BLOG 1 LECTURE: “POWER” by Julia Crew
Throughout the better lives lectures and briefings attended, the topics that come up the most were about themes such as sustainability and diversity through fashion.
A theme such as sustainability, during the last decade, has been even more relevant and thanks to the better lives lecture I realized how much power we have to possibly change the future of fashion.
Julia Crew lead the lecture “Power” which I considered really inspiring and open-minded with topics that caught my eye really deeply. The lecture was about fashion, in relation to different t aspects, such as diversity and sustainability.
The lecture purpose was to compare fashion with different themes such as money, media, consumer, protest and “you”. As consumer we have the power to choose where and how we can spend our money; as Julia said we are the driver of trends and every time we buy something we are voting with our wallet. It is also important to know who realize clothes and under what condition. Within the lecture, the quote “it’s up to each of us, as producer and as consumer, to decide how to use that power responsibly” from Vestoj, issue 4: “on power” made me realize that we have more power and more control than we think we have.
Keeping up with fashion clothing, power has always been able to communicate through clothing worn by firstly, Royalty and subsequently the Military and Political figures; as a consequence, the way of dressing has always been able to communicate their class, status and work. The quote “right now, power in fashion boils down to economic power” by Vestoj made me realize that in the fashion industry, creativity is not important as being an economic and commercial industry.
A topic that struck me a lot is the comparison that Julia made between fashion and “you”; the importance and the power of having a voice for changing things and make a difference. As already mentioned above, as consumer, we held a great amount of power, that we do not even realize we have; we are capable of changing things via different actions, such as protests. Thanks to this lecture I found out about “the Pussyhat Project” which is dedicated to advancing women’s and humans rights through the arts, education and dialogue. This global movement was created in response to a concerning and negative rhetoric used towards women and minorities.
To conclude, I think that this course made me realize how important is to be aware of facts, current events, whether we are talking about fashion or other themes such as politics, climate change or sustainability. In addition, it helped me understand that we can do better and together we can find the solution for the actual problems and issues that characterize the fashion world.