Blog 3: Project Outcome and Personal Development Reflection

The project I chose for better lives was “ In and Outside of Fashion: Sportswear Fashion Language and Sub-cultures”. In this lecture, we practiced some styling techniques and learned the roles of stylists and producers. Through the course, I explored a lot of recycled materials that can be used to style outfits. Therefore, we not only learned about the concept of the themes such as social responsibility, sustainability, and diversity but also put those ideas into practice. As a fashion public relations and communication student, I have never thought about that stylists have to do massive loads of work before styling a model. They are the translators of the clothes. They have to tell the customers the ideas and values to catch their attention and make them realize the background of the look.

For the project outcome, we are tasked to combine sportswear elements with subcultures to inspire a humane lifestyle to overcome this difficult situation. For my look, I chose a plain tank top by Topshop, cycling shorts by Lululemon, a casual sports jacket, which is a uniform in my middle school, a red towel, headband, and a pair of running shoes by Adidas. I style a unisex look to tell that yoga and fitness programs are genderless. Moreover, I combined my middle school uniform to make them look a little vintage, which also reused my old clothes. The bright color of the towel and the headband is to make the outfit more energetic and youthful. Following the themes of better lives, I used old clothes and Adidas shoes which are mostly made of recycled bottles to keep up the idea of sustainability and social responsibility, and the unisex look for the concept of diversity.

The chance to create this look at home during quarantine greatly made a big influence on me. During the quarantine, I believe that a lot of people do suffer anxiety and I am no exception. Through this look, I started to realize that we can overcome every difficulty if we keep working on it just like the fitness program. It is hard work in the beginning but the program will still finish in the end. We all have to look on the bright side and the hard time will be gone soon. Through the Better Lives project, I develop not only practical skills but also some knowledge of global issues. It made me rethink about my shopping habits and my thoughts of the world in a creative and fun way. In the future, I would dig into more ideas like social responsibility, diversity, and sustainability and make a balance between fashion and global context.