Blog 2: Themes & Future Work Reflection
The better lives themes are all vital for the future of fashion and dare I say it, humanity in general. Diversity, inclusivity, social responsibility and of course sustainability are each as important as the other. A lot of these topics, unfortunately, seem to be reduced to mere buzzwords. People like to talk about them because it sounds good. But in reality, very little change is actually being made. That is not to disregard the small baby steps the fashion industry has finally made in bettering itself by including and appealing to everyone. However, I personally feel that these sentiments largely remain alive only in scholarly articles online or university essays.
We live in a capitalist society, where fashion brands profit from racial scandals regularly. They don’t really care about sustainability even though the hashtag on their Instagram picture says they do. They still have prison-like sweatshops in third-world countries where the workers are treated like they are less than human. According to Jeremy Myerson (cited in Salisbury, 2020) the average consumer that most fashion is designed for is a white, middle-aged male with a salary above £100,000. That doesn’t sound very inclusive at all. The fashion industry, although a seemingly female-oriented area, is still run by men (George-Parkin, 2018). I would like to put the blame entirely on backwards-thinking, non-inclusive big fashion brands, but I know that this is not true. Do we really care? We still buy from them and champion them. Fashion designers, photographers, journalists and more still work for brands which lack key elements such as diversity, empathy and inclusivity. People still catch numerous flights all across the world to attend fashion week shows, with not a single regard to the air pollution they contribute to. The list goes on. What’s more is that brands can only do so much. They listen to what the public says, whether that is directly or indirectly. Yes, big fashion brands have power and an influence to an extent, but in today’s consumerist culture, consumers are the true powerhouse. The saying “supply and demand” remains unparalleled.
I believe we all need to do our part, no matter how big or small. I need to educate myself further and raise awareness, even if that is speaking to family members who do not know of or have much interest in these topics. Furthermore, I hope to actively try to implement these changes within my daily life and work, especially by choosing environmental-friendly and sustainable fashion. In the future, I hope to really think about the consequences of my actions. Writing only about things that really matter and can inspire people to change. There is no need for me to bring a piece of journalistic writing into this world if it will not benefit anyone or improve anything. Speaking to people and collaborating more would really help because one can learn so much from others, leading to better ideas. There is power in numbers.
References:
George-Parkin, H. (2018) The Glass Runway: Our Exclusive Survey on the State of the Fashion Industry, Glamour, 21 May. Available at: https://www.glamour.com/story/the-glass-runway-fashion-industry-survey
Salisbury, L. (2020) ‘Inclusion’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 12 February.
24th April 2020 @ 5:09 pm
I choose the blog from Noori Naveed, because caught me with the first lines when said “A lot of these topics, unfortunately, seem to be reduced to mere buzzwords” I agree on the fact that those 3 themes are much wider. However, in the unit, we had the chance to explore each one creating a wider argument, acknowledging us on different aspects of them. Obviously, is up to the audience to go deeper and research if we are interested. It’s interesting when Noori says that all of this awareness on these is going to stay within university or articles online, I personally came across different people from a different background that can argue this. For instance, the extinction rebellion where the consciousness of people from different generation come together and create this movement of social protest or fashion brands that now are pushing on the sustainability, it’s the global concern that is rising and obviously, it will take time before we will see gradual changes on our society, but it’s happening.
The second paragraphs Noori start to discuss the method how products are been made and just thinking of the events like what happened in 2013 in Bangladesh on the Primark factory, it’s horrendous. She raises an aspect of brand campaigns that companies are laying on their adverts, on this I can partly agree, because, yes they can lie on a certain aspect of the product, however, they can’t completely make up stories because there are unions to protect costumers from false advertisings. Noori mentions Jeremy Myerson and the analysis of the target for all fashion brands are potential costumers male, white with £100k earning, this might be the case of brands such Versace, Gucci, Ferragamo not for a brand as Primark, H&M or Pull & Bear. Also, the audiences can decide what to purchase, taking in consideration factors such as salary, quality, sustainability. Almost certainly, many brands lie with the advertisements, however, we still have the power of decision and we can choose certain brands instead to another, based on our ideologies, salary and ethnic.
From the conclusion of Noori I can tell that this unit had an impact on her life when says “I need to educate myself further and raise awareness, even if that is speaking to family members” I assume that is the point of the unit to raise this kind of awareness. Comparing to myself, I am acting already aware of sustainability, diversity and socially responsible and I don’t see the change that far away, however as I said on my post, it’s never enough. I can relate to myself when she speaks about to raise awareness into her family, I have tried as well many times to make them understand the importance of sustainability and they still not put enough effort for this cause, maybe because there are from another generation or maybe because they expect a change from the companies or government first.
To conclude, It has been an interesting read, she made me think of different aspects that I didn’t consider on my articles.