Blog Post 1- Lecture Reflection
The lecture I chose to reflect on was Katelyn Toth-Fejel’s ‘Society’ in relation to fashion and sustainability. I feel that there were many issues addressed that I found very relevant to the world we live in right now.
One of the first comments that Toth-Fejel made was about how the word ‘society’ can link to social media, and the idea that a lot of people are now influenced by what they see online. Every time I open up Instagram I am bombarded by so called ‘influencers’ who are endorsing cheap, fast fashion brands. When scrolling down their pages, I start to notice that no two outfits are the same and they are constantly promoting new items for plenty of brands. As Toth-Fejel also mentioned, this makes a lot of young people believe that being seen in the same outfit more than once is unacceptable. This was a viewpoint that I had never really considered before, as when you think of sustainability, your first thought goes to things such as recycling or renewable energy.
Sustainability is something I’ve always been conscious of. As a young student, I often find myself looking for the cheapest option when clothes shopping, purely to save my bank account. However, I rarely ever throw anything away and buy clothes that are made well enough to hopefully last me well into my late 20s. Toth-Fejel used the words ‘an emotional bond with clothing’ which was something that resonated with me. Personally, I tend to find that I really struggle to throw out old clothes because of this ‘emotional bond’ that I have with them.
Retro clothing has come back into fashion, with a significant amount of people are now sourcing their clothes from charity or vintage shops which is a much more sustainable way of shopping. With the likes of Depop and ebay providing a platform for sellers. However, big fast fashion companies have replicated many of the vintage styles, and tend to sell a replica of a garment for a much cheaper price than the real vintage one. People often choose the ‘replica’ because it is new, not second hand, and if it is cheap, it is more expendable when it goes ‘out of fashion’ again. It can simply be discarded without too much to worry about. This lecture really opened my eyes to just how much fast fashion is a problem for the industry and will definitely make me more mindful about the way that I tackle this issue in my own work.
One of the lasting comments that was made was about how we as designers need to not only design in the way of art, but how the social systems surrounding fashion need to be redesigned too. A metaphor that I found particularly interesting was the ‘Three legged stool’ metaphor, in which the environment, society and the economy need to work together to support sustainability. Many designers are embracing certain parts of this, but without all three we can’t truly fix the issue that surrounds us.
Toth-Fejel, K, (2020) ‘Society’ [Lecture] Better Lives, London College of Fashion 28 March.