Body acceptance advocate, Insta Influencer and Sunday Times best selling author Alex Light did an inspiring job of leading our Fashion, Media and BDD panel session as part of the proceedings at The BDD Foundation 10th anniversary international conference in the 900 seater auditorium at UCL on Saturday 4th November 2023.
Many young people with lived experience of Body Dysmorphic Disorder were present to join a discussion on how what we see in fashion and media impacts body image, mental health and BDD.
BDD is on the rise amongst adolescents, and in a world where this terribly debilitating and complex mental health condition is often (and wrongly) dismissed as a narcissistic personality trait, this panel was produced and assembled by Asociat to look at the role fashion and media play as both a force for bad and for good. Areas of debate included:
- Is the way we sell fashion a contributory factor in the rise of BDD?
- The impact of filtered imagery on mental health
- How the fashion industry can be a part of the solution
The panel featured Jennifer Savin, documentary maker and features editor from Cosmopolitan UK, fashion designer and BDD campaigner Tilly Kaye, Nicholas Mazzei, whose past roles in fashion include ASOS and Zalando and Professor David Veale, who specialises in the treatment of BDD for both the Nightingale Hospital and in the NHS at the South London and Maudsley Hospital Trust.
We were delighted and proud to play our part in a very successful day.
Other conference content included:
- Professor Paul Gilbert OBE: Compassionate Empty Chair Work
- Dr Rob Willson & Professor David Veale: BDD and Comparison
- Dr Amita Jassi & Dr Benedetta Monzani: Bullying & ‘Feeling Different’
- Professor Roz Shafran: Perfectionism
- Chris Trondsen: BDD in the LGBTQ+ Community
Story: Alex Light, Fashion and BDD.
More stories about the BDD Foundation here.
