It has been a while since it was just me and my readers. Lately, Fashion Fridays has been booming with great interviews featuring influential people in the entertainment / fashion industry. When people think of the fashion industry, I'm sure glitz and glamour come to mind but its time to talk about the dark side of fashion. Over the past couple of months there have been several reports of bullying going on in the schools as well as via internet.

Earlier this month, A 22 year old fashionista named Ashley Riggitano decided to end her life on her birthday by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. This story hit close to home because she was a recent graduate of my alma mater, LIM College (NYC). Ashley worked for some of the biggest names in fashion such as Tommy Hilfiger and Nicole Miller. Ashley had also started her own jewelry line called Missfits. According to the New York Post, prior to jumping off the bridge, she left her purse on the ground which included a suicide note. In this note she expressed that there were 5 girls in the fashion industry that had been bullying her and that this was her second attempt to kill herself. Not only did her suicide happen on February 6^th , but earlier that day one of her fashionista peers was reported to have been bashing her via facebook. Ashley being one of the many victims of cyber bullying decided she couldn’t take anymore and now she is gone.

There are so many times where we find ourselves upset with someone and make a status or a tweet about them not knowing who’s reading and how it will impact them. Being in such a competitive industry , I am pretty sure these girls had no idea that they pushed Ashley to that. Now they have to live knowing that they were the cause of a girl’s death.

It is not ok to attack someone via internet or in person. Here at Fashion Fridays , I want to know that my readers will think the next time they decide to post something negative about a peer on a social network. We never know someone’s mindset and what they are going through outside of what we bring to them.

The fashion industry is very cut throat, but there should be a no tolerance punishment for those that cause acts of bullying. We want to create awareness of how devious and vindictive people can be just to climb the fashion industry ladder. It’s not worth anyone’s life.

Think before you type. And in the words of my mom and I’m sure everyone else’s parent , “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all” (or type it at all).

L O V E

MISS.CNH