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  • My project group in the Better Lives unit was Fashion Activism. Our project included a collaboration between the British fashion brand “Lazy Oaf” and the mental health campaign “Time To Change”.  “Lazy Oaf’s clothes are inspired by youth nostalgia, 90s fashion, rebellion and a sense of not conforming to the norm.” They feature bold colours and graphic prints and pay attention to sustainable production and packaging.We created a connection between the brand and the campaign and included the Better Lives themes which are Sustainability, Diversity and Social Responsibility. We decided on creating five GIFS, so moving images and put them together as a video. We decided to take three frames, so three portraits of ourselves in three different angles. We set the focus on the bold colours of the fashion brand and the slogan of the campaign. We used their name “Time To Change” as inspiration and created more slogans that started with “Time to” – time to think, time to act, time to talk and time to listen. We agreed on a colourful background and everyone choose their own colour. We used photoshop to add the colourful background and the website GIPHY to put the pictures together to create a GIF. We added graphics expressing our personalities to make it more personal and underline the theme diversity. We communicated through a group chat and video calls where we discussed ideas and concepts. It was great to work with individuals from other courses including Fashion Photography, Fashion Styling and Production, Fashion PR and Communication and Fashion Journalism. It made it possible to combine different opinions and creative aspects. The group dynamic was good – we contributed our ideas and thoughts and agreed on an outcome everyone was happy with. We are all diverse because we are from different countries – Germany, Poland, Austria and England. The project and theme of our project was very personal as I struggle with mental health myself. Fashion and mental health is connected because wearing an outfit that makes you feel good, automatically stimulates your mind. In a world of constant comparison, trends and fast fashion, we all want to express our personality and style. But it can affect our mental health negatively and can make us feel insecure. This is why it is so important to be confident. For me, fashion is a shield against the world, an uniform that makes me feel good – even on my worst days. The aesthetic of “Lazy Oaf” and “Time To Change” are similar as both use bold colours to portray positivity and bravery. The project outcome turned out very well and we were all satisfied with it. I improved my ability to work with creative softwares and got an insight into the practice of Fashion Activism. I was positively influenced by my peers and the project and I was made aware of the fact that I am socially responsible and how important it is to celebrate diversity, to support sustainability and to engage in the conversation about mental health.
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