Better Lives,Better Future
At first when the better lives unit began I was lost because I didn’t quite understand the goal or what I was supposed to gain from this but when I thought about it and the more I engaged with the unit I began to see the benefits of the unit especially with the themes “Sustainability, “Diversity” and “Social Responsibility”.
These three themes at first were at the back of my mind when I started but as time went on these three themes became more of use to me as I started learning and growing my understanding of the fashion industry and the challenges it faces through the lectures that I attended each lecture just made themes easier to understand and intertwine the themes in one.
With this generation being young and fresh delivering a new and fun perspective to the industry it is key that we students learn and be aware especially with the way society works. It is good to know from the get go so we don’t make the mistakes that fashion brands or designers make such as using harmful chemicals to create clothing or cultural appropriation or not catering to a diverse range of people.
These three themes will help me change my work in the future from a creative aspect.
It will help me to be cautious with how far I can take things, especially when it comes to creating things that will be seen in the public eye or if I’m designing for a brand.
Sustainability – as it allows me to see the environment as a person why? Because I have to be considerate, treat it well and be kinder to it so it can live longer like we treat people around us as when you think about it the fashion industry is very harmful especially to the environment and if not cautious we could end up destroying it.
Diversity- is important as being a black fashion student it can be hard especially when I see things on social media about the way industry treats black people but also POC (people of colour), in that aspect I have to ensure in my future work I am being considerate of the diverse range of people it may attract and whether it is appropriate culturally as well as use my work as a voice to speak to people.
Social responsibility- that would be hardest to tackle in my future work as handling the responsibility of the way society works and frequently having to be up to date with the way the world is working in order to make my work “fit in” to look into the social issues that are constantly being brought up I think it will be a slow and steady process but after hearing different aspects and approaches to it through lectures it will be easier to get my head around.
In a practical sense I got to get a glimpse of how these themes do through my selected project “Mask making and politics”.