Blog Post 1
My favorite lecture was during the 19th of February and talked about representation. Understanding representation in fashion is essential in our modern society. Fashion has always been known as exclusive, so to overcome this problem we must understand the essence of representation. The lecture made me realize that in order to have equal representation we must have an equal understanding of someone else’s culture. In other words, the lack of conversation leads to a lack of representation. Fashion is our interaction with everything; thus, it must be used as an object for change.
The speaker also mentioned the conspicuous consumption theory. This is used to explain the action of consuming expensive products in order to elevate someone’s status. Bringing up the idea of a social class is not only about having money but involves other concepts such as culture.
Another aspect to consider when talking about representation is the idea of cultural appropriation and the idea of cultural appreciation. I agree with one of the speakers when saying that cultural appropriation occurs through a relation of power and privilege, more in detail, when elements of someone else’s culture is taken without its appreciation. In controversy, cultural appreciation is the respectful representation of someone else’s culture. Cultural appreciation can only be achieved through a full understanding of someone else’s culture.
This made me realize how unconsciously I might be culturally appropriating another culture in my fashion practices. Therefore, I can say that this lecture made me more aware of social implications in the fashion industry that must be considered to prevent negative content in the future. In addition, it inspired me by showing examples of cultural appreciation, showing how fashion can be used as a means to promote positive change.
The lecture about sustainability during the 13th of February also shaped my thinking about how fashion can create better lives. It made me realized that in order to have a successful fashion career we must understand fashion’s relationship with nature and humanity. We are living the Anthropocene where human’s impact on natural systems is significant. The speaker brought up views that enhance the idea that in order to change this system we must look at fashion not only from an economic perspective. Another thing that I understand from the lecture is that everything is connected, and that sustainability is a fixed stage. It requires complexity and has the terms culture, nature, society, and economy embedded in its meaning. In addition, we must keep aware that resources are diminishing, meaning that fashion has to respect our world barriers.
In conclusion, to promote positive fashion, we have to establish our values and what we want to sustain within our practice. We need to consider the fact that equity and home come first. In order to improve our outcomes, we have to consider nature, culture, society, and power as perspectives to promote better lives and social changes.
1st May 2020 @ 1:32 pm
After reading your post about these lectures, I believe you have fully understood the themes of diversity and sustainability in great depth. You have provided a breakdown of your chosen lectures alongside definitions, what you had learnt and how you will adapt in the future.
You have discussed the lack of representation and I agree with the points you have made about this topic. It is clear that you have developed your knowledge on the subject and took something away from the lecture that you can use in your future projects. I appreciate your acknowledgement about cultural appropriation and how in the past you may have unconsciously appropriated a culture, which many brands avoided doing in the past and unfortunately still are doing. Following on from this, you spoke on how you would like to change that in the future, showing your awareness to the subject, what you have learnt from the unit and how it has inspired you to consider this in future projects.
When discussing your review on the sustainability lectures, you reflected on the impact the fashion industry is having on the environment and how as a creative in the industry you have to understand the relation between us and the planet. This shows a step you are going to take to change the way you think and create in the future from what you have learnt during the unit. During this discussion you also shed some positive light on how the environmental crisis doesn’t have to be permanent, I thought this was very inspiring and encourages us as creatives to change the way we think and work to see positive results. It also made me feel hopeful about the future of the fashion industry.
While reading, I did notice a lack of discussion about social responsibility and thought a paragraph speaking on how the theme relates to the others and how it will influence the way you work and the brands you support in the future would have tied in nicely with the rest of the points you made as there is a clear connection between the three. However, I understand that we did have a word count and I could see your strong feelings towards the other two themes of sustainability and diversity and was overall a pleasant read. As a reader I will be considering several of the points you made about both themes and using them to help me with my future projects.