Better Lives Blog Post 3
For the Better Lives project in regards to ‘Fashion Activism’, conducted in a group of 6, we were assigned a brand and given the end goal of creating a moving image for the brand. Our brand was ‘Nubian Skin’: a lingerie brand for women of colour. The end product of our group work had to fit in with the brands current identity therefore making research an integral part of this process. We assigned different group members each a different aspect of the brand to research such as history, sales, social media and ambassadors in order to gauge a well- rounded view of ‘Nubian Skin’ and their overall ethos. I feel that this helped to further my skill set when working in a group as I was able to see the efficiency of assigning roles to different members and regrouping at the end.
Attending the group lectures at the start of the unit was a really enjoyable experience. It was interesting to meet students from other courses and to see all our different approaches to working come together. I found the focus on visuals during this part of the course to be particularly enjoyable as we learnt about individuals such as George Melies, a French illusionist and film director, alongside looking at more modern approaches to moving images such as Nick Knight’s video for the 2016 British Fashion Awards entitled ‘Up’.
Before these lectures, when presented with the task of curating a ‘moving image’, I would have immediately thought of simply creating a traditional, advertisement-style video. This links to the early days of cinema moving image which was mainly used to promote ready-to-wear collections and was deemed to be unsophisticated by a number of couture designers. Over the course of the Better Lives unit, I was introduced to other mediums of moving image which can work just as effectively. This taught me the importance of being open to new ideas and not being restrictive when working creatively showing the diversity of this unit. We learnt about the use of GIFS from brands such as Versace, Moncler and Kate Spade as well as publications such as TWIN MAGAZINE which are an accessible medium for customers. Other mediums of moving image include interactive films such as one created by FarFetch and also an interactive film from Heliot Emil in which you are able to pick between camera angles when watching their show.
During the unit, the Coronavirus pandemic impacted our teams way of working greatly. We had previously planned to create a traditional style of moving image – staying true to the neutral tones of Nubian Skin – which would have preferably been filmed outside with a number of different people featuring in the film – focusing on the inclusivity and responsible ethos of Nubian Skin. Due to lockdown, it was apparent that this was no longer possible. Although we struggled at first, we used our WhatsApp group chat to communicate regularly as a group and used Zoom to interact with one another. After discussions as a group, we decided that we wanted to push the masculine element of the brand as the presence of men in their campaigns in something which lacks in Nubian Skin. This furthered the diversity of the brand. We decided to create a GIF which can be used across the brands social media platforms and is a sustainable, paper-free method of advertisement:
Link to our moving image: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/a2542007-913f-4082-8a71-ddbc63d77b7e