Blog Post 1

Lecture reflection 

By Julia Crew 

Power

The reason why Julia’s lecture on power stood out to me amongst the rest is because I am new to the world of fashion styling and I felt like the best way to gain a deeper understanding about the roots of fashion and styling Is to understand the culture, power  and real impact that it has on the world. Throughout the lecture, Julia looked at the topic of power from a number of perspectives. This ignited loads of thoughts from the question of “who holds the power in fashion”. I was drawn to her lecture because she acknowledged the positive sides alongside the dark sides of fashion. Julia challenged many ideologies by using examples to back up her points. For example, how royalty hold the power in fashion, the military and symbolism, hierarchy and leadership.

I think the most fundamental way the lecture has influenced my thinking is that power can also be seen in a more systemic point of view. The power in fashion not only boils down to politics, it can boil down to economic power. Statistically, there has always been a huge divide between those at the top in comparison to those at the bottom in terms of inequality and that also plays an important role in fashion. who holds the power in fashion? Provokes thoughts and challenges the hierarchy of fashion. Is it the consumer? The media? Cultures? society?One important thing I learned is the representations within the fashion industry and media have a huge influence on advertising.  The new culture of Instagram fashion accounts now known as ‘influencer marketing’ proves that anyone can have a voice in fashion. People are able to follow along with people that represent who they are whether its body shape or skin colour. Resulting in people being most likely to purchase an outfit even if they’re not familiar with the person. That in itself is enough to kick start thoughts on how I plan to approach how fashion shapes the industry.  

I believe that the power in fashion starts with us, being sustainable has been an ongoing battle of mine. In a world of overconsumption and fast fashion, it can be very challenging. We recognise that if people do not truly understand the power of fashion, the global footprint and its over influence especially in fast fashion could be very unsustainable in the long run. 

Fashion can create better lives with the notion of us all coming together and creating a sustainable future. For example, sharing clothes amongst clothes/ investing in second-hand materials/clothes. These thoughts of mine have definitely been shaped by the impacts of some of these lectures. As much as waste is a global issue, by recognising that we all hold the power in fashion, we can begin to take responsibility for some of the effects just by being more aware.

References

Von Busch & cuba. 2014

Vestoj, issue 4: ‘On Power’

Orsola de Castro, fashion revolution

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25.1