Blog post 2
Themes of sustainability, diversity and social responsibility are in my opinion essential for an amenable fashion practice in a future. The positive influence of these themes is extremely important and so I think it should be spoken about more, making more and more creatives aware in order to make changes in the fashion industry. One of them, which has instantly caught my attention and on which I am most interested in, mostly because of my experience is diversity.
Poland is a country, where many minorities, wether its culture, religion, race, age, disability or sexual identity and gender faced serious discrimination. Coming from a place like this, I’ve always been really sensitive on this topic. Living in London and studying at UAL is making it possible to look at different people, cultures, everyone is different and seeing it from day to day hasn’t only inspired me as a creative, but also made me think of how I want to approach this theme in the future, showing as much positivity around the topic as I possibly can.
As I am a Styling and Production student, a first thing that springs to my mind as a powerful move to express more diversity is doing photoshoots with models from different backgrounds, different age, or shape. They would be making a shoot more interesting, opposing the most popular standard of beauty being a white, tall, skinny blonde girl with blue eyes. This practice wouldn’t only destroy silly beliefs of how real beauty should look like, but also influence confidence of young people, often ashamed of their looks associated with their race or culture. In modern society, where every day we’re constantly surrounded by fashion outcomes on social media, like photoshoots or videos from runways it is important to have more variety and representation of every race, shape or age.
I feel like another aspect around the theme of diversity that needs mentioning is cultural appropriation and how often it is ignored in the industry. This is an issue that should be taken into the account by every fashion professional. It is especially crucial for a stylist creating a certain outfit to be aware of the various elements, where it came from and if it’s right to use it as a part of a styling outcome. A person of that culture would have felt like their traditions and heritage is really nothing more than something to dress up with. My opinion is that those elements from other culture are something far more important and complex than just another piece of fabric or an accessory and shouldn’t be taken lightly and ‘just like that’.
In conclusion, diversity is for me a theme, which is teaching us many valuable lessons throughout our life. It is critical to understand the differences between us, with tolerance and positive attitude. I aspire to show that approach through my work, with respect for every difference there is.