Reflection 1 – Lectures
Well-being may have multiple meanings, depending on the context one allocates it in. However, Jekaterina Rogaten, a Better Lives unit lecturer, emphasized the need for defining it as a positive condition rather than lack of a negative one. Unfortunately, due to the rise in terms of materialistic and individualistic values caused by shifts in the structure of a capitalistic world, achieving this state gradually becomes problematic. This raising issue may be observed in almost all aspects of human life, including fashion.
Within positive psychology, hedonic (subjective) and eudaimonic (psychological) well-being are differentiated (Estes and McMahan, 2010). Second of them consists of personal attributes such as self-acceptance, growth, purpose, skills, autonomy and relations. Due to its universality, it may be widely applied within the fashion industry, affecting both its consumption and production counterparts.
Today’s consumerist society is often based on a wrong view that more equals better. Thus, the customers create high demand and companies make their efforts to produce overwhelming amounts of items to fulfil those needs. In terms of clothing, those products are then sold in high street stores with a full range shifting from season to season. However, according to researchers, this process has a negative effect on buyers: a wider choice equals harder decision-making process and reduced satisfaction with a final choice (Lepper and Yengar, 2000). Because of this, I believe that migration towards slow fashion should take place. This way, the concept of sustainability is fulfiled by reducing the number of garments produced. Simultaneously, the well-being of customers is enhanced by the establishment of a sense of dialogue with a designer as well as obtaining the feeling of clear purpose.
Well-being should also be elevated among fashion industry employees. A research conducted by Meyer (2007) compared this feature among professional models and non-models. The results showed that professionals characterized in lower need satisfaction and well-being but greater personality maladjustments, what was explained as a result of unfulfilled basic needs. It reminded me of the observations I have made while volunteering on Fashion Week. Even though officially the underweight models are banned from taking part, most of the girls involved were very skinny. In addition to their young age and restless lifestyle, it created an image of heavily affected beings. This observation influenced me strongly, causing frustration but also inspiring to take action upon inclusivity. Therefore, I decided upon incorporating a wider range of models’ sizes in each of my upcoming projects.
The most influential part of Rogaten’s lecture was how calm yet confident call for action it involved. Jekaterina demonstrated how fashion and well-being may correlate, impacting each human being. It means that every one of us, from a young lady doing her weekly fast fashion shopping at Primark to billion-dollar companies greenwashing their harmful actions, needs to step forward and have their day in the fight for better tomorrow.
References
Iyengar, S. and Lepper, M., 2000. When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), pp.995-1006.
McMahan, E. and Estes, D., 2010. Hedonic Versus Eudaimonic Conceptions of Well-being: Evidence of Differential Associations With Self-reported Well-being. Social Indicators Research, 103(1), pp.93-108.
Meyer, B., Enström, M., Harstveit, M., Bowles, D. and Beevers, C., 2007. Happiness and despair on the catwalk: Need satisfaction, well-being, and personality adjustment among fashion models. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(1), pp.2-17.
Rogaten, J., 2020. Well-Being.