Themes reflection task
Blog post 2 – How the better lives theme might change how I work in the future.
This second Better Lives blog post asks us to reflect deeper the themes this unit is focusing on, and how those themes may influence our work in the future.
Many years ago, it was impossible to imagine the fashion world as a world with different model sizes, different skin tones and so on, but today things are starting to change. Diversity indeed is one of the elements this unit is asking us to reflect on, something that our generation has the responsibility to remember when it comes to represent a fashion idea or a message that will then influence the thoughts of an amount of people, either a grand or a small one.
This idea has made me think on how everything is connected and how even the small thing can help to create a better world or can influence the well-being of people. As a costume student my job will be to create pieces for performers I won’t get to choose, this will might get me in contact with different body shapes, different cultures, religions and I will face different challenges, what I can do is remember how the world is so various and how we are all in this together. Certainly, the current situation with Covid-19 has made me reflect on how this invisible enemy is not choosing who he wants to attack or who he does not, at his eyes we are all the same. So why should we see different skin tones on a scale from better to worse?
We had the fantastic opportunity to explore a project different from our own course and to see how things can be from a new perspective. I chose Contemporary Portrait Photography as I’ve always been interested in how the camera can shed light to things we might not normally see. Something that really inspired me is the work of a photographer that decided to go around the city and to ask people to write on a sign how they felt in that moment. Different cultures, different jobs, at her eyes everyone was the same and everyone had something important to say.
That for me is what diversity is about, you don’t have to answer to the beauty standard the society has inflicted us in order for people to listen to you. Definitely it is the direction I will go into in the next years, and I will try to spread as much as possible as I feel is our responsibility as younger generation.
What I also link to this concept that ‘everything is connected’ is the theme of sustainability, trying to use sustainable materials for my projects and making decisions keeping in mind that fashion depends on nature (land, water, air, animal…), will not only benefit the earth but also those who are involved in the industry and all those who come with that. As Anna Fitzpatrick said in the culture lecture, we need to remember that sustainability is a possibility not a negative thing and that we have the responsibility to think what we want to sustain and how we are going to do that.
Credits:
Fitzpatrick, A (2020) ‘Culture’ [lecture] Better Lives unit FU001708. London College of Fashion. Delivered 10 February 2020
Wearing, G. (1992-3) Sign that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say. Available at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wearing-signs-that-say-what-you-want-them-to-say-and-not-signs-that-say-what-someone-else-66092/4 (Accessed: 19 April 2020)