Reflection on Lectures
After watching several of the Better Lives lectures, I’ve come to find the most inspiring to be about Well-being with Jekaterina Rogaten. Not only did she include well-being as a state of mind and the psychology behind it, but she also drew comparisons to the fashion industry – explaining that fashion can improve well-being. She argued that sustainability plays a huge part in well-being. That consumers [of fashion] feel better when they make eco-conscious decisions like recycling or choosing sustainably sourced materials.
I was very inspired by the idea of how fashion can improve well-being. Jekaterina explained how choosing your clothes in the morning is a huge factor in your identity, she integrated the room with questions about how long we take to choose our outfits. It made me think more about how much clothing adds to our personality and identity. She also explained how one can use clothing as a coping mechanism to overpower and regulate a low mood, in relation to fashion anxiety.
“Fast fashion is not a socially or ecologically responsible as that which is well-made, long-lasting, free of sweatshop labour and capable of being appreciated for more than a few weeks.” (Karpova & Lee, p. 13 as cited in Cohen 2011)
Included in the lecture was this quote, that reflects greatly on the lecture and the meaning of it. Well-being and fashion go hand in hand. From this lecture, I learned that well-being in fashion is not only about loungewear, and the feeling we get when buying a new garment. But, that it’s also about the workers creating the garments. The ‘food chain’ in fashion, from how the material is sourced, to the designer, to the garment worker, to the consumer. All of these variables are important for fashion to be sustainable.
We often think about sustainability as something we do to better the earth we are living on, but this lecture made me widen my perspective and see that sustainability is something we focus on to better our lives. Sustainability and social responsibility lean on each other in this context. We want to better everyone’s lives, including the workers and designers, not only the consumers. Working towards eliminating sweatshops, even if the prices have to go up, will better both consumers and workers lives. Since better clothing that lasts longer, made from someone who is working under the right circumstances, is the ultimate outcome.
27th April 2020 @ 11:33 pm
I really loved reading your blog post – it was very informative and focused on extremely key points in Rogaten’s lecture on well-being. Your understanding of fashion and its interconnectedness with sustainability and well-being is evident, and you provide the reader with how our this factor influences with our identity – as simple as picking out an outfit every morning. Additionally, you successfully make note of the awareness of not just yourself as a consumer, but the entire supply chain as a whole. This touches on the theme of social responsibility – feeling empathy for the others in the supply chain. This awareness can bring about great change if they continue to influence your practice. You mention working towards eliminating sweatshops, and only consuming from ethical and sustainable brands which is a wonderful moral to have.
Lastly, I think it would be important if you mentioned the importance of diversity, another one of the better lives themes. This might be connected with the well-being of fashion – its importance stretches to a multitude of audiences. Being able to see “yourself’ through media images is crucial in reaching a wider audience. It benefits the well being of the consumer, because they can see that they are being widely represented in an editorial or ad campaign. This might be important for a sustainable and ethical brand in reaching a wider audience.
Otherwise, your post is successful in mentioning the other two Better Lives themes. Well done!