Molly Zapletal

This week was the last session with the better lives tutors on our chosen project, bringing our project to a close. There were many great pieces of work that I enjoyed looking through from my Make up break down class, and also took some time to read through some of the blogs online. Everybody did a brilliant job with their final outcomes, and I wanted to pick someone’s work to reflect on that I thought really understood the better lives themes, and made a clear link to this in their project work.

The blog I selected was Amelia Haslett’s blog post 3 where she showcases her final design from her ‘Mask making and politics’ class. The first thing that drew me to this particular blog was the beautiful illustrations of her final design. The political message that Amelia was trying to get across in her design was one about sustainability, something that I reflected on in my first blog, and something I  find one of the most important and pressing issues that we face today.

Amelia started off by linking her idea back to her discipline of Costume for Performance, and I can also see the influence from haute couture as she mentions. Her work was reminiscent of Alexander McQueen’s S/S 2007 ‘Sarabande’ flower dress, that was covered in hundreds of real flowers that fell off as the model walked down the runway, turning it into a statement art piece, much like the mask Amelia proposed to make.

It was clear to me that Amelia had taken a lot of her inspiration from the better lives lectures, as she notes her idea to include smart textiles based on Laura Salisbury’s lecture on inclusion, where she mentions using them in her work. The idea to include smart textiles was a good way to show how the lectures linked into the final outcome of the project.

I think the concept that she has created is a really strong one, and was clearly thought out thoroughly before bringing it to life. It showcases her knowledge of the themes and really does make a political statement about sustainability and deforestation.

There isn’t much constructive criticism I could give on this piece, other than perhaps changing the person who wears the mask. This could completely change the meaning behind it.  For example, if a child wore it, it might say something about the future world that they have to grow up in.  Or contrasting to this- what might it say if worn by one of the people who work in the rainforests for these big companies that contribute massively to deforestation? This could be something to explore in the future. In my opinion, this could make the theme of Diversity even more clear to the audience, but overall, this is a brilliant piece with a very important message.

My Better lives project was Make Up Breakdown, something I chose because firstly I am already interested in this and also a skill I may be able to use in the future, alongside my own discipline of Costume for Performance.

Our project themes were all about the fashion mistake and the ideas of imperfection and how they can be turned into something that is perfect. I hadn’t started working on my final outcome for this project before the lockdown, which threw a lot of our plans into disarray. With everyone in quarantine back home away from Uni, it meant that a lot of people didn’t have access to the professional makeup we use in class, which prompted the use of some really unconventional materials that we used to develop our ideas. This linked into the Better Lives theme of sustainability, with a lot of people recycling materials and creating something really beautiful from them.

I worked with some old lace that I had unpicked from one of my old projects to make some bold shapes in the place of where makeup would typically go e.g. lips and eyebrows. Ultimately, the materials weren’t used in my outcome, but going through the process helped because using them as I developed my ideas helped me to focus on the themes and express myself in a way that felt really organic and unpressured.

My final design was heavily influenced by the New Romantics era and the bold colours and contours that they would use in their makeup. I took inspiration from the theme of diversity that I found important in the lectures, however I struggled to convey this fully in my final outcome, as I was only doing the makeup on myself.

I would love to explore what it may have looked like on someone else and I think it would have made even more of a statement on a man. A lot of my inspiration photos were of men, with the late 70s- early 80s being the time when people were more experimental with their gender and what it meant to be more feminine or masculine. Through my discipline of Costume for performance I will be able to explore the Better lives themes in a greater detail and with a better understanding than I had when I first started this course. I am looking forward to continue to learn about these topics, as I have become more aware of how they influence my everyday life and my creative processes as a designer.

By watching the lectures in the better lives unit, I have been able to expand my knowledge on some of the main issues that we face today as designers. There were lots of points and topics that were brought up during these lectures that have had an impact on the way I have been thinking recently. I wanted to ensure that I had a good understanding of the key points made, so that I can always be mindful of them when designing and creating in the future.

I’ve always been conscious of how my work as a designer will affect society and the world that we live in. As a fashion student, sustainability is something I have to be really aware of. My discipline is Costume design, and it isn’t always easy to source materials, particularly fabric, that I know are sustainable and also ethically sourced. Something I have started doing since being at university is saving as much scrap fabric as possible for things such as samples and to test the sewing machine before using it. In future projects I would love to be able to not only work with sustainable materials, but create art with an underlying message and meaning.  To have my work make a statement to the  viewer or wearer. I would like to use my platform as an artist to break away from the limitations that I set myself within my work, and create something that focuses more on bringing some of the main issues in the world to light, rather than just make something that is aesthetically pleasing.

I have also been thinking a lot about social media since writing my first blog from Katelyn Toth-Fejel’s Society lecture, and also Julia Crew’s Power, where she says a lot about how brands have embraced this almost free advertising, and how it helps to kickstart small businesses and put them out there for lots of people to see. I think as a creative, it would really benefit me to start up my online platform to really build a portfolio of who I am, and help me to create an awareness about what I represent and my abilities.

I would love to work on the ‘Social Responsibility’ side of things, and take part in projects in the local community that involve some sort of fashion/ design. During the quarantine, my Grandma, who used to work for the NHS, has spent her time crocheting some teddies that are dressed up as nurses and doctors to raise some money for the NHS. I feel like small independent projects like this are a great way for me to use my talents in the arts to give back to the community.

Crew, J. (2020) Power [Lecture] Better Lives: FU001708. London College of Fashion. 10 February 2020.

The lecture I chose to reflect on was Katelyn Toth-Fejel’s ‘Society’ in relation to fashion and sustainability.  I feel that there were many issues addressed that I found very relevant to the world we live in right now.

One of the first comments that Toth-Fejel made was about how the word ‘society’ can link to social media, and the idea that a lot of people are now influenced by what they see online. Every time I open up Instagram I am bombarded by so called ‘influencers’ who are endorsing cheap, fast fashion brands. When scrolling down their pages, I start to notice that no two outfits are the same and they are constantly promoting new items for plenty of brands. As Toth-Fejel also mentioned, this makes a lot of young people believe that being seen in the same outfit more than once is unacceptable. This was a viewpoint that I had never really considered before, as when you think of sustainability, your first thought goes to things such as recycling or renewable energy.

Sustainability is something I’ve always been conscious of.  As a young student, I often find myself looking for the cheapest option when clothes shopping, purely to save my bank account. However, I rarely ever throw anything away and buy clothes that are made well enough to hopefully last me well into my late 20s. Toth-Fejel used the words ‘an emotional bond with clothing’ which was something that resonated with me. Personally, I tend to find that I really struggle to throw out old clothes because of this ‘emotional bond’ that I have with them.

Retro clothing has come back into fashion, with a significant amount of people are now sourcing their clothes from charity or vintage shops which is a much more sustainable way of shopping.  With the likes of Depop and ebay providing a platform for sellers.  However, big fast fashion companies have replicated many of the vintage styles, and tend to sell a replica of a garment for a much cheaper price than the real vintage one. People often choose the ‘replica’ because it is new, not second hand, and if it is cheap, it is more expendable when it goes ‘out of fashion’ again.  It can simply be discarded without too much to worry about. This lecture really opened my eyes to just how much fast fashion is a problem for the industry and will definitely make me more mindful about the way that I tackle this issue in my own work.

One of the lasting comments that was made was about how we as designers need to not only design in the way of art, but how the social systems surrounding fashion need to be redesigned too. A metaphor that I found particularly interesting was the ‘Three legged stool’ metaphor, in which the environment, society and the economy need to work together to support sustainability. Many designers are embracing certain parts of this, but without all three we can’t truly fix the issue that surrounds us.

Toth-Fejel, K, (2020) ‘Society’ [Lecture] Better Lives, London College of Fashion 28 March.