2

Themes reflection 

reflecting on how the Better Lives themes 

The fashion world has always been changing and it will always continue to. We have gone through many substantial changes, some greater than the other. Diversity has been and still is a huge topic in the fashion industry, it’s what has widely been missing across all the platforms of creativity. Vogue came about in 1901 and all the models were socialites. When looking back at magazines it was obvious that there was no diversity as only white models were used at all times and only in 1959 China Machado,  was the first model of colour to appear in the magazine. This has greatly improved over time however to this day we still have issues with this topic, which sparks questions whether artists carefully think through their choices when creating a result. There have been many times where artists or photographers treat people of colour differently than others in the same work environment. As a practitioner, I would never want to create such an atmosphere in a creative workspace and my intentions are to treat people with respect despite what their ethnicity is. Acceptance and equality are still missing within the fashion industry and I hope through my actions of respect it will create a domino effect on other practitioners.

Another huge issue we face in fashion is sustainability. One of the major big changes has been how we produce clothes, as there are many large companies which manufacture clothing which creates consequences that we did not have to face previously. It creates massive causes to the environment such as waste pollution and carbon emissions. Most are aware of these causes but choose to do nothing to help this issue be improved. Many fashion designers right now are working with sustainable materials and really considering how we can reuse materials in a smart and creative way to even possibly push this idea further onto other designers as well as artists. This should definitely have a great influence on the fashion industry and society as we should be more considerate of our choices with clothing. Many people including myself have started to purchase clothing from charity shops for a change and this has initiated a massive difference in how much fast fast-fashion we consume. When planning for my own shoots I always turn to charity shops for styling pieces as you can find some rare and unique items. As these are usually used clothing items I don’t feel as bad experimenting with them by painting or cutting them up, which makes the whole creative process more fun. Overall this is one of the elements that gives me the freedom to do whatever I want and form diverse image outcomes.