Anthony G Karikari

My final brief’s task was to scrutinise a fellow student’s blog and state wether they have fully reflected on the better lives themes; diversity, social responsibility and sustainability.

I chose to review one of the contemporary photography project reflections because, personally I was torn between Photography and Styling but chose to go with Styling hence, I was inquisitive of discovering what I  missed. Furthermore, I was curious of how resourceful my photography peers were in producing their works considering the Covid-19 lockdown situation. Sophie Greenaway’s blog stood out strong and interesting among the blogs I read- her reflection evenly left room for intrusion.

Blog three’s brief was to experiment and explore ways to use the better lives themes above to inform our selected project and reflect on our developing creative attributes.

Sophie beautifully structured her blog post by relating the relevance of her chosen project Contemporary Photography to her actual degree 3D effects, then went more in depth stating what type of photography her project explored. Sophie shares her takeaway stating “she looked at multiple artists and photographers to broaden her understanding of portrait photography” which I believe sharing the names of one or two of these practitioners or one she identified most with would have likewise enriched our knowledge and broadened our understanding of Sophie’s angle of interest. 

Sophie singles out an angle she was particularly interested in and considered exploring in depth partly because of it’s relevance to her degree and cleverly tucks in an example to support her statement- ‘how she pushed herself out her comfort zone’ which highlights a key element of the better lives project. The main purpose of the better lives project was to step out of our disciplines and enrich ourselves exploring other practises.

Sophie explores and review her fellow peer’s work focusing on the different approaches they took and shares her findings stating “I was fascinated by the way my peers use their bodies in an unusual way”. It would have been pleasing if Sophie elaborated more on what she meant by “unusual ways” or even used imagery to help visualise what she meant.

In conclusion, Sophie critically ponders over the relation between her selected project and her future career but makes no mention of how she infused the better lives core values into her project. Like most forms of media, Portrait Photography is a communication tool usually used as a medium to convey- giving her room to infiltrate her take on certain key elements of the better live themes like society, environment, representation. In fact, Sophie makes mention of three things she experiment with and focused her lens on; her body, family and surrounding. It would have been nice and impactful if Sophie talked about elements that made her family and surrounding unique and diverse or even highlighted or suggested things in her surrounding she would retouch or reshape to improve her environment.

References

Sophie Greenaway’s blog link:

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].

As a student of Fashion media who aspires to be a communicator in one of the most influential industries in  in a radically evolving society, I am aware and understand the gravity and relevance of my practice to society.

Fashion affects our everyday lives either directly or secondarily via culture, consequently, the fashion industry has a substantial impact on our society.  Fashion media, as already mentioned is one of the most powerful tools and this can either be used to elevate us collectively as a society or rather elevate ignorance within our society, which is what draws me most to my chosen practice- the possibility to use my creativity and skill set to inform, educate and uplift those I can.

For my own part, I have been an agent of ignorance, I have worn Kufi caps in the past in a way that I have come to know today is inappropriate and offensive to a particular group of people and I am conscious of the fact that I am not the only person liable to misappropriation, which underpins my first takeaway from the better lives lecture on qualitative research by Lorraine Gamman. When appreciating another culture or group, in-depth research does not stop at sitting our behinds in front of a desktop but most importantly involves immersing ourselves fully by interacting with the relevant party to avoid any sort of misappropriation.

I was immensely touched and inspired by Lucy Orta’s lecture and works. In addition to making use of my platform to bring out the issues of the voiceless, works like “a mile in my shoes” and “human library” have evoked ideas for future collaborations with the aim to find ways to increase cognitive empathy. The ‘making for a change’ project is one of the most brilliant concepts I have ever come across, a large number of ex-convicts come out prison and return to the exact lifestyle that took them there in the first place because they “do not know different”, which is why I applaud the Making for a change concept. Equipping these individuals with a skill set benefits both themselves and society or the economy.

Andy Warhol used mundane things around him to portray or suggest reality in a different way which significantly influenced culture at the time. As a visual communicator how do I use my skill set and platform to shape minds and improve lives. Inclusion is an ongoing global battle across all industries and happily, we are gradually shifting from the antiquated ideals. Sadly but foreseeable whiles exclusivity exits, tokenism slowly fills in the void. Kelly Knox the model born with one arm only who recently modelled for Primark evoked her concern: “It was only when I started modelling that I felt disabled, it was like I was put in a box and labelled”. 

My future role involves finalising castings, as a creative director how do I make sure individuals like Kelly Knox do not feel like labels? Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton SS20 cast in my opinion is a great example of true inclusivity. He used actual creatives and artists like skateboarders, photographers and graffiti artists from different backgrounds, sexual orientation with diverse body forms which he felt their element fit into the narrative. It felt genuine and not forced out of guilt.

References

Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 2020. Huffpost Is Now A Part Of Verizon Media. [online] Available at: <https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/kelly-knox-fashion-model_n_115799> [Accessed 10 May 2020].

I have watched few of the Better Lives lectures and I have to admit that I am very pleased with the unit as a whole, from the themes to how the unit is structured. I found the themes crucial and forward thinking. We are all familiar with the current state of the planet, we well know what that means to our health and it is no news that the fashion industry is a major contributor to this problem, which is why I am well pleased with the Better Lives unit. Providing tomorrow’s decision makers with the right tools and knowledge has never been this crucial.

I was particularly inspired by the “Making for a change” project designed and directed by Claire Swift. However, I would like to first talk about some issues that were brought up in the Fashion and Power lecture. I will be looking into the side effects of excessive advertisement and how this obliquely affects the environment and our health then, finally share my insights on how these lectures have influenced my thinking as a consumer.

Malcom X said: “the media is the most powerful entity on earth, as a tool it has proven to influence minds, ideas, behaviours of the masses”. The fashion industry like most industries in today’s capitalist-consumer world driven by profit heavily invest in advertisement to widen their reach, consequently maximising their profit. The birth of smart phones, social media to be more specific has exponentially heightened the amount of advertisement we consume and as a by-product of this over saturation we have become catalysts of overconsumption.

“The average American is exposed to 4000 to 10,000 ads a day” as reported by Forbes and the majority of these ads are cleverly crafted to influence it’s targets to make a purchase- things we desire but do not really need, like cheap and short-life clothes that we might take to that one date, dispose of and end in a landfill.

According to True Cost “we consume 80 billion clothes every year, which is 400% more than we consumed two decades ago”. One may argue, well, the world’s population has relatively increased. It has, however, the underlying problem is “85% of these 80 billion garments end up in a landfill or incinerated” as stated by True Cost. 

We are exhausting the planet making demands of clothes we do not need to be produced, fast fashion is destroying our planet and deteriorating our health both physically and mentally in the process. Mental health issues like depression, and anxiety have risen significantly in young adults as a result of not feeling up to date or not having enough, partly due to social media.

As a consumer and part of the problem my personal takeaway is to contemplate the drive behind every single purchase I make. Not only do I have to scrutinise more the brands I make purchases from but most importantly take my time to ponder over the ramifications of the purchases I make.

References

Electronic Frontier Foundation. 2020. Techactivist.Org Presents: Malcolm X – The Media’s The Most Powerful Entity. [online] Available at: <https://www.eff.org/event/techactivistorg-presents-malcolm-x-medias-most-powerful-entity> [Accessed 10 May 2020]. Simpson, J., 2020. Council Post: Finding Brand Success In The Digital World. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/25/finding-brand-success-in-the-digital-world/> [Accessed 10 May 2020]. The True Cost. 2020. Environmental Impact. [online] Available at: <https://truecostmovie.com/learn-more/environmental-impact/> [Accessed 10 May 2020].