Blog post 3- Reflections on project outcome and personal development
My Better lives project was themed ‘Sportswear Fashion language and subcultures’.We explored in depth the styling practise through technical workshops, we looked into diverse subcultures, we investigated the people, historical context social connections, movements and political cultures, lifestyle, music and fashion associated to them. Lastly, we created a couple of sportswear experimental looks under the themes ‘youth expression’ and ‘healthy-youth vibes’ integrating the better lives themes diversity, social responsibility and sustainability.
They say ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, which underpins the influence of a stylist. The role of a Stylist includes both communicating and innovating new ways of doing so which braces the objective of my project. The aim of my project was to study the technical disciplines of fashion styling alongside a subculture and interweave it with the better lives core values.
First, we examined the job of a stylist in relation to the better lives themes, we looked at past examples and as anticipated, we came across countless works that glamorised classism and objectification,like the infamous Dolce and Gabbana 2007 “gang rape” ad campaign. However, I also did notice sustainable works where up-cycled props and vintage piece were used to encourage recycling and both examples served as food for thought for my workshop tasks.
My first masterclass task was to deconstruct and reconstruct sportswear styling silhouettes and produce a look that expressed social innovation under theme ‘youth expression’. This particular exercise reminded me of Lucy Orta’s works lecture, which mostly highlighted issues within communities. I thought of playing with the Ghanaian expectation and beliefs surrounding gender. A number of second-generation immigrant teens are unable to explore and express themselves due to the cultural gap between their parents, an issue I personally identify with, hence, I decided blur the traditional gender lines by creating an androgyny look, insinuating a couple of boxes into the set as a statement to express my concern about gender performativity and labelling.
My second and last masterclass’ task, similar to the above was to create a look that responds to the Covid-19 lockdown situation under the theme “healthy-youth vibes”. I pondered ways to convey mental wellbeing, ways to optimise our mental wellness. Living in today’s digital and information age we are exposed to and consume an unhealthy amount of information which overwhelms our brainpower which is detrimental to our mental health. I used yoga props to suggest meditation as a getaway to tone down the noise and calm our nervous system, which is the utmost we can do considering the lock-down situation. Furthermore, meditation increases our attention span which the nature of social media tends to shorten, unfortunately.
The better lives themes have tremendously impacted my self development both as a creative and an individual existing in an evolving society. I have added to my fashion language vocabulary, I have explored the styling practice and acquired knowledge and technical skills to be able to communicate effectively using clothes and set. I have learnt how to break down and critique another person’s work. I am more acquainted with the meaning of my chosen practise to society. Last but no least I have learnt how to be more playful, resourceful and how to communicate efficiently with less.
References
Cbsnews.com. 2020. Calvin Klein’s “Rape” Ad Isn’t Unique: How Treating Women Badly Sells Clothes. [online] Available at: <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/calvin-kleins-rape-ad-isnt-unique-how-treating-women-badly-sells-clothes/> [Accessed 10 May 2020].
10th May 2020 @ 11:43 am
I have read many blog posts on the Better Lives dashboard but Anthony Karikari’s reflective post about his personal development during the course fascinated me. Him being in the project ‘Sportswear Fashion language and subcultures’, which was a very distinctive and interesting project to choose, I wanted to know more about what he had learned in the duration of the course and how it had made him interpret the Better Lives themes well.
He started with explaining what the project was about and what they were going to learn and be tasked on. Looking into diverse subcultures and investigating them in different themes to later on create sportswear looks interpreting these findings and ‘youth culture’ to understand the Better Lives themes, Sustainability, Diversity and Social Responsibility.
Later on, Anthony explained what the role of a stylist is and how he would study the technical difficulties a stylist can have when taking on projects where awareness needs to be seen and raised. In the project, they looked at how stylists have done before them and how there has been a lot of objectification but also, a lot of sustainable awareness in campaigns.
Bringing in his own personal feelings and experiences into his first masterclass task, made me very fascinated and interested in his project. Anthony was tasked with deconstructing and reconstructing sportswear styling silhouettes and to produce his own interpretations under the theme ‘youth culture’. Choosing to use Ghanaian expectations of youth and gender for second generation immigrant youths and the gap between their parents, being one himself, he wanted to blur the traditional gender lines. Reading his story about this project makes me think that Anothony really interpreted the Better Lives theme, Diversity well and could see how this project helped him express his feelings.
Furthermore, reading Anthony’s last and final masterclass task, about using yoga tools as a meditational get-away to prevent mental health issues during this day and age in a digital era and especially now during national lockdowns, made me realize that he had really understood the Better Lives themes and used them in his projects as an advantage. He describes how he has tremendously been impacted by the Better Lives unit and that he has a lot to bring into his fashion future.
I was very pleased and impressed with Anthony’s personal development and Reflective blog post, seeing how the three themes were used in his projects and how he had developed from them. I hope to read something as fascinating again soon.