Lecture Reflection on Wellbeing – John Bloom
After two weeks of very informative and inspiring lectures from fashion practitioners from around the world, I feel I have absorbed a multitude of concepts that are part of the ethos of the London College of Fashion. However, one lecture that I keep coming back to and thinking about was given by Dr. Jekaterina Rogaten. This lecture covered the concept of well-being. As we currently live in a highly materialistic culture, it is very important to consider well being, as this can have links to depression and anxiety. Rogaten referenced to Positive Psychology, which is the use of “psychological theory, research and intervention techniques which are used to understand the positive, creative and emotionally fulfilling elements of human behavior”. (Monetta, G.B. (2013). She looked at what makes us happy, and the ratio between genetics of being happy and optimistic. It is important to remember that we are the decision makers with choices and preferences, and we are the only ones that can make ourselves happy. Her points brought me to understand the materiality of fashion – I completely agree with this idea. It is ultimately our choice to see things positively – the hedonic quality of our current experience depends on our presence and acceptance of the now. If we are unhappy with the present moment, we are either anxious (worried about the future) or depressed (sad about the past).
Rogaten also mentioned the effects of the paradox of choice. By maximizing choice, our freedom and decision making are also maximized. People fifty years ago had to make substantially less decisions than we do today. In an age of excess consumption, all these things to make choices on later influences us to have unrealistic expectations, as our high expectations are much harder to satisfy. Thereby, our responsibility for making decisions is negatively affected. With too much choice, it is hard to make decisions as we have to compare and contrast many things, making it a heavy cognitive load. I find this very interesting, as I always thought of having multiple options as a good thing. In our fashion system today, we have created an extremely unsustainable system, pumping out loads of garments. We have given consumers the opportunity to choose between the same shirt in eight different colors, widening our pool of choice. While this might seem like a good thing, this is actually quite negative to our mental health as well as the planet. The industry needs to reshape the system and as consumers, we need to do our part in understanding and being aware of how having a multitude of options is worse for us than we think. The system can create better lives by materializing a minimalist lifestyle.
My favorite part of the lecture was Rogaten’s evaluation on what a happy life consists of was very eye opening. From a psychological perspective, a happy life is an engaging life. Not so much experiencing high levels of positive emotions, but there is meaning and good things happening when you take a step back to reflect. Perhaps this idea relates somewhat to social responsibility, how the notion of taking time to reflect and evaluate how you are feeling and being aware of your emotions. By putting things into perspective and becoming aware of how you feel rather than judging how you feel, the world could slowly become a better place.
References
Rogaten, J 2020, Wellbeing, lecture notes, Better Lives Unit FU001708, London College of Fashion, delivered 17 February 2020.