Blog Post #2 – What I’ve Learnt and My Future Practice

BETTER LIVES IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC

Our world is going through the time of a crisis – a quick spread of covid-19 caused a lockdown and now we are stuck inside our four walls where we are left only with our thoughts. A lot of us have mood swings which are getting worse after listening to the news. But even though this situation is serious, and we can easily get lost in our negative thoughts, we should try to use the time wisely.

Better Lives unit is focused on sustainability, social responsibility and diversity. To my mind, discussing all those subjects now is a matter of a great importance. Before covid-19, our society was focused on activities that actually do not matter too much: some of us were putting creating pleasant feed on social media over spending time with family, while the others did not care about the idea of sustainability and chose to support brands underpaying their workers.

Apparently, Better Lives lectures were streamed right on time to help us revalue our beliefs system, as also reshape our thoughts.

MY FUTURE PRACTICE

Better Lives unit reminded me and challenged to think of what is actually important in life. It gave me a quick insight into the fashion industry and helped me understand what all of us should do to change it into the industry which is sustainable and promotes joy and love instead of fear and hatred. This unit has also made me think of how I can improve my work ethic. Below are some of my ideas.

• As an aspiring fashion photographer, I could take photographs of pieces of clothing which were found in a second-hand, borrowed from friends, or to try DIY. Those are marvelous ways to support sustainable fashion and give second life to unwanted and only theoretically unwearable clothes.

• When it comes to collaborating, I’ve learnt about the psychological term “groupthink”. This term describes a group of people who collaborate and that are afraid to speak their own mind, as also to challenge someone their own opinions. As a result, their decisions are of a poor quality. I’ve experienced a groupthink a few times in my life. I’ve also experienced being afraid to speak my own mind in front of other people, as opposed to others, who were introducing their ideas with self-confidence. Each time I wasn’t brave enough to say exactly what I thought, I felt creatively unfulfilled. Now I know that I should challenge myself more and perceive my different way of thinking as something positive – thanks to that a group can come up with an innovative idea.

• I also have learnt what about the difference between diversity and inclusivity and understood that I need to take one step towards inclusive practice. I didn’t realise that my work was focused on one type of beauty, even though I believed in the idea of diversity. From now on, I will try to work with people from various ethnic backgrounds. I reckon that it would be a good way to support one another and make a difference in fashion industry.

REFERENCES

Crew, J. (2020) ‘Power’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 10 February.

Swift, C. (2020) ‘Collaboration’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 13 February.

Bari, S. (2020) ‘Intro to Diversity’ [Briefing]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 13 February.