Blog 3

Finally, we have finished our Better lives classes. Although Navigating Through Clothing course is quite different from the PR course, which I am studying in, I still enjoyed it a lot and have learned a lot of skills in designing a costume. During the classes, we have been introduced to many different ways of performance, such as circus, opera and ballet. And the importance of using the material to make the project.

When we were learning about the material to make a costume, we have been introduced to many designers and texture and fabric. Therefore, we can know how a designer picks the fabric to make the garment and how importance fabric can influence the performance. We have to consider the movement and appearance of the costume. After this, we can think of the way to make those garment more sustainability.

During the class, the diversity there is also an important element in the course. We need to consider the culture for the performance and get more information from the British Museum. Therefore, my friend and I went to see many different ethnic cultures in the museum.

I faced some problems while working on the final project, but also learned from it. For example, when we have to do a collage for the task, it is quite hard for me to create a collage that related to the character I chose to do. Besides, when we went to the British museum for doing research, I don’t know what kind of things should I find for my research. Compare to my classmate, they always know what they are doing and did it very well. When we were sharing the work we did, everyone explains their inspiration from the museum and they all did very well. From this experience, I started to know how to do primary research and how to combine it with my work.

In the end, I created a costume for the character “the little white duck” from Hansel and Gretel. I combined the element I saw from the National Theatre and the pattern I saw from the British Museum. Although I know that my design might not be very good, at least I tried. And I have learned a lot from this course too.