Blog Post Four
For my final blog post I will be reflecting on Sofia Lira’s first blog post, in which she reflects on a better lives lecture and how it influenced her thinking. She decided to study the lecture on power, delivered by Julia Crew. She begins her reflection by explaining that attending the lectures has allowed her to interact with the better lives themes, expanding her knowledge and thinking surrounding fashion and the influence of the themes: diversity, sustainability and social responsibility. She goes on to interact with the themes further, explaining how each relate to fashion and the ever-changing fashion industry.
Exploring the lecture, she focuses on the idea that power within the fashion industry isn’t as evenly distributed as people may perceive, explaining that topics such as human rights and sustainability have become a leading contributor in the issues surrounding power within the fashion industry. She also explains how diversity is a contributor to the problems surrounding power, posing the question of whether power is balanced within the industry, or if the fashion item itself represents different forms of power and identity, therefore representing diversity. She then goes on to justify her argument by presenting examples of items of clothing that represent power and identity, for example military clothing and the formal dress, showing power conveyed through a recognised theme or symbol.
I think the use of power and her ability to communicate its direct link to the better lives themes: diversity, sustainability and social responsibility is substantial. She is fulfilling the brief of reflecting on the lecture, incorporating how it has influenced her thinking, and therefore successfully demonstrating how she has interacted with the teaching by taking forward the ideas into her reflection. She has not only shown the impact of attending one lecture, but even talks about how attending a series of lectures adapted and impacted her thinking around the fashion industry.
Lira finishes her blog post by suggesting that power within the fashion industry can be used for positive outcomes, explaining that if power is gained by the correct people it can be used to introduce consumers to more sustainable fashion, changing the way the fashion industry currently stands. She further demonstrates her understanding of the better lives themes by explaining in further detail that this change is the social responsibility of those deemed icons, who have the most accessible platform that will allow them to successfully communicate these new sustainable concepts, and have the most significant influence over the consumer market.
Overall I believe that Lira’s blog post fulfilled her brief entirely, explaining the ways in which she attended the lectures and how they drastically influenced her thinking, linking to each of the better lives themes and intertwining them with the main theme of power explored in the lecture. My only note to improve would be to perhaps talk about the future, and how the lecture series have influenced her way of working and way of thinking towards her future projects as a young person entering the fashion world.