Aug 28, 20214 min read

Molly... Mae have 'girlbossed' a little to close to the sun

Love Island 2019 runner-up Molly Mae Hague has recently been announced as fast fashion brand, Pretty Little Thing’s new Creative director.

Fans have congratulated the 22-year-old star as she is ‘absolutely killing it’ in the industry at such a young age. However, it poses a question about the fast fashion industry as a whole, and, how Pretty Little Thing and other companies can pay someone with no experience a seven-figure salary, yet pay those who slave away, making their products, a pittance a year. The star has done extremely well for herself, with the biggest following out of all her Love Island co-stars. Molly-Mae signed a £500k deal with Pretty Little Thing after just coming out the villa, bought a house with her Love Island co-star and boyfriend Tommy Fury and for many is living the dream life as a ‘self-made’ woman.

The news first broke on TikTok, where fans speculated about Molly’s ties to the company. She had recently produced another collaboration called Pretty Little Thing by Molly-Mae instead of Molly-Mae X Pretty Little Thing. This slight change sparked questions amongst fans as well as a post on Molly-Mae’s story were she had bought a £37.5k Cartier bracelet in celebration for one of the ‘biggest deals of her career’. Later, on TikTok, Molly announced the news captioning her post ‘TikTok is like the FBI’. Her fans were correct in assuming she had gone into a senior position within the company. The choice of Molly for the business cannot be denied as a smart move for the company. Molly as over 6m followers on Instagram alone and is a symbol of aspiration for many young women. Molly’s new role as creative director will solidify Pretty Little Thing as a brand and create a loyal fanbase who will keep buying their clothes, Pretty Little Thing is sure to become a bigger, richer company after this decision.

However, from an ethical and environmental standpoint the company continues to exploit and destroy across the world in the name of fast fashion, everyone is aware of this. Yet, fans will continue to buy as they are proud of Molly, a career woman, a ‘Girlboss’ and a self-starter. Women’s success within corporations are often celebrated, understandably due to women’s roles in the past, but just because people like Molly Mae and Rhianna have become ‘Girlbosses’ doesn’t mean their choices and the way they got there are ethical or aspirational. Their success is at the mercy of thousands of young women in, not just developing countries but here in Britain, who are paid pennies monthly and cannot afford to live. Knowing this, is Molly-Mae’s success really empowering?

Everyone seems to have forgotten that Pretty Little Thing was being investigated for modern slavery due to their workers in their Leicester factories being paid only £3.50 per hour. According to an undercover investigation by the Sunday times the company was still operating during the first national lockdown illegally in poor conditions. National minimum wage is £8.72 per hour for those over 25, even the national minimum wage for a 16–18-year-old is higher than Pretty Little Thing's, although still low, at £4.35p/h. Pretty Little Thing gets away with this by paying apprenticeship wages, however this is not an apprenticeship this is slavery. How can Molly-Mae with her platform justify working for a company like this if there is no plan to change. Even with change Pretty Little Thing will still not be an admirable brand as its whole success is based upon exploitation and unsustainable fast fashion.

We have seen time and time again, influencers promoting over consumption and never wearing the same outfit twice. However, this is a new low, Molly-Mae has become not just a cog in the fast fashion machine but now one of the major players and decision makers, with a lack of experience and world awareness. Molly-Mae’s own personal brand pushes the idea that the amount of things you have, be it clothes, makeup, jewellery, or cars measure one's level of success. This mentality can only be transferred over to a brand that already promotes overconsumption. The quality of clothes produced by Pretty Little Thing are little to be desired, these outfits are made to bin after first use, in the current climate and the way the world is heading, this is simply unacceptable.

Yet, Pretty Little thing has over 15.3m followers on Instagram and loads of people still buy from the company knowing this. Why? Because they are sold a dream that they too can become a ‘Girlboss’ or influencer making their own money, they are deceived by capitalism and these displays of ‘aspirational’ wealth. Simply because it has been packaged differently doesn’t mean corporations are not trying to sell the same dream. We are at the point now that we know that we are destroying the planet, yet brands like these still exist and add to the problem. No person, even if they are a woman should be celebrated for making the world a worse place. We should celebrate those who champion for change and are conscious of environmental and social issues, the true ‘Girlbosses’ of our time. Feminism does not mean one woman's pain for another's gain.