Yolanda Parker

For this peer review I chose to look at Eleonora Reali’s reflection on the Power lecture by Julia Crew. I was keen to see another student’s thoughts on one of the lectures. Reali starts off on a strong positive message about how sustainability has changed a lot in the last decade and that we have more power than we think we do. This I feel is a strong positive start to a reflection on “Power” that gripped my interest from the start. It certainly made me read on with curiosity. 

Reali goes on to explain that the lecture is about sustainability and diversity, writing that in the lecture Julia Crew compares fashion with different items coming from the two themes. She reflects on this section of the lecture saying that as the consumer you have the power to choose where your money goes and that it is important to be aware of this. She even includes a great quote from the lecture about power in choice as both someone who consumes products but also someone who produces them. I fully understand the lecture through Reali’s perspective. Her reflection on what power means and how we can wield it in a better way really makes me think about my own spending. 

She talks about how fashion and power is currently communicated in politics and economics. She has realised creativity is not at the forefront of power in fashion, but with Julia Crew’s connection between ‘fashion and ‘you’’ she feels an ability to change this. She wrote about a project she found through this lecture and how she is interested in the way it promotes women’s rights and human rights through mediums such as art and education. As I am reading over her blog I feel that Reali has taken so much away from this lecture that is positive. Her reflection indicates how she feels she can change her industry for the better thanks to Julia Crew’s insight on the Better Lives themes.

Reali concludes with a reflection on what she has gained from this lecture and how she will use it, describing how she now feels how important it is to be aware not only in fashion but in other areas of life as well, clarifying that she will continue to be aware of the themes of sustainability, the environment and politics. She ends with a strong sentence about being able to create a better world of fashion by finding solutions together. Eleonora Reali has undoubtedly grasped the meaning of power within this lecture and shown how it may be used in order to change on-going issues in the fashion world as well as others. I gained a lot from her reflection on this matter and finished reading with a positive enthusiasm to promote change. All together I believe she has managed to write a blog post that not only expresses how she has reflected but also one that elicits the same feelings from the reader. 

During the Better Lives unit I was able to take up the Messaging Fashion project which looked at fashion brands and PR. This was something I didn’t think much about before taking on the project. It also wasn’t something I was knowledgeable in so it was a great opportunity to see an interesting side of a different industry to my degree course. In the Messaging Fashion classes I learnt that Public Relations fully embodies a brand’s values and has the job of bringing this to the public and journalists. This made me think more on how information from brands is delivered to me. At first I didn’t feel I could offer much in class as I tend not to digest newspapers or online news much and am not a subscriber of fashion magazines. However I learnt that I gain brand information through other platforms such a video reviews and comedic commentary.

For this project we were allocated into groups based on a fashion brand of our choice. After some research into the possible brand I chose Duro Olowu, an amazing designer of riotous and powerful women’s wear, using different kinds of material, textures and patterns. I loved the way he could bring power and vibrancy together with his love of art. His wife, Thelma Gold, is the embodiment of what he wants to create, as well as his anchor into the art world.

In one class we needed to create a mood-board based on our market audience. I felt fairly new to this but found the visualisation aspect of the task to be very helpful. Over the coming weeks and into lockdown my group struggled a little with direction and communication. I had to change groups close to the end of the project and ended up in the brand group for House of Sheldon. 

This group only had two members, but they had managed to gather a great amount of research on a brand that does not have much in the way of press release or media. I was tasked with helping them write a Press Release for their campaign on LGBTQ rights in quarantine, something I’ve not done before. I started by researching how to structure a press release and looking for examples from other fashion brands. 

While changing groups so close to the end gave me some anxiety, I felt I had an opportunity to explore two very interesting brands that are quite different from each other. In a short amount of time, due to the great work of my new group, I was able to really get to know and understand the brand, media partner and cause, alongside the charity, allowing me to tie them together in my first attempt at a press release for our group’s campaign. 

I felt that this unit really let me explore an industry I didn’t know much about before. I’ve gained new skills and a new appreciation for how brands communicate with the public and with journalists. I’m more aware and more interested in how this affects me and society. 

Diversity, Sustainability and Social Responsibility are the three main themes of the Better Lives unit. As a Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics student I need to be aware of my own practice and what outward effects it has. This unit has allowed me to better understand these themes and enable me to recognise them in others work as well as my own.

Building a diverse portfolio that shows a wide variety of people including members of all ages, genders, race, disabilities and many others is an important part of being a make-up artist as it shows I have a great range of work. Sustainability is also an important feature of make-up artistry as people are more aware about wasteful materials being used and how important it is to understand how what you are using can have an effect on the environment. 

Social responsibilities was not a theme I had thought much on at first. However in one of my Messaging Fashion classes we spoke about how brands are expected to be socially responsible to consumers as they are now held to a higher standard. This is due to the public being more aware of sustainability and social impact. I realised how much this does connect with being a make-up artist as you are responsible for how you conduct yourself when you are representing your chosen field. In our industry we also have expected standards that we are held to and accountable for. It is imperative we maintain and continuously aim to improve these standards. Not only because people are more aware but also because bettering the way I work may help create a better industry and a more sustainable, diverse industry that is responsible for its impact on society. 

Through listening to the lectures and attending the classes I have broadened my insight into these key themes. I feel I have gained a better understanding of how to apply these themes to my own practice and to recognise them within my chosen industry, realising where they impact and how I can employ them to better myself and improve all aspects of my work. I will continue to grow my knowledge and understanding of these themes after this unit and will continue to better the way I work using them. Even during a crisis like the on-going pandemic we can continue to shape our industries and make them better through our creativity as individuals. 

I feel strongly that this unit has helped me and many other students to promote change in their own fields. Really thinking about the themes not only in the context of fashion but also in political, environmental, economical and cultural change. Sustainability, diversity and social responsibility were themes I thought about before but didn’t feel it was clear how to use those to promote change. I now undoubtedly know how to use these themes to change my own work and my own industry for the better. 

For this first blog on Lecture Reflection I chose Jekaterina Rogaten’s lecture on Well-being. As the lectures are Better Lives through fashion I found I had to really think about the way I applied their teachings to my chosen industry. However I feel more connected to Rogaten’s look at how consumer well-being is affected by fashion choices and our awareness of its construction in expression of sustainability and positivity. 

Rogaten starts off introducing the topic with, “Having more plusses in your life than minuses can improve your mental well-being”.  She then goes on to talk about the psychological grounds of how others may contribute to your well-being and happiness, but that you are the only person able and responsible for raising your well-being and happiness. I feel this is important in any industry and as a make-up artist I would be in direct contact with individuals that are preparing to perform. I would be responsible for contributing to their well-being and allowing them to relax before a performance. 

“Some people talk about well-being as absence of ill-being so if you are not depressed or anxious you by default have some level of wellbeing. People like me say that being at zero does not mean you have well-being or that you are flourishing”. I’ve come across these views and I agree with the latter. My own experience shows being okay doesn’t mean I am prospering. 

Something that Rogaten said struck me, “We are living in a highly materialistic culture, and there are psychological aspects of it – of why at the moment we don’t experience as much well-being as we could have experienced”, continuing that in the UK we are considered quite a well off country and yet there are significant issues with people’s mental health. As we are all in isolation during a crisis, well-being and mental health is more important and we must do what we can to promote it. 

I realised how using sustainable materials and products within my industry would allow me to practice in a way that improves my own mental well-being as well as other’s. This is my reflection on a section of the lecture about how smart fashion and conscious fashion can promote positivity in an individual’s mental health and welfare. Choosing products from brands that are environmentally friendly over ones that are wasteful is not only for yourself but is helping a cause making more positivity in your well-being. 

Mental well-being is very important to myself and the lecture has enabled me to take a better look at how the products I employ and the way I conduct myself can better the well-being of my performer. This lecture made me think not only how I could be someone who contributes to other’s well-being but also how to maintain and increase my own. Without my own well-being and mental health being looked after and improved I can not undertake the tasks that help others.