Lectures Power & Empathy Reflection
I felt gripped onto two lectures in particular whilst watching; Power and Empathy. These two lectures were greatly appealing to me as they delved into the issues surrounding modern day society, specifically surrounding the idea of the mainstream media. Both topics provoked the thought of the large influence that the media has on the fashion industry itself in the modern world, but also within the past and how it gradually becomes more inclusive yet remains lacking. They both also touched on ideas of Rationality; making the right choices for sustainability and within yourself. Making a choice for the greater good of the planet when it comes to fashion is a concept that I can say I don’t necessarily always think about, so these topics have bettered my mindset and will ensure that I make better choices now that I can empathise regarding paid wages, paid overtime, the economical impact etc; thinking about all negative elements of the industry alongside the positives.
The power lecture delved into many different sectors; money, media, the consumer, and protests. The consumer; the idea that the roles reverse somewhat from what we assume; the consumers holding the power. Julia Crew stated that ‘without consumers, fashion is nothing’ within the lecture, which provoked a different mindset for me, never having thought that way before; consumers fuel the fashion industry. A topic raised was in regards to the inequality within the industry, even to this day, for an individual to become wealthy within fashion, many have enslaved others to do the majority of the work for them; some of the wealthiest individuals coming from the fashion industry being older, white male CEO’s.
The main bulk of the lecture revolving around Empathy described it loosely as a whole and how designers over time have challenged the idea behind the feeling, raising it through the use of experiences and “Empathy Things”. Lorraine Gamman gave first hand knowledge on the idea, the DACRC being her own professional take on it, working with users and mis-users in order to understand the underlying emotions of both parties, to gain an empathic feeling for both to understand the reason behind actions. This sparked my interest, as the theory made sense; people will always have underlying issues or reasons for their actions, stepping into their shoes and gaining a form of empathic emotion toward them as an individual is a genius way to feel what they feel.
The empathy in fashion sector of the lecture consisted of Lorraine discussing the use of empathy within the industry; advertisements, campaigns etc. Sparking my interest, my thought process was suddenly very conflicted. Is it empathy we feel or is it inclusion? The use of more diverse models, body types, religions etc is a prominent idea within today’s fashion media industry; but as a white, British female, I often feel empathy towards these members of society. Inclusion is a positive step within the industry, yet I seem unable to help feeling a form of empathy, a human instinct, towards the people who were once disregarded as I imagine how that must have felt before diversity and inclusion was brought into recognition within the media.
– Maisie Howse