Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion
Fast fashion and exploitation. The popular teen brand Brandy Melville comes under the microscope in a new documentary feature premiering at SXSW 2024 Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion. In the film, former employees discuss how they got hired, the company’s everyday practices, and the fallout of their exposure.
Brandy Melville began in Italy as a t-shirt company. Once it moved to the US, the aesthetic morphed into the California bohemian, long-haired, skinny girl. The company uses genius tangible marketing, specifically Instagram, and teens take pictures of their peers. Their hiring practices sound like a copy and paste of Abercrombie & Fitch. Although, Brandy takes it a step further. The few girls of color could only be found in the stock room or relegated to the register.
Then Stefan began buying the clothes off their employee’s backs to mass produce replicas as their own product, often stealing graphics from other artists globally. The pending lawsuit details include the discovery of a group chat. Former Store Owner and Former VP, whose identities are anonymous and played by actors, speak about the most offensive, anti-Semitic, sexually explicit memes and photos in the thread. Managers would take “Style Photos” on each shift sent via text to Stefan. It is all gross.
The United States and Europe send billions of pieces of fashion to Ghana. The environmental impact is genuinely shocking. We’ve all heard stories about it, but witnessing the mounds of discarded clothing, the chemicals in the water, and the poisoning of our food. The footage of the Ghanaian beaches looks fake. It’s an atrocity.
Brandy Melville and their continued fans do not care. Influencers want free swag, the employees clout, and Stefan wants money. They are the worst of humanity. Most people want to feel like they are making positive choices with their purchasing power. We know fast fashion means unethical practices and The West is just as guilty as Stefan. Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion might make you think twice about purchasing another cheap article of clothing you don’t need.
SCREENING:
Mar 14, 2024 8:45pm – 10:16pm CT Stateside Theatre
Credits
Director: |
Eva Orner |
|---|---|
Producer: |
Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Eva Orner |
Cinematographer: |
Nick Higgins |
Editor: |
Claire Didier |
Music: |
Cornel Wilczek |
Additional Credits: |
Line Producer: David Kraemer |






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PRESENTS
Debuts on HBO March 3rd and 4th
I’ve started this review many times in the past seven days. It’s been difficult to put into words how Leaving Neverland has made me feel. For my sixth birthday, I can only recall receiving one particular gift. It was Micheal Jackson’s Thriller on cassette. This was my very first album that was all mine, outside of Sesame Street or Disney songs. I had already been dancing for three years and MJ would influence my musical and performance taste going forward. In 2009, my husband and I were in the car and the radio came on with the breaking news on Michael’s death. We were stunned, devastated, conflicted. We’d lived through the accusations at the same time his accusers and fellow defenders had. Macaulay Culkin was my childhood crush and one of Jackson’s close friends. Culkin has categorically denied anything inappropriate ever happened. He and Wade Robson‘s testimony had a huge effect when Jackson went to trial. I was relieved when Michael was acquitted of all charges in the early 2000s. I wanted to believe that his hands were clean. Now, I think my idolization of this once in a lifetime artist is destroyed.
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Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

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