Themes Reflection
When the Better Lives unit began, my recent move to London from the countryside fuelled my interest in the social responsibility and diversity themes, and I intended to pursue these in my creative work. Unfortunately, the quarantine left me stranded at home with only my family to work with and so instead I decided to do a more introspective project, diving into my heritage against the backdrop of the English countryside that I was surrounded by for the majority of my formative years.
To make my exploration of Sustainability genuine, I felt it necessary to do it twofold: both in the concept and execution. The sportswear aspect of the unit leant itself to this as in general exercise is a positive pastime that is healthy for both people and the planet. There are, however definitely disparities between sports regarding the extent to which they impact lifestyle as a whole, and therefore the repercussions that they will have on whether people live sustainably. This made me think about people who could live completely sustainably and I imagined what sports activities someone who lived off the grid would partake in. Perhaps it stretches the boundaries of what we define as sport as they are no longer leisure activities, but hiking is presumably unavoidable and something like fishing might be necessary alongside gathering for sustenance. These also happened to correlate with past stages of my personal style evolution, which brings me onto being sustainable in my execution.
Considering the beginnings of my concept it would not make sense to shop for garments to use in my look, especially as in quarantine anything I bought would be online and therefore have to be packaged and shipped. Fortunately, much of my wardrobe is already vintage which means that my ownership of them in general has had a smaller footprint whether they have been bought at a charity shop or passed down through my family. At home I found a fishing vest that was used by my grandfather that married the idea of sustainability and channelling my heritage. A family kilt in his regimental tartan elevated this from a familial to cultural reconnection. Trying to innovate and use things like these that are not items I would usually wear but are items that are readily available to me, styling older items in subversive ways that give them a new lease of life is definitely something that I till be looking into taking forward into my future work. I will certainly employ this technique with my friends as well as my family once quarantine is lifted as well.
Though the current situation meant that I was unable to style my piers, I still felt a sense of inclusivity behind the scenes as I was able to communicate with other members of the class around the world to discuss ideas. This for me served as an apt indicator of the resilience of the better lives themes and kept me looking forward to a time when we will all once again be able to enjoy our lives much better collectively.