Themes Reflection blogpost 2
In blog post 2 we are asked to reflect on the Better Lives themes and how it is going to affect the way we approach work in the future. The three themes in which are discussed are Sustainability, Diversity, and Social Responsibility. These topics are so widely spoken about everywhere now not just in fashion as society is trying to become more inclusive as a whole, each of these work together to create that. I am currently on the Fashion PR and Communications course, and through the exploration of the Better Lives themes and attending these lectures I have learnt that as a PR you need to be aware of these themes and topics while working in the industry. By exploring these topics I have learnt that the industry as a whole needs to consider being more mindful of being morally and ethically aware.
Through engaging with the Better Lives lectures and exploring their themes of social responsibility, sustainability and diversity I feel as though as a student and a PR I should always be questioning a brands work or why they did what they did, investigating a brand or publication in so much more depth. Asking questions like, who did they have working backstage on the runway (not just who they had on display on the catwalk)?, whos the person behind the brand running it currently? What makes this brand diverse or inclusive? Asking yourself questions such as these to explore the true reasoning behind a brand, for example just because a brand preaches about feminism and “girlpower” doesn’t always mean it is a feminist brand, one example is Missguided run by a male dominated board comprised of all men, yet try and advertise themselves and true womens brand. Maybe if they put a female on the board they could maybe call themselves a “girlpower”. This is when we start to question whether this is ethical or not, is this a form of lying? Is misguided trying to promote themselves as a brand that they just factually are not?
However these themes have allowed me not just to view brands with more depth in negative and eyeopening ways but also in the positives, for example, each theme: Diversity, Social Responsibity and Susatainability are all important topics in which need to be spoken about as much as they can, and as they are a growing topic of conversation it is forcing brands to change and become more diverse and inclusive. We are seeing more diversity on the catwalk for example Rhianna’s Savage X Fenty show included the first ever transgender model on a catwalk. Of course there is the question about the reason behind it, was it for pure inclusive intent or because it caused this catwalk to be the most spoken about in 2019, therefore for publicity motives. We don’t fully know however either way, we see a change happening.
11th May 2020 @ 3:16 pm
Blog 4: Peer Review
For the Peer review segment I have decided to peer review Ciara Amos Blog 2 post on the better lives themes Available at: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/11/themes-reflection-blogpost-2/
I chose her blog because I liked the way she linked her field of practice which is Fashion PR and communications to the better lives themes on top of that while reading her blog I was relating and strongly agreeing to the points that were made.
Since I study Fashion illustration and imaging even though both fields are different they relate in terms of purpose which is showcasing things to audiences whether, advertising, promotions,commercial purposes etc.
In Ciara Amos she thoroughly discusses in detail how each of the better lives themes related to her field of practice.
Diversity plays a role as in the fashion world especially runways over time there has been a occurance of there not being a diverse range of models and not being as inclusive as they should especially in the time we live in where everyone no matter what race, gender, sexuality people are they all deserve a chance to showcase what they have but that has slowly begin to change one example that was brought up in Ciara’s blog was the Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty show which included the first Transgendred model on a catwalk.
Social responsibility is another aspect that comes into play when you do Fashion PR you have to think about the brand you are representing, what audience do they target, the perspectives that the public and audience have on the brand when promoting you have to be aware especially as the industry is very “one sided”. People just consume goods most don’t even think about what goes on behind the scenes in the blog ciara brings up how misguided is a company that is run by a majority board of men when you would think it’s run by women.
Although Ciara brought up great points in her blog there wasn’t really any mention about sustainability which I understand as what role sustainability can play in Fashion PR and communication but I feel like in any case or situation sustainability should be included with PR when dealing with a fashion brand what could they do to make their garments or runways to make it more environmentally friendly, What could you do as someone who deals with communication to communicate sustainability to an audience. What platforms could you use nowadays there are search engines that are eco friendly that help towards planting trees.
There is a leeway in relating sustainability to Fashion PR and communications.
Overall Ciara’s blog was very insightful it I was able to pick up on some things that I could benefit from when I do my field of practice, it also allowed me to learn how things differ from another field of fashion what they do and what they have to consider because different fields consider different topics when creating their content especially with the better lives themes.