Blog Post 3 – Project Outcome Reflection

As we’re nearing the end of the Better Lives unit, it is nice to look back on previous blog posts and see what I have learned and applied to the Styling pathway. As we’re in this lockdown period in the world, we have had to resort to finishing the rest of our classes online and to also work from home and to be inventive with what we have available.

Before this unit, I had very little knowledge of the styling industry and the approach to it. Now I can understand things a little bit differently and can apply them moving forward. Previously I have styled for my own shoots but have never truly gone into depth with It. With this I am able to research more about other subcultures that are out of my comfort zone that can allow me to expand my mind wider.

The lectures we had prior to the pandemic, we were taught about the roles of a stylist and the different types of stylist there is. I was not aware of many things that were discussed during the lectures in the first week, so this allowed the better lives theme that were fresh in my mind to incorporate the two together and change my way of thinking. In other lectures we were also informed about how fashion has changed throughout the decades and also how certain items of clothing can have a certain meaning. For example, Burberry in its early days was a sign of proud British heritage. Nowadays it has become a trend amongst the youth.

Since we were not able to have out second Styling Masterclass at university and I had missed the first one, I was very worried about how the second one would go. Our task was to use clothing that we have at hand and household items to style ourselves or someone else that reflects our experience during lockdown. Since I am the only one in my household, I decided to style my friend over FaceTime and do shoot over the phone. I chose to merge the hip hop 90’s culture and add elements of fitness in it. In the hip hop culture, oversized clothing is a major factor. Hoodies, sweaters, t-shirts, jeans etc were always a bigger size and became a staple at the time. This was because in the black culture, to save money, parents would buy clothing of a larger size. You would have to grow into your clothes. This is a good thing as it reinforces sustainability. I asked my model to find an old jumper that she never wears to add that element into my shoot. For the bottoms I decided to pair the jumper with some cycling shorts which has been around in fashion since the 80’s. It was very popular during the 90’s, even seen on Princess Diana. I planned to have a bandana or scarf around the head but had to use what was available and ended up using a Burberry scarf to wrap around her head. Bandana’s are very popular in the hip hop culture in America and I wanted to add that to highlight my ideas.