blogpost 2

In the first lecture of Messaging Fashion we got introduced to the very basics such as what is PR and social responsibility.

The social responsibility part of the lecture was the one that resonated with me the the most as I have watched an online lecture on this subject where LCF students went to prison to collaborate with female prisoners to give them the voice and the chance to bring their creativity to life while being locked down.

At first, I thought that social responsibility has to do something with the environment, especially with the climate change, however, it turned out that it is about contributing to improving society and the environment. Nowadays, customers are becoming more aware of the influence that fast fashion and consumption has and, therefore, fashion (as well as non-fashion) brands are now trying to be more socially responsible.

Nevertheless, one does not need to have a brand of any kind to promote the social responsibility approach. Everyone can make their own contribution to it. For example, I , as a photographer, can take pictures that would make more people aware of the influence and power that the industry of fashion has in our world and what could one do to improve the situation (or at least not make things worse).

I thought of people that consume a lot of unnecessary items and bulk up in their homes. Some TV channels, such as TLC, for example, have shows about people going to supermarkets and get dozens of shampoos, tissues, plastic cutlery/dishes because these are the items that are often on sale. I highly doubt that those people consider that buying so much is, firstly, unnecessary, and, secondly, would promote a company (for eg. shampoo brand) produce even more which will most likely eventually end up as a waste. In this case, I think, the TV companies should stop broadcasting shows of that kind in order to stop promoting this kind of unhealthy consumer behaviour.

Having been allocated to the Duro Olowu fashion brand, me and my group mates now have to choose what cause should we go for.

The beginning of working in teams was very insightful as to what one can do in terms of improving the society and the environment. It feels good to know that in collaboration with other students we will create something that might help someone out there.

For myself, as a photographer, I personally decided to do a project about fast fashion and waste from it and try to get published in a famous publication so that I would be able to reach as many people’s minds as possible.

Every single person should know that they are capable of communicating their ideas and approaches to help us all live together on our planet and Better Lives is a great tool to bring more aware people into the industry of fashion and our world.