Blog 2
Better Lives has informed me on the importance of Diversity, Social Responsibility and Sustainability in the fashion industry. From learning about what these key words actually mean, I am now striving to change the way I work from now on, and to change how others work in the fashion industry, to be more inclusive and to listen to the needs of our deteriorating planet.
Sustainability is something close to my heart. As a vegetarian I am very conscious of the impacts my actions have on the environment, not just directly around me but globally. I am very conscious about the effects the fashion industry has on the environment and as a result my closet is approximately 90% second hand (from either vintage shops or charity shops). I was intrigued by the lecture on sustainability and it reinforced in my head the idea that it is our responsibility to consider fashion, not just for its connections as an industry with a huge amount of power and impact, but also as a cultural and societal influencer. We have the power to change what is currently happening! Mankind is exhausting natural resources, without replenishing them causing imbalances in the natural system, which is rapidly deteriorating our Planet. The lecture caused me to think about how I can in my own practice change the way I work to be more sustainable. I aim to be much more conscious in the materials I use. As an illustrator I need to think about up-cycling, re- working and re-cycling old drawings and used paper.
This brings me onto the next key term of Diversity. The lectures in Better Lives discussing diversity has enlightened my practice of fashion illustration. I am striving to illustrate a broad range of people in my work. I want to make minorities feel like they are being represented fairly in the fashion industry. It is encouraging to see that the industry is changing and developing to include everyone, not just size zero, white women. I think the current fashion industry is a very unhealthy representation of the time we live in and does not represent what I stand for. Before better lives I hadn’t even realised that my work wasn’t very diverse. From completing my costume design project, I have researched Mexican culture and read extensively on the life of Frida Kahlo. I found it interesting to read about her disabilities and how she dressed to hide them. I want those who have a disability to feel as if they have just as right to the fashion industry as I, and so feel it important to draw those with disabilities in my fashion illustrations. I loved learning about Mama Cax and how Alexander McQueen (1999) beautifully crafted a lightweight wooden leg for her. I felt a sense of hope upon learning this, however we do not see this enough in the fashion industry and this is something I wish to change!
2nd May 2020 @ 1:01 pm
I read and looked through a lot of the posted blogs of my peers, but my attention was caught by Betty Wright’s second blog post – her reflection on how the Better Lives themes might change the way she works in the future.
Her text is structured perfectly – it is clear and mentions several important points from this unit, as well as examples from her personal experience. I could not agree more with her, people need to change their ways fast, we need to start building a more sustainable and empathic world. Educating ourselves is the first step and this unit has proven to us that nothing is impossible, unless we decide it is unworthy of our attention, or we give up half-way through without trying.
To begin with, she makes a point that we have the power to change the way things are nowadays. She is conscious of what is happening around her – something a lot of people lack, but need to understand. I was particularly intrigued by the idea of the reusing of old illustrations and paper – I have never, thus far, thought I can reuse an already finished piece I have made in the past. This however is not only sustainable, but very innovative. We all are what we do, if we learn to be sustainable in our work, than we can learn to be sustainable in every way possible.
On a different note, she includes the diversity theme regarding the fashion industry and the underrepresentation of minorities, of all that is different to the already concrete model set by people already gone “out of fashion”. I agree with her not only, because she points out something absolutely relevant, but because I have been myself in a situation similar to underrepresentation. As I am definitely not slim or skinny, something that is still widely preferred home, I once took part in a photo shoot about body positivity, which featured only plump or above the “average” weight (expected from models) women. It would have been a wonderful project if it were not only for money and a couple of pages in a magazine. Each of the women had to say a few words about how they feel in their bodies. The problem however was that nobody really cared about how any of the models felt, all they wanted was something positive, because what you said was way too grim and people will not feel good reading it. Moreover, they took photos of each woman deliberately from a strange angle making her look differently. Long story short, nobody really cared to show that every single person is beautiful regardless of their size. This is one of the problems of not only the fashion world, but the modern as well – and it needs to change. I hope that the creative work of some of us will enlighten the world of someone else, as after all the visual arts are the dessert for the soul.
Finally, Betty has explained and understood the meaning of the lectures perfectly, not only giving examples, but being an example herself (vegetarian, wears vintage clothes).
In my opinion we do not need a pandemic or neglected people to be our reality to understand we need to act fast and we need to do it now.