February 2020

As for fashion, I usually vaguely thought that fashion is just expressing myself, showing my personality. But through this lecture about Better Lives, I was able to think more deeply about fashion. Especially, I could think about Lorraine Gamman’s Empathy. In art or fashion, I usually start with ‘I’ when I’m inspired or working, and I realized it also has something to do with Empathy. The reason is that it is possible to be interested in something and inspired by something, and the act itself, only when it is “Empathy.” In general, people all have different diversity. But we recognize each other’s diversity and empathize with various things. Then we can balance out without being limited to a few. As a result, more consensus can help people work together to solve problems. For example, Hans Jorgen Wiberg is the inventor of the free app “Be My Eyes” (2015) that connects sighted people and blind people. There are roughly around 99,000 sighted people signed up willing to help and 8,000 blind people signed up seeking help. In the case of “Be My Eyes,” a free app that connects the visually impaired and the blind, it can also be seen as being created by empathy and involvement. The app allows them to find their way or get help in their daily lives. We can’t live without empathy in our lives. Through these Empathy things, one can empathize and understand one another more among people who have a lot of diversity in society. There are also so many things developed by empathy in fashion, and one of them is Hijab. Nike launched a hijab for Muslim women to wear wheel extract. Dolce & Gabbana and LMFW (London Modest Fashion Week) also launched collection. They empathized with women who had to wear hijab all the time because of religious influence and digested them into sportswear and fashion.  Also, Bezgraniz Couture hosted their show with people with various types of disabilities, and rather than promoting their products in Primark, they can understand each other and digest them in fashion, including selling products so that they can sympathize with each other by selecting people with disabilities as models. 

Focusing on these things, I think that society can develop more from mutual empathy, understanding experience, and empathy, and not only can the view of fashion be wider, but also help to become a better life that is balanced, not limited to a few such as religion or disability. Through this part, when I think or work on something, I think I will be able to get into things or the writer enough to see the work and better empathize with them. To empathize is to think that by understanding each other’s experiences, regardless of simple empathy, we can continue to create more and more diverse things through new ideas through it.

Initially my face value thoughts of better lives was that it was about exploring and delving deep into different issues within fashion for example environmental issues. Watching the lectures has shown me that it is more than that, cultural ideas and ideologies are discussed int this unit, lecture two was the most interesting and my favourite lecture to date. 

Sustainability and culture are two topics explored in the second lecture, and an important point about sustainability is that; sustainability is not just about buying items made from other things, but also about becoming sustainable in all parts of your life and what your values are. One quote that stuck to me was “Everything is connected essentially this means that nature and everything that we do or engage in is related, for example, if I were only to start making clothes from a specific material and concentrate only on one area to support it, I wouldn’t focus on another area that isn’t healthy. Being 100% sustainable isn’t something you can only do half hearted it will require your entire focus and I most cases in 21st century life is impossible. This stuck with me the most as it enabled me to see that being sustainable isn’t only about what you decide to concentrate on but it is about being sustainable in all parts of your life.

Fashion in itself is seen as a culture in which other cultures are free to live freely within, fashion is also a culture which delves into there cultures for its own gain. Fashion itself also has many subcultures which usually define how a person is and how to live their life. For example sportswear is both a style and a subculture within fashion someone who may have an interest in sportswear may life a sport filled lifestyle. And interesting quote that was also mention was that fashion is immaterial but clothing itself is material this industry created a barrios and distinction between fashion and clothing. The divide was an interesting one to hear as it introduced the idea that fashion and clothing are two different entities working together for the greater good of one another. It argued that fashion is generally the ideas and not the practice whereas clothing is the practice, this was very interesting and delving deeper I agree to a certain extent as I believe one could not exist without the other, they work cohesively to benefit one another. 

Delving deeper into the lecture points about fashion clothing and sustainability I am able to come to a discussion that is; it is not fashion that is contributing to global issues but it is clothing and it should not be referred to as a “fashion footprint” but a material footprint. Fashion is not. The contributor it is the idea clothing is the execution of that idea.

To conclude lecture 2 has been one of my favourite lectures as it had an impact on the way I thought about fashion and sustainability working together. 

Cultural representation has become a critical aspect within the fashion industry although does this ‘inclusivity’ highlight diversification or tokenism? I learnt a lot about this argument through the beginning of the ‘Better Lives’ project. It is clear that the industry has become a more diverse place, yet in many ways fails to prioritise empathy.

Lorraine Gamman discussed this topic exploring whether design addresses empathy; identifying different people and their emotional responses. In many ways, the idea of representation within the industry is to highlight how diverse our society is yet in the process how can Empathetic Design fit into this. Designers should be more aware and sensitive towards users and take into consideration their situation and feelings. Lorraine expressed the importance of User Centred Design; to discover and immerse yourself into different values and lifestyles. She questioned whether there is an empathy deficit, this enabled me to reflect on my own decisions and whether I consider empathy. After evaluating on this I recognise how this will influence my decisions in the future, approaching projects more sensitively as I aim to become more empathetic and perceptive in my practice.  When building empathy, it can help reduce selfishness, focusing more on the challenges society faces, challenges we all face. 

Dr Nick Almond created an engaging, informative lecture that discussed the power of technology and how it can change the world. In order to keep technology going in the right direction we must learn and know the tools for it to be used in the correct way. It can advance our capabilities, bringing us closer together. It was interesting when he explored Disruptive Technologies; expressing how fast technology is enhancing, always improving upon another and when it arrives it reshapes everything. The intricate pathways he discussed highlighted how technology can really cater to any need, specifically within fashion. I was pleased to hear the growth of the second-hand market, Nick voicing whether it will become huge as you can integrate technology into this allowing you to track where the clothes came from, ensuring a transparent supply chain. It made me reflect on my generation and how we are pushing the importance of the second-hand market, and merging technology into this can create a stronger more sustainable and ethical outcome. Technology enhances the utility of a product, although throughout these lectures I have recognised the rapid change in the industry; the damage fashion is doing to the environment daily and to our mental health. In many ways, it made me reflect on the importance of technology, is this the solution to reduce the amount of landfill waste? The new method to create sustainable, ethically produced clothing. This selection of lectures encouraged me to think more tactful within my practice, being a fashion PR student it is essential that I navigate these issues more ethically, focusing on a sustainable communication method. 

From these first few lectures I’ve already learnt so much about the fashion industry and positive ways we can make a change by looking after the resources we have.. It’s made me think more about how we can all make a change to our everyday habits no matter how big or small It is and make a big impact on the future of our planet.

One of the main things that struck a cord with me from the first lecture was the questions that were asked at the end of the lecture by the audience. One question that was asked was what is the most sustainable way we can buy clothes? This is something I always struggle with as I find myself constantly going to the easiest route to buy clothes that are on trend and easily accessible to me. Which means I end up buying from fast fashion websites such as Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing, Missguided and so on. And then always feeling guilty for how the workers could be being treated, or what materials they’re using or how they’re getting these materials for me to buy my clothes at such a cheap price. However the answer to this question made me feel much better about the way I buy clothes or how I could help out from buying these types of clothes. Julia suggested that it’s not always so bad buying your clothes on these websites, as long as you’re rewearing the clothes or when you want to get rid of them selling them onto people for them to be reworn, which is what I always make sure to do when I know I’m not going to wear something anymore using websites like Depop or Ebay, where people will go to buy used clothes at a reasonable price and repurpose something that would otherwise be thrown out. 

Another suggestion from Julia was to swap clothes with your friends whenever you’re wanting to refresh your wardrobe, this is a really good idea and something I will start to do with my friends as it’s an easy way to recycle your clothes but still get that new clothes feeling in your wardrobe.

It’s so easy to say you will go to a charity shop to recycle clothes but sometimes it’s not always as easy as it sounds, being realistic it can be difficult to find  clothes you like there and there’s not always an accessible charity shop near you, so these tips from the lecture will be a more realistic way for me  to help out the planet and something I think so many young people my age will benefit from as they can still get on trend clothes if they’re clever with what they do with the item when they don’t want it anymore.

The concept of Representation has been a circulating theme in the media, that many are still pushing and fighting for, in order to break the cycle of false ideas and divide between people. The ‘Lack of ‘ and  misrepresentation in the past, is something that has affected many of our subconscious perceptions regarding race within society today, and is something that is progressing over time but is still slow to fully change.

As a person of mixed Russian/ Carribean heritage, growing up in Russia ( a predominantly white country) has definitely affected my perceptions of beauty, as I was not exposed to seeing almost any women in the media who looked like me. It has taken years of confusion, self hatred, exploration and education for me to accept myself as a person of colour, and even so mainly because of the increase in representation that I witnessed during my later teenage years. Being personally affected by the increase in representation of people of colour made me realise the importance of it and is something that I am very passionate about and will explore more in future work, as I believe there is still much that hasn’t been explored.  

In Teleica Kirkland’s lecture on representation, she spoke a lot about how “Black entertainment and culture’’ has become a trend, which despite what one many think would be something completely positive, it can become a negative, due to the misrepresentation and misunderstanding of black culture. She linked this to the emerging topic of conversation that is Cultural appropriation, and how “ It’s about power and privilege”, as some take ideas, with no acknowledgement or engagement with the cultures they are taking ideas from, and claim it as their own. This is a topic that I myself have delved into in previous work, addressing “ Blackfishing”, where a person of european descent presents themselves as being black. However, rather than focusing on the negatives of the continuation of culture appropriation, Kirkland turned the attention towards Cultural Appreciation and how brands and designers can still take influence from other cultures if they do the right research and acknowledge the culture they are taking influence from. She gave a great example of this, Wafrica, which is a collaboration between an African designer and Japanese culture which created a series of work that is collaborative and has been created through an immense amount of research and immersion into the culture. 

I was particularly intrigued when Teleica highlighted how representation is different from inclusion and that even though we are seeing a lot more representation of POC on the outside, there is still a great lack of inclusion in work behind the scenes, which also affects the authenticity of the narratives that brands try to embody. Thus when thinking about how to create ‘better lives’ when we consider representation, I believe that the focus on inclusion behind the scenes is primary, as through that there will be a lot more accurate representation in the media and a lot less misrepresentation or room for cultural appropriation. After this lecture, I was inspired to collaborate with more people of colour when producing my work and not only using them as my subject matter and think it will make my work even more authentic and interesting in the future.  

Julia Crew, ‘Power’

‘Power’ was one of the first lectures I watched and it continued to stick with me even after watching other lectures. When thinking of the fashion industry I’ve never really considered how power is a concept that is prevalent and can be seen in many aspects related to fashion itself. Watching the lecture reminded me of how powerful the industry is and how I myself have been overlooking many of the elements that have been mentioned in the slides. Fashion is such a powerful medium and can be used to show status and establishing a social hierarchy. It is a medium to visually communicate social status and class. The industry itself also has the power to produce large sums of money, however its not been evenly distributed towards everyone, only towards those with upper class status-mainly being pale, stale, males. The industry has helped put people -tiny minorities at the top- however the wealth isn’t being evenly distributed. The media also is powerful for brands, as it has a lot of power in promoting the brands to a large audience. Influencers with large followings have the power to reach a large audience without having to do much.

After this lecture I think that one way in which it has shaped my thinking on how fashion can create better lives is the fact that fashion is a powerful medium that can be highly impactful, on both large and small scales. As consumers, we have the power to decide what items we choose to buy and what brands we choose to support. As a PR student, we have the power to choose how we would like to communicate towards others, including the message we would like to have come across to others. For me as an individual I think that something I should aim on doing is being a more conscious consumer and being more selective when deciding what to buy and what brands to support. I can choose to support brands which awards decent work with fair pay, as that is a fundamental human right and as labourers in many countries aren’t receiving legal minimum wages, if I as a consumer started doing more research and being more critical of brands and products I want to buy and support, brands will acknowledge us when they see our actions and listen when we speak.

“What do you think of when you hear the words social and fashion together?”
My initial thoughts regarding this opening question were, social media, political change, rights movements and equality within the industry.

During the lecture Katelyn Toth Fejel touched on ‘throwaway’ culture, specifically the exploitive conditions fast fashion promotes and produces. Brands and companies that perpetuate these features, are often what is promoted by influencers on Instagram. This results in mass consummation, accounting for the some 100 billion garments produced in 2015. When Fejel noted this figure in comparison to the global population of only 7 billion people, we then begin to see fast fashion as a real issue and in fact we as consumers are buying 60% more garments than little over a decade ago.
Movements like Fashion Revelation and the Copenhagen Fashion Summit have increasing social awareness and impact in this day and age, with sustainable fashion becoming a major trend and talking headline in recent years. However this “trend”/movement has not yet deterred the public from reducing consumption and making a collective conscious effort to eradicate unsustainable production methods, and take an interest into social, environmental and economical issues effecting humans around the world, for the sake of their Primark maxi dresses.

In Lorraine Gamman’s lecture she discussed topics of empathy and how there is a huge lack of it within the fashion industry.
One case discussed by Gamman; the 2010 Calvin Klein Lara Stone Campaign which was highly criticised for its depiction of sexual assault. An issue which is massively insensitive to anyone working in the fashion industry or beyond, who has experienced sexual assault.

This idea of lacking empathy within fashion can be related to Fejel’s points on ‘throwaway’ fashion. There is a lack of empathy as consumers are driving the fast fashion industry forward, by buying the goods, whilst companies are doing little to change, causing social issues regarding the exploitation of workers, cheap labor and poor working condition.

From an environmental perspective there is a lack of empathy also, this again is down to consumer wants and from this the industry will provide. For example, overproduction of cotton in Uzbekistan has caused the Aral Sea, once one of the fourth largest lakes and home to 24 species of fish and surrounding villages and ecosystems, to dry up.
A true example to where lack of empathy in the fashion industry has had detrimental impacts on innocent people/animals, changing the landscape and habitability of an area forever.

In relation to better lives, as a community from consumer to supplier, we need to come up with sustainable solutions to ‘throwaway’ culture. Sustainability and mindfulness of consequence, should be at the forefront of every company and in the mind of every consumer. Whether this change is a generation of new renewable low cost materials, or changing the way in which people shop, any reduced/mindful consumption within the industry would have a positive environmental impact and help to preserve the planet, on a social and environmental level.

L I L I P I P E

The two lectures which stood out to me the most are, Nina Stevenso Sustainability introduction and Julia Crew’s lecture on power, this is because they have really opened my eyes to the importance of sustainability with in the fashion industry. I haven’t really thought about this until attending these lectures.

I have learnt what a big effect the fashion industry has made to our planet and the nature that in it. Nina Stevenso said ‘we need to start putting the world first’, else the world which we take for granted will be not longer as the damage we have done will be irreversible.

I have also gained a much bigger understanding into the fast fashion industry though out these lecture, I didn’t quite realise how much of an issue fast fashion was until attending these two lectures. The main issues are with the high street clothing stores which are producing cheaper garments, these garments are not made as well as the more expensive brands and therefore don’t last as long before they get thrown out. These garments tend to rip and tear so can not be worn again so end up in land fill sites. I feel like just knowing this it has made me more personally more aware about how long I keep my clothes for and the long jevity of my garments.

One thing that really stood out to me in Julia Crew’s lecture was learning about the profits of the company compared to the wages of the people and children who make the garments in fashion industry, and how it is so biased and unfair. The less economically developed counties (LEDC) are being taken advanged of by the more economically developed counties (MEDC) though using their unskilled workers to do manual jobs and paying them less than they would have to in a more economically developed county. This shows that the fashion industry has a direct impact on the surrounding communities and their quality of life. This really does change my view on buying cheaper clothes as I now know that I am encouraging this to happen, Julia said ‘the market relies on the consumer to buy’. I feel that this is a very intresting topic and have learnt to be more aware of what and how the garments I purchase are made and distributed.

In conclusion, I have learnt a lot from these lectors about this topic and I have been finding them very helpful. these lecture have expanded my knowledge on the better lives theme of sustainably in fashion. I feel confident in saying that I’m more educated and will try to better my choices when buying clothes. these lectures have made me realise how important it really is and how I will deftly be making a change.

Not long ago I have attended a lecture which was focusing on representations in Fashion. The session was hosted by Teleica Kirkland, fashion historian and creative director of CIAD organization. The content of the lecture was very informative and engaging as the background of the lecturer is very relevant to the main topic- she is a woman of color, who works in the fashion industry and suffers from racism and exclusivity. In my opinion, her experience as a creative director of Costume institute of African Diaspora, an organization that aims to spread awareness of the history and culture of African dressing, helped to expand the topic of representations and cultures.  

The hour I’ve spent on the lecture was very informative as the topics such as diversity, inclusivity, cultural appropriation and appreciation were raised. Even though Teleica Kirkland mentioned Asian and disabled people, she was mainly talking about cases related to racism and biased opinion towards black people and the way their culture has been appropriated. So sometimes I felt like that even if she was trying to highlight the importance of the inclusivity, she was underrepresenting other minority groups. 

However, providing a quality example of cultural appreciation has impressed me the most. I was surprised to discover about Wafrica project. I think it’s a masterpiece where beauty, fashion, history, and culture intersects. It’s a platform that demonstrates the harmony and diversity of the world. Wafrica is a conversation between two ancient, strong and sophisticated identities- Japan and Africa. 

I have experienced misrepresentations and stereotypes in my life as I’m Asian- looking girl who speaks Russian. Not many people know my country or know it by “Borat” film by Sacha Baron Cohen, which inaccurately portrays my country and culture.  

So this lecture has made me think about the vital role of inclusivity and diversity not only in fashion but in every field of our lives. Inclusivity is not a trend, it is a demand of time.  Without understanding and acceptance of ourselves in the first place, it’s almost impossible to build a friendly environment on the Earth. Fashion can reform society as a whole to provide all possible assistance to every person. Individuals should admit that every life matters. And the only way to make people’s lives better is respect and tolerance towards others. You cannot expect people to know and support you, your background and culture if you aren’t doing the same to them. Fashion is not only the brand clothes we put on ourselves, but fashion is also an interaction between societies, groups, and individuals. And without those interactions and unstoppable conversations, it would be hard to create better lives for all people on our planet.

Let us live in harmony and accept the world as it is, by providing help sincerely to those who need it.