Nizatel Kaliyeva

During my better lives seminars we have discussed various subjects that are in link with the fashion industry. Elements of diversity, power, communication, empathy, conceptualization, sustainability / social responsibility. Generally, I always felt passionate towards fashion creative direction and by choosing it for a second term unit, gave me an opportunity to learn what it is, the basics and the role of creative direction in the fashion industry.

Moreover, as a young individual it is natural to reach towards the unknown, learn, grow and be confused. I have always been overthinking about the present and the future therefore, since early age I have pressured myself in finding something I am willing to do and how they say not to work but to “enjoy”.  The question “how the better lives themes might change how you work in future” – I wouldn’t have a clue if you asked me this question two years ago during my time in sixth form, however now I do.

As mentioned earlier, the subjects we discussed one by one has left me in confusion many times as all the topics we have learned had me engrossed and inspired me to use each element in my future lifestyle and working. Specifically elements of sustainability, diversity and communication. Living in the 21st century gives the society many opportunities that makes their lifestyle easier, however because of the term “used to” we have abused and overused the privileges we have living within that lifestyle.

Sustainability is a major issue as it is a well-known fact that the fashion industry is one of the most polluting  industries that consequently, influences global warming. As a citizen of this planet, a fashion student my role is to keep the world as I perceive it now and only improve it for the future generations. Better lives has influenced me in thinking of the facts I have not yet realised and inspired me to practice, progress and pass on the social responsibility we all have in order to achieve the change. I always practiced environmentally friendly living by doing recycling, not littering and staying away from plastic as much as possible and lately I have tried living a waste free life for a week. I tested myself, struggled and learned. The dependence we have on essentials such as plastic packed groceries has left me astonished nonetheless, that is one of the factors that is changing and will change my work in future. 

Finally, keeping within my beliefs and spreading them is the key factor for my future role in a fashion industry. Creating a space where individuals around the world could interact with one another artistically and create together is what I hope to achieve and it cannot be done without communication, diversity and innovative organic thinking.

Somewhat, what attracted me into reading this specific blog post, was the image that gave a professional appeal. First image depicted a vibe of the model being practically ‘scanned’ on the printer and the shadow silhouettes played a big role in creating that mysterious vibe. It was  “Them” a project shot by Danny Treacy which I thought was Holly’s work. However, going back to the main point, the individual has written about their project outcome and personal development which was a second reason as in my perspective, being able to reflect, self-criticize and be original is crucial especially working in creative fields such as fashion. I was interested to know, what made Holly inspired and what theme she developed her work along with and has her final outcome linked back to her research.

Moreover, contemporary portrait photography was something I wanted to do as well as fashion activism therefore this blog will also give me some knowledge of what they have studied, compare two and finally also learn something new.

Firstly, Holly stated that social responsibility and diversity are the main factor of what she wants to show within her work. She was highly influenced by Danny Treacy’s work where he found various items including clothes washed out on the shore near Thames and used it to assemble a garment for the final shoot. I agree with the factors she pointed about social responsibility as Treacy used washed out clothing and by that has helped reduce shore clutter and proved there is a room for sustainability in photography by reusing garments whether the classic buying & disposing. I particularly liked her use of “vulnerability of the forgotten” since the items that were found are from different eras and as old as the “Roman era” which I found fascinating as well. That closely made me think that she has used the knowledge given in order to use it within the better lives unit and help her develop her personal work.

Secondly, Holly has stated that she was able to learn new photography based skills during her lectures with Mark Kean and how she was also inspired by his editorial works where she stated her fascination with “how surroundings can change the theme of the image”. 

This has led me to a conclusion, that Mark Kean has inspired her personal work more as her “self-portrait” would look completely un pop-artist and somewhat surrealistic if there were no hands holding orange in presence. Her work has proven the use of the inspiration of the surroundings in this case hand editing the theme would have been completely different. Despite a lack of tools due to COVID-19, Holly has used bright tones such as yellow and blue that she found at home, supported her imitation of pop-art and in my perspective, linked to Danny Treacy’s photography, where colour palettes consisted of bright colours as well as dark ones. I like that the work was completely different to the inspirations, it had her unique colours with the influence which you can also see. Overall, Holly’s work was easy and interesting to read, she has talked about her inspirations and how she used them within better lives themes and taught some useful information about some photographers that the reader can look at.

Previously, I mentioned key elements that I have learned the most during the course of the better lives unit. This  consists of three in my perspective main fundamentals- sustainability, diversity and communication. Throughout weeks of working together as a group we have learned about fundamentals and key elements such as aesthetic, ethos and positioning to utilise our knowledge in the creative direction and fashion activism unit as well as help us with an upcoming group project.  

Moreover, we have been given a task consisting of looking at BODE- a luxury menswear brand that expresses a sentimentality for the past through the study of personal narratives and historical techniques (About, 2020). We have split the tasks equally and worked as a group collaboratively together on planning out structuring our moving image. As the end of the term was approaching, we looked at various ad campaigns, colour palettes and the whole mood and decided to portray the vibe we planned  by using “personal narratives’ and “experiences”, vintage spring feels and fashion elements in it and as we all belong to different cultural backgrounds through better lives. We chose DIVERSITY as our influence for the project outcome.

Time passed, COVID19 pandemic has progressed, which affected everyone and left many in fear and cluelessness therefore, few regulations have been made and one of them to stay at home to keep everyone safe but that has not affected our group work as we often called each other to discuss the outcome. 

Firstly,  brand analysis concluded that the colours we will be either simple and minimalistic like whites  or bold as green with elements of pattern like checked that BODE has in some of their designs nonetheless, we agreed on outfits we will be presenting. Shirts, trousers and blazers were the key elements as the brand is targeted for men but as many women wear it too, we have decided to use the “masculine” outfits and make it feminine.  

Secondly, the idea of “personal narratives” and “experiences” was the key in filming the moving image, because of a pandemic we have all decided it will be sensible to travel back to loved ones, some including me will switch time zones as well as the sceneries and experiences. Travelling back has helped us develop the idea in portraying our culture through the personal narrative and the atmosphere we inhabit. My groupmate Aitoty and I came from Kazakhstan, both of us used our cultural backgrounds pieces such as traditional earrings and duvets as statement pieces for the  video.

Finally, each of us has filmed their part themselves in their BODE “inspired” outfit and the landscape scenario and sent it to me to edit, giving the video that naive spring romantic vibe as well as editing vintage-like mood. Overall this project taught the “extreme” side of working in a group, in the current situation this is a 1 in 100 chance working with the lack of resources, equipment and  thinking outside the box also helped me utilise my need for creativity which is lacking on my course that I wanted as well as show my skills as a video editor.

OUR VIDEO: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/9f02aab6-a5fd-4c4b-a979-a00108f338a2

BODE New York. 2020. About. [online] Available at: <https://www.bodenewyork.com/pages/about> [Accessed 22 April 2020].

The first better lives lecture I have taken was on a subject of power and fashion. How both link with one another, on their historical backgrounds and finally the sub topics of power in link with media, consumer, money and more. I enjoyed the structure of the lecture, it smoothly transitioned from one topic into another and honestly the idea was projected very interestingly. Although I enjoyed all the sub topics of fashion in relation to different aspects in the human world one caught my eye specifically.

Lecturer Julia Crew has started the lecture with a subject of politics and what has caught my attention the most is her example of  Nelson Mandela, a South African political leader as he often wore colourful clothing in order to portray his cultural backgrounds. 

Moreover, the image depicted on the right side (Clothing Designer’s ‘Incredible Journey’ with Nelson Mandela, 2020) shows Mandela wearing a silk shirt with gold, black and orange palettes in presence, along with the floral embroidery. Gold in African culture represents wealth, high status and spirituality, black represents maturity and energy when orange symbolises vitality. (Clothing Designer’s ‘Incredible Journey’ with Nelson Mandela, 2020)Therefore, those aspects of wealth, spirituality and status build into the perspectives of how by the observation of fashion in a specific figure visually, could build up a certain opinion or a prejudice about that individual. Fascinated and mind blown by the fact of how someone overall image could generate and influence and actions from a specific person or a group. 

The power of image- an aspect that influenced my way of thinking the most and reminded me of what it can be. It is known though years the hierarchy has continued to grow bigger within the societies, each century had different aspects in which higher influential figures had more rights middle and working class as an example of royalties wearing glorious and colourful garments whereas, peasants by law were allowed to wear plain practical clothing. Those were mentioned in one of the cultural historical lectures where we further opened up the idea of power in fashion on a historical side. There I came to a realisation of how fashion could somewhat massively influence the actual cycle of human lifestyle since the early times and have reminded me of how powerful the fashion industry was and would always be.

Finally, another personal reason for how it influenced my way of thinking leans towards human morals. My parents always taught me to understand my privileges, they have shown me the world beyond my vision and “horizon” and most importantly told me not to judge anyone. This specific lecture has brought back scenarios of my adolescence and of how hierarchy, appearance and high society is so tightly bubbled together that had me left with negative feelings which I do not want to wish to experience again therefore, for better our better lives, in future as a co-worker, leader or a member of the society I want to only practice and teach fair treatment, voice and coexistence.

 Bibliography:

Voice of America. 2020. Clothing Designer’S ‘Incredible Journey’ With Nelson Mandela. [online] Available at: <https://www.voanews.com/africa/clothing-designers-incredible-journey-nelson-mandela> [Accessed 1 April 2020].

Themes, U., 2020. West African Cloth: What Do The Colours Really Mean? | Empire Textiles Blog. [online] Empire Textiles Blog. Available at: <https://www.empiretextiles.com/blog/portfolio/west-african-cloth-what-do-the-colours-really-mean/> [Accessed 1 April 2020].

During my better lives seminars we have discussed various subjects that are in link with the fashion industry. Elements of diversity, power, communication, empathy, conceptualization, sustainability / social responsibility. Generally, I always felt passionate towards fashion creative direction and by choosing it for a second term unit, gave me an opportunity to learn what it is, the basics and the role of creative direction in the fashion industry.

Moreover, as a young individual it is natural to reach towards the unknown, learn, grow and be confused. I have always been overthinking about the present and the future therefore, since early age I have pressured myself in finding something I am willing to do and how they say not to work but to “enjoy”.  The question “how the better lives themes might change how you work in future” – I wouldn’t have a clue if you asked me this question two years ago during my time in sixth form, however now I do.

As mentioned earlier, the subjects we discussed one by one has left me in confusion many times as all the topics we have learned had me engrossed and inspired me to use each element in my future lifestyle and working. Specifically elements of sustainability, diversity and communication. Living in the 21st century gives the society many opportunities that makes their lifestyle easier, however because of the term “used to” we have abused and overused the privileges we have living within that lifestyle.

Sustainability is a major issue as it is a well-known fact that the fashion industry is one of the most polluting  industries that consequently, influences global warming. As a citizen of this planet, a fashion student my role is to keep the world as I perceive it now and only improve it for the future generations. Better lives has influenced me in thinking of the facts I have not yet realised and inspired me to practice, progress and pass on the social responsibility we all have in order to achieve the change. I always practiced environmentally friendly living by doing recycling, not littering and staying away from plastic as much as possible and lately I have tried living a waste free life for a week. I tested myself, struggled and learned. The dependence we have on essentials such as plastic packed groceries has left me astonished nonetheless, that is one of the factors that is changing and will change my work in future. 

Finally, keeping within my beliefs and spreading them is the key factor for my future role in a fashion industry. Creating a space where individuals around the world could interact with one another artistically and create together is what I hope to achieve and it cannot be done without communication, diversity and innovative organic thinking.