Xinran Meng

After reading Li yizhuo’s post about “thinking about the Relationship between Fashion and Nature”, I reached a consensus with some of her arguments, which are all from Nature lecture with kate Fletcher. I totally agree with her that “Nature is the facilitator of fashion, because nothing happens without nature.” This has to make us think about the environmental problems in society. People use resources provided by nature to find inspiration and carry out Creation, if there is no natural resources, the design and development will stop. However, in order to meet the personal needs and consumer needs of human beings, mass-produced design products, some products that are not needed become garbage, such as some chain clothing brands, zara HM , They can produce 300 pieces of clothing per second, and different sizes are also mass-produced. While gaining wealth, they also create a lot of waste (fabric treatment wastewater; after-production but not purchased clothing …), when producing clothing The resulting fibers and wastewater are eventually discharged directly into rivers and oceans. Even if they are treated, they will eventually pollute natural resources. The waste of textile products is also a big problem. A large proportion of textile products are eventually sent to landfill Buried in the factory will eventually increase pollution and affect the ecosystem

A large number of brands are now promoting the concept of sustainable development, such as Stella McCartney. Since the birth of the brand, Stella McCartney’s brand philosophy is to firmly use animal fur, has been committed to scientific innovation and environmental protection of raw material cultivation, for As far as luxury goods are concerned, maintaining the existing brand image should be above all else. In recent years, many luxury brands have joined the furless environmental protection army, and Prada is one of them.
In the “What We Carry” short film taken by Prada and “National Geographic”, we were also pleasantly surprised to find that one of the raw materials used to make ECONYL®-the remaining scraps of clothing production, from Kanazawa garments in Ganzhou, Jiangxi. Nowadays, many designs begin to adopt the eco-friendly concept of recycling and reuse of waste materials to achieve a harmonious relationship between design and nature. Green design is based on the concept of environmental protection, with the goal of saving energy and reducing environmental pollution, using environmentally friendly green materials Product design creates a clean and healthy living environment for people. With the development of society, people’s awareness of environmental protection is getting stronger and stronger. Environmental protection and low carbon are the future development trend of clothing design. The application of environmentally friendly materials to clothing design is the concept of fashion design. The use of environmentally friendly materials to show the texture and style of clothing fabrics has become a matter of great concern to clothing designers. Without buying and selling, there is no harm. Before criticizing the apparel industry or any other industry, we should reflect on our own shopping and lifestyle habits. Whether every item we buy can be used to the best of our ability.

Better live lecture has a great impact on me. It includes three aspects of sustainability, diversity and social responsibility. These aspects all affect my thinking. It allows me to increase diversity when working in groups. Thinking. In the course of fashion actievements, the first group collaboration is to design a logo for a brand. When we designed this at first, because everyone came from different professions, everyone had different ideas and design concepts. At the beginning, the design of the logo has reached a deadlock, but sustainability and cooperation are connected, so we consider diversified and sustainable development in the definition and design of the brand LOGO. We chose cartoon characters with different skin colors and different hair colors as the background of the logo, composed of the first letters of the names of our team members. The color of the logo name selects the hair color of each of us.

 I always think that diversity is a very important topic. For me, it has always been a priority. In group discussions, when group members can discuss with diversity as a starting point, the group members will reach a point of view in a short time. At the same time, this is a positive way. When many uncertainties exist at the same time, it is full of diversified ways of doing things. It helps to promote and use different backgrounds, concepts and thinking methods, so as to create better processes and solutions.

Diversity is inclusive, it can help some people with physical disabilities have a certain position in the fashion world, which can enhance their sense of security, everyone can have their own way of wearing, everyone is free To express their own ideas, designs and solutions based on diversity are more easily accepted by people and customers, for example, most girls’ favorite Barbies when they were children, it is not only the image of Dream Princess, it also has different occupations, Skin color, there are some dolls with physical defects, which allows more people to accept and buy, and also makes people with different skin colors or defects do not feel unequal.

Due to the holiday, in the later group cooperation, everyone’s contact and communication are online, which increases the difficulty of everyone’s cooperation, but after combining the speeches of better lives, considering the diversity and responsibility, everyone increases the line The way to communicate at the meeting is faster and more convenient to complete the work. Better Life’s speech not only changed some of my thinking methods, but also helped me think and communicate better and more flexibly in group cooperation.

My second blog is about how better lives lecture affects my life and how it will affect my future work style.

The most influential thing for me was Anna Fitzpatrick ’s lecture on culture. In his speech, he mentioned that we are living in a state of climatic urgency. The way we manufacture fashion now does not respect human beings or the earth.

Sustainable fashion has become one of the most talked about topics in the global fashion industry. There are now many fashion and cosmetic industries that use mass production to meet the needs of customers, but not all items can be purchased and Reasonable use, all sizes of every piece of clothing of chain fashion brands will be produced in large quantities. Such an operation process will cause a lot of waste problems, such as design waste, excessive production waste, transportation waste, environmental waste …

Since the mid-1990s, the total discharge of wastewater from the fashion textile industry has generally exceeded 1.1 billion tons, and the production of fashion clothing chemical fiber also uses a large amount of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide as raw materials, resulting in a large amount of exhaust emissions. Fashion is closely connected with materialism and consumer culture, and the fashion industry will not stop production, but what can we do in the fashion industry in the future? As environmental protection and sustainable development become popular, the prospects for environmental pollution products are getting more and more serious. If our job is to work in a large chain of fashion companies, we can optimize the product structure and eliminate non-recyclable products produced by backward processes and equipment. For example, consider the introduction of natural dyeing and natural plant pulp in raw materials, simplify the outer packaging of the product, and try to use recyclable resources, or let people have the idea of ​​recycling when designing.

In the future, I may work on the stage and behind the scenes. To avoid waste in the way of working, use recyclable materials to replace those non-recyclable and polluting materials when making movie appliances and drama-related props. For some sewage that cannot be avoided, they will be filtered and then discharged, so that fashion and culture can develop together to achieve the goal of sustainable fashion. The goal of the fashion industry should be zero waste. Enterprises have to pay more for new technologies and new fabrics, and consumer attitudes are also crucial. The public’s perception of sustainable consumption is closely related to national policies, economics, social culture, etc. Less than 50% of consumers believe that prices will hinder sustainable consumption, and more than 70% of consumers are willing to be sustainable The higher price of product expenditure is enough to prove that the concept of sustainability continues to gain popular support. Of course, we cannot demand that consumers willingly pay for high costs. The fashion industry cannot simply pursue the sustainable development of formalism. Sustainability is not an advertisement, nor is it a company’s reputation, nor is it herding behavior. Sustainable development should be embedded in the marrow of the fashion industry. Everyone in the fashion industry needs to balance costs, quality, environmental protection and many other factors. It is true that sometimes they are full of contradictions and sometimes help each other. And we need to keep adjusting to make them achieve dynamic balance.

The Better Lives lectures let me have a lot of in-depth thinking, such as ‘power’. Six opinions were raised at the beginning of the class. They are power and fashion, money, media, consumers, protest and you.

Fashion is of individual, but powerful people are always leading the trend of fashion, and they can even define fashion eventually. In ancient times, the more powerful people, the more freedom to pursue fashion. The emperor has a luxurious crown. Ministers and generals have silk clothes. Ordinary people can only wear coarse cloth. Only those who have a certain material foundation can not have the time and money to pursue fashion. However, it is not that ordinary people cannot have fashion. It’s just harder for the average person to get the fashion he wants. Of course, this also depends on the person’s perception and demand for fashion. After all, the founders of most fashion brands were ordinary people when they were young.

For the ‘money’, wealthy people have even more ability. Some brands started from a single store to a chain company. However, many wealthy people purchase these brands for profits. Their income per day may be similar with the annual income of a normal worker. Some corporation leaders are not familiar with fashion, they purchased the brands only for profits. For example, Louis Vuitton was initially a luggage store in Paris. After it grew, it was acquired by LVMH. However, most investors in this company are not involved in the fashion industry.

Media is a good way to advert. Wealthy people and powerful people use media to advertise their products which can make money. For example, in the app tik tok, which is very famous in China, a famous sale star Jiaqi Li sold 30 million lipsticks on live broadcasts within one minute. This makes consumers to know the products clearly. Also, consumers can determine the value of the products. Therefore, wealthy people and powerful people’s fashion products also should cater to the tastes of normal people. If their products result in huge environment pollution or cause discontent, their products will lose their values. In September 2019, extinction rebellion staged a fashion ‘funeral’ outside London Fashion Week, stating ‘there is no fashion on a dead planet’. All products can be combined with fashion, even stationary or tools, as long as they are positive. 

Wealthy people have ability and power. Powerful people have the right to define fashion. Consumer can make wealthy people and powerful people to make a good decision. Well, the final votes are in your hands.

In my opinion, power and fashion affect each other. However, fashion is not just a game for the rich. In this century, the world economy has developed considerably. Less wealthy people also have tickets to fashion world. Their consumer votes are also very important for the entire fashion industry. In summary, power is important, but in the end it is only fashion itself that determines the development of fashion.