Lecture Refection by Jannah Barakat: representation
While watching a number of better lives lectures a lot of thoughts and ideas entered my mind, but the lecture which inspired me the most and taught me a lot was Teleica Kirkland’s lecture about representation, I feel like what she has offered educated me about a subject I was aware of but hadn’t really understood it’s importance into the fashion world. What I learned form the lecture was not only the importance of diversity and representation, but the history and meaning behind cultural appropriation and appreciation. Showing the history of fashion ads and campaigns which lacks diversity I understood the points she was making on a deeper level.
Having a diverse family myself I took interest in this lecture more than any other because it was a subject I myself used to struggle with (lack of diversity) and made me appreciate my culture more, now that there are more designers which appreciate diversity and cultures it makes me relate to the fashion more. Teleica also shed light onto the fashion world which I was unaware of. For example, a number of fashion brands like prada create items which are offensive and insensitive, where before I would just see these items and not think of anything, I now know the repercussions of how some consumers may feel.
The lecture also showed me how much better the fashion world would be with more diversity and representation, offering something to everyone instead of limiting it to a number of people. History showed the lack of diversity, yet consumers were still investing in the brands. But now that the brands have embraced diversity more than they used to, more people are getting inspired, I know because I feel inspired when I see diversity like British Vogue’s May 2018 issue. I also did my own research after hearing the lecture, and I found that louis Vuitton has just welcomes their first diverse creative director Virgil Abloh.
Making everyone feel included crates unity between everyone and because fashion is such a big part of life, it’s important that the fashion industry is filled with different, ethnicities, nationalities so that no one feel excluded and not just that everyone is represented but done so that they are respected and appreciated. In the future I do see that there will be more diversity, the fashion world is growing and there are diverse people running big brands which were once exclusively run by a type group.
References:
Lecture 11: Teleica Kirkland, representation. (2020)