Better Lives Reflection

Among all lectures on Better Lives, the lectures that impressed me the most was the first lecture, Power and Fashion, and 13th lecture, Democracy, and Activism. In the first lecture, the tutor explained the relation between power and fashion. There are numerous kinds of powers in the world: Royalty, military, politics, business, media, music, etc. In the fashion industry, money plays a big role. Only a few employees are getting rich by enslaving others, giving workers only minimum wage. Workers are often forced to work overtime and workers don’t get paid enough because the high wage will damage the clothing market. Moreover, the overconsumption problem is getting noticed. 400 percent of people buy more clothes then they did 20 years ago because of the influence of social media and fast fashion. So as consumers, we need to be aware of what problems we are facing and how clothes are made under what conditions. Fortunately, there are few ways To improve defective conditions in the fashion industry: consumer boycotts and protests. The consumer boycott is the most effective way of influencing the industry. In July, Ivanka Trump closed her fashion brand due to Ivanka’s connection with President Trump. Macy’s and Bloomingdales fell almost 45 percent. It was one of the direct effects of boycotting. Furthermore, through protesting, one could bring attention to the public about unethical situations. Extinction Rebellion Activists did a fashion funeral ceremony at London fashion week. And Greenpeace started the detox campaign, calling out brands for their use of toxic chemicals. There’s also pussyhat projects for feminism and Vivienne Westwood often uses a catwalk as her political stage.
Though the lecture, I realized that education for consumers is crucial since there would be no demand without supply. So consumers need to know how their clothes are made and make ethical consumptions. We need to acknowledge the complexity of consumption. Not only education but also practicing is important. I used to buy a tremendous amount of clothes on fast fashion brands. I repeatably buy cheap clothes and throw them away frequently. However, after I know how toxic fast fashion is in terms of labor and climate issues, I started to buy vintage clothes and did not buy clothes often. If I want to wear high brand clothes, I go to the website called, ‘Vestiaire Collective’ to buy second-hand clothes. It’s a minor shopping habit, but I am trying to make ethical choices in my life. Moreover, joining a group or going to a protest is as important as making small ethical choices. I was a queer and left-wing activist in Korea so I went to some protests and volunteered for Seoul queer parade. Through protests and pride parade, discrimination and oppression against sexual minorities are diminishing in Korean society. Likewise, I wanted to join groups like Greenpeace for climate change. Also, on a lecture called, Democracy and Activism, the tutor gave examples like the Collective Dwelling, the Refuge wear, the Exhibition of Salvation Army anniversary so I knew diverse ways of expressing activism and seeing a political message to the public.