Blog Post 1. Lecture reflection
Within Better Lives unit I listened to a couple of interesting and inspiring lectures but the one I watched first actually stood out to me the most. It was the “Culture” lecture by Anna Fitzpatrick where she outlined the importance of the actions which must not be delayed and highlighted the key points of what has caused us to get to the point where we are now.
When I heard that we have less than 10 years to act I was shocked as it hit me to realize that it is such a short period of time and how much pressure is on every one of us to take action now. But here we all have a question then: “How do we make fashion sustainable without hurting any area in this industry which has been already set up for a very long time?”
The example Fitzpatrick talked about was fast fashion where she explained that if we do minimize the enormous consumption of the mass market which is so popular in our society these days it would affect people who work to produce those clothes as it would leave them without a job and source of income. So that moves us onto thinking about the ethical questions about mass production and poor working conditions which are a part of fast fashion.
The whole problem which has raised with fast fashion has a clear connection to capitalism and our habits as consumers. We tend to use clothing and fashion as ways to reward ourselves, to make us happy and in some cases to draw attention to prove something. With such reasons being so impulsive people tend to turn to fast fashion as a coping mechanism and the purchase might serve no longer than 5 weeks and be thrown away after it has fulfilled its purpose as being a “reward” or after it has gone out of fashion.
As Kawamura (2005) argued in their book “Fashion-ology” fashion is immaterial while clothing is essential. These days with new technology fashion changes so quickly that the only way to keep fashion society’s desire to always be in trend fulfilled is to produce more and consume more. This tendency is also supported by development in technologies: as they have increased (also increasing the amount of production), the peoples working hours have decreased and that has led to them having more time to consume in past years. Side effects of that are production increased by double only from 2000 to 2014 and each year it keeps increasing by 60%.
Those numbers are shocking and that’s why it is time to take action. The key to it is to move from the idea of “me” and create a culture where we can all work together, which is a massive challenge. However, it will not only work towards such goals as a more sustainable fashion but also will have a positive impact on mental health which is so strongly affected by social media and its promotion of fast fashion.
References:
Fitzpatrick, A., (2020) ,Culture, [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 1 April.
Kawamura, Y., (2005). Fashion-Ology. Oxford: Berg.