Blog post 1
Throughout the lectures during the first two weeks of the Better Lives unit I have been able to reflect on how fashion industry connects with Better Lives themes of sustainability, diversity and social responsibility. A lecture that particularly interested me, as well as influenced my thinking is ‘Power’ by Julia Crew.
Generally speaking, the lecture was focusing on the subject of power within fashion industry, dividing it into subtopics to discuss and understand power structures in more detail. Starting with fashion, ms. Crew has made some great points on how clothing and fashion has been expressing power for centuries, giving examples of royalty, uniforms and businessman suits, among other examples. Next few subtopics (money, media and protest) were really thought- provoking and made me reflect on the future of this industry. The statistics and facts given in the lecture are frightening: the situation of people employed in the clothes making process cannot afford basic necessities; it is said that it would take around 4 days for a CEO of a top fashion brand to make what a Bangladeshi garment worker would earn in a lifetime, in many countries minimum wage isn’t enough to live with a standard, and leaves a certain amount of workers in poverty. Julia Crew is discussing the power of advertising, which is often really subtle, subconscious. With the amount of media and platforms the modern society is dealing with everyday and is exposed to them, it is not very shocking to see the example of how a popular television show ‘Love Island’ increased sales of the online brand Missguided by 40%, as most looks seen in the show were provided by them. A crucial influence advertising and media has is much more dangerous than most of us think, as it makes buying and consumerism not sustainable and around 75% of clothing produced each year wind up in landfill.
The way how Julia Crew brought up the power of ourselves as consumers and people aspiring to work in the industry is truly inspiring. She marks our power as consumers and that we should be aware of how certain garments were made, wether the brand is paying a decent salary to their employees. This, as well as mentioning how worth it is to reshape the story of our clothing, by for instance swapping or thrifting is making us feel the power and ability of making our impact on the industry more sustainable, feeling like we are taking care of a ‘better future’. Additionally, noticing examples of making this change by regular people, such as Extinction Rebellion is definitely a great start to think about how to positively influence the industry by ourselves, which is an important question I’ve carried out of this lecture.
This lecture has made me reflect on the impact of media, advertisements or extremely rich businessmen. On the other hand, mentioning of positive influence of designers, like Vivienne Westwood gave me hope in the future and making fashion an ‘industry without casualties’.
References:
Crew. J (2020) ‘Power’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 10 February 2020
11th May 2020 @ 1:25 pm
The blog that particularly caught my attention is the one written by Fashion Styling and Production student – Maja Majchrzak: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/11/blog-post-1-28/
I decided to write about this blog because its reflection about the Crew J. lecture (2020) entitled ‘Power’, which also impressed me a lot. This is a fantastic reflection on how the fashion industry connects with themes of sustainability, diversity, and social responsibility. I am excited that the author decided to write about the same aspects that also touched me during the live stream of this lecture. In the presentation of ms. Crew also my attention was caught by given facts about the conditions and standards of work performed by garment workers in developing countries. I think it is very important to remind people of this type of injustice in the world and make people aware and then make changes to improve the lives of others and ours. I am full of admiration for the statistics provided by Maja. It is crucial to give the number of people who create basic products for us and cannot afford to lead an ordinary and dignified life.
I support what she wrote, especially about the power of the media where the production of the program “Love Island” increased the demand for clothes of the brand promoted in the series, and this type of power could also be used for more noble purposes that will bring change, not just profit. It is simply fair to pay employees decent wages because sometimes the prices of making products for the needs of the brand are nothing compared to the great profit that is earned on them.
For Maja, as well as for me, Julia Crew’s words influenced our way of looking at the essence of making the right choices as a consumer, thinking in a sustainable way can affect the world we live in, and even lead to a change for the better. I am very glad that as examples of striving for good changes were actions taken by Vivienne Westwood, which is one of my biggest role models and Extinction Rebellion, whose actions I have supported since they started their revolution.
I truly believe that Maja has reflected fully on the themes of diversity, social responsibility, and sustainability in her blog. It is very good to know that other people also strive for equality and justice.