is this not an ad?”—I can’t tell every time. And if I can’t tell every time, how is anyone else supposed to?

When it goes into pharmaceuticals or supplements, that’s a completely different ballgame.

It’s not, but the principle is the same, and the law is the same. Whether it’s a bag or a weight loss supplement, it’s about whether the practice is deceptive to a small amount of people. I place a lot of emphasis on the role of influencers in this issue. There’s a misconception that these are just girls posting on their Instagrams. No, these are sophisticated business entities that stand to make millions, in some cases. Their reach is so expansive that it isn’t something to be taken lightly.

I think it’ll evolve into something else. The bottom fell out of traditional advertising. That took decades, but everything is sped up now.

Sure, that’d be smart. Influencers are commodities, just like anything else in fashion.

That’s what we signed up for. It’s the small print that we can’t dispute in court, because we’re using a service and in exchange we’re giving all of this information. But would you give up your iPhone to not be tracked?

It’s a trade off. There is something really beautiful about social media. It does give us a platform. I never would have been able to start a website talking about the law without social media. But it’s also the bane of my existence. It reminds me of the nefarious practices of fashion and corporate America, and the scary views that people have.

It gives you a view of people outside your circle, which is something we’ve not done a good job of not engaging with. That can be a good thing, but it can also be scary. I don’t expect or even want people to agree with everything I write, but I want them to think about it. When people only read headlines or 140 characters, it’s not a useful conversation.

Media and journalism goes in waves. Now is a weird time, because there’s so much at our fingertips that we don’t know what’s up and what’s down. 140 characters or a headline allows us to feel like we know things. That’s scary.

Writing for a broad audience is something that I wasn’t prepared to do. I didn’t go to school for journalism. When I was in college, I edited an economics journal. Everything I’ve ever done has been really niche in one way or another, and I think maybe that’s The Fashion Law’s strength. Also, learning how to make The Fashion Law’s message and values attractive. Not so abrasive. Trying to balance the more damning pieces with ones that shed light on the good things that come out of the fashion industry. Because there are good things—there are so many talents, so many people making waves in interesting ways.

I wrote a positive piece this summer about Riccardo Tisci’s time at Givenchy, and specifically his couture work. That was my first introduction to truly modern couture. Obviously Raf Simons worked hard for a short amount of time at Dior to modernize couture, but, for me, Givenchy couture under Tisci was very innovative and boundary-pushing.

I think his legacy will be tied to his introduction of accessible items. I mean, Givenchy didn’t have an it bag before him. You didn’t see Givenchy on the street before him. I hope his legacy isn’t just Rottweiler t-shirts, but they’re demonstrative of something bigger, and that’s houses not selling what’s on the runway. It’s these after-the-fact, more affordable items. I think Givenchy is a really good example of that. At the height of his time at Givenchy, I remember going to Kirna Zabête and there were maybe three styles of dresses, but you would see people wearing the t-shirts.

Yeah. We’re not used to that kind of transparency in fashion.

I really don’t think fashion will continue to be relevant or trustworthy or appealing if it continues to try to use all of its resources to shield consumers from all the shady stuff that is part of the business. I think we might be entering a time where readers and consumers respond to transparency. Fashion and fashion media is in no way removed from the larger scale of our daily existence. Right now, in the United States, it seems like we’ve kind of woken up to the inaccuracy of the news and are demanding more from publications. That’s why The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, their ads are all about real news, accuracy, truth.

That’s the underlying theme in all of these mainstream sources. So, I think that there is a desire for truth. It goes back to the respect thing. We got to this place in journalism because we slept on real journalism. We took the free press for granted because we wanted it shorter and faster.

Yes, but only so the audience becomes bigger. That’s why I wrote a couple articles for The New York Times, because I wanted a larger platform. I think this is information that people deserve to know. I want to share it.