Lecture Reflection – Lorraine Gamman – Empathy
Lorraine Gamman’s lecture on Empathy within Fashion made me appreciate that fashion can be a voice to vulnerable people. Gamman started off the lecture by showing us that empathy is “The art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person, understanding their feelings and perspectives and using that understanding to guide your actions.” Roman Krznaric (2014) Empathy: A Handbook for Revolution. Rider: Ebury Publishing.
Gamman having a PHD in shoplifting gave us an insight into how her knowledge on empathy for criminals has influenced her design within the creative world. Educating us that people mostly empathise with people that they are similar to as they can relate to them. For me the people I have most empathy for are the ones that are unfortunate in life and become vulnerable, for example the homeless… therefore when Gamman spoke about the EMPWR coat and how the homeless were given the chance to design a coat and earn money from the job, this was a great way of showing how empathy can be a positive effect in the fashion industry. Another example of empathy being shown within the fashion industry was Alexander McQueen’s 1995 Highland Rape Collection displaying the torn clothes of bruised models down the catwalk. For me this is a very effective way of portraying empathy within the design world and I adore the boldness of McQueen’s actions to show reality. There is endless examples to show how designers use their creative positions to create empathic fashion.
Not only is empathy used within the fashion industry, it is also used within day to day life and how we can connect as humans through empathy. One example Gamman gave us was the project ‘A mile in my shoes’ in 2015. The museum of empathy created this experience, it allowed visitors to literally wear someone else’s shoes and wear headphones and walk a mile wearing someone else’s life. Listening to the stories provided and walking within their shoes, formed connections between the person who owned the shoes and the person walking in them for a mile. This whole idea was to promote empathetic understanding between diverse groups within society. In my opinion this is a very creative way of forming connections between individuals, having a creative mindset myself, the shoes as a visual aspect of someone else’s life would help me empathise and connect with this experience on a more personal level. Another example of how creatives use empathic mindsets was when Gamman herself conducted an experiment at Central Saint Martin’s using a replica of a prison cell to drive her students to create empathic products / furniture for prisoners inside these cells.
Overall, as a practicing fashion stylist myself, this has positively influenced me to use empathy to connect with the people I am working with, as I believe it creates very positive outcomes and really can give a voice to vulnerable people and create better lives.