Brandy Hellville: What to Know as the Consumer

DISCLAIMER: This article is about a documentary, and not the author’s personal opinion or research on the Brandy Melville company

It is a guarantee that if you are a teenager at Rosemont, you have heard of Brandy Melville. Known for its cute and affordable clothing, Brandy made its debut in Italy and gained popularity in Los Angeles among young girls. However, while its infamous “one size fits most” policy is already a very toxic approach to a clothing brand, the experience of Brandy employees reveals a very immoral and cult-like workplace and company.
Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion was released on March 11, and quickly made its way to number one on Max’s top 10 movies. The documentary explores the toxic work culture of the store, and the allegations against the owner of the store, Stephan Marsan, through interviews with former employees and men who worked with the owner. Among other things, it discusses Brandy Melville’s huge impact on social media, the effect its small sizes has on young girls, the accusations that it mostly hires skinny white girls with the “Brandy aesthetic” to work in the store, and Marsan’s group chat where he would share racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic memes with the other men who worked for the store.
However, the film was originally imagined as something very different. According to Eva Orner, the director of Brandy Hellville, “I was very interested in doing a film about fast fashion. I thought I had been buying “sustainable” clothing for years, but realized the fashion industry is very opaque and unregulated and there is a lot of greenwashing. Clothes I was buying that were marketed as sustainable weren’t.” A few months after suggesting the idea, the producers came to Orner with the Brandy Melville story. “I suggested opening the story up to also include more on fast fashion and its global impact, and they were supportive of that.” In terms of fast fashion, the documentary includes interviews with climate activists and takes viewers to Ghana, where most discarded clothing from fast fashion stores in the US and other countries ends up.
While not only being an entertaining and interesting film to watch, the message of this documentary Brandy Hellville is something we should all consider. Everyone should try their best to know about where they shop, and be conscious of who and what they are supporting when they purchase items there. Not only that, but unfortunately, our world is rapidly changing for the worse. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “The pollution introduced by the fast fashion industry results in devastating impacts to both terrestrial and aquatic environments, with harmful effects linked to habitat degradation, proliferation of chemicals and microplastics in waterways, and the increasing impact of climate change from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.” We should all stay educated and learn as much as we can about the harms of fast fashion on our planet.
However, it is not enough to simply talk about climate change and overconsumption. Luckily, Eva Orner provides us with an easy solution: buy less. “We simply don’t need as much as we are buying. Buy smart. Wear natural fabrics, pieces you will keep for a long time and that will last. Swap clothes, resell clothes, buy vintage and second hand,” she says. “Get involved, become an activist. Find an organization you believe in and volunteer for them. You guys are the future, your actions will decide the future.”