Blog 1: Power
Power was one of the lectures that stood out to me from the Better Lives Lectures. It raised some fascinating and relevant points which I felt I could adapt well to my thinking. In the beginning, Julia Crew talked about six key points. Power and Fashion, Money, Media, Consumer, Protest, and You.
Most people, when we think of fashion we think about being ourselves, the creative and fun part of it. Diversity plays a large role in this. However, sometimes we forget that wealth, power and status play such a significant role in today’s society and fashion industry. I felt that this analysis relates a lot to my course Hair and Make-up in Fashion because in everyday life photoshoots, magazines, models, and brands all play a massive part in the different levels of status. How they are portrayed in the industry and how they influence peoples power as connections grow and peoples views change. As Julia Crew stated, fashion in itself is power. It allows us to present our status and its a silent but very visual marker of our identity and how we present ourselves to society. She then discussed how royalty applied fashion to portray their power, through the extravagant, expensive clothing and jewellery they would wear. Through the use of fashion and accesories, royals have exhibited their power of money. The history of how fashion is used by royalty, military and politics are fascinating as it is a concept I had never really acknowledged or thought about in detail. The way the military uses uniforms in a luxurious fancy way shows whos in charge and who gets to wear the more beautiful uniforms to manifest hierarchy and dictatorship.
The discussion on power within the fashion industry was also very eye-opening as it highlights how such a small group of people could hold so much power over a vast money-making industry. However, in this lecture, It was very much based on power within the money. It is crazy to think that such a small group of wealthy people can hold so much power over the world, which is a much larger number than who they are as a group. The interesting point was that a majority of these wealthy people had earned their wealth by clothing while virtually enslaving others. As levels of fashion consumption continue to increase, factories around the world are being pushed to deliver ever-larger quantities of clothing faster and cheaper. This means that workers in the factories are getting paid less and less in inhumane working environments and are subjected to intimidation, harassment, and injury. This is the harsh reality that it takes for us to pick and choose what we like for cheap while shopping.
To conclude, this lecture opened my eyes in regards to all the kinds of power people, the community and the media can have within the fashion world. Because this lecture explored power and fashion from different angles, it raised many questions I had not considered before. It got me to think about how I can refer back to this throughout my degree. Not only my degree but also how I can make my difference as a consumer and to think about decisions that could change the industry forever.