Maria Dyshkant

I have gone through a lot of blog posts and each of them is very different to another one. Eventually, my attention caught the one written by Callum Baylis, who engaged in the Emerging Technologies in the Fashion Industry course. 

When we had online lectures, the one that interested me a lot was on technologies in fashion so I instantly felt that this is something I want to dwell on.

I like how you pointed out straightaway the introduction and adaptation of new technology to the lectures as it is something that a few people neglect or take as granted.

Also, I am very glad that you and your team decided to concentrate on sustainability and came up with an idea that could potentially reduce the waste and teach our consumer society to purchase in a more environmentally friendly way. This is something that, on my opinion, every creative should think about and try to contribute to in the light of the last couple of years when our planet has started the process of warming faster than ever before.

The idea to create an app is also very good as now the majority of people (if not almost all of them) in developed countries use some sort of a smart device(s). That would make your concept accessible to a wide audience. Personally, I am from Estonia, which is considered to be an E-country worldwide and I’ve seen quite a few apps that were developed there that made some really good changes happen, making life easier and more comfortable for the people living in the country. 

The SWOT analysis you used really interested me as I have never heard of such thing previously. I looked it up and read a lot of information on it and I genuinely now think that it is one of the best ways to see the strength of a concept as well as its weaknesses, areas where you could improve and the threats coming from the market where one is trying to break into.

I made a SWOT analysis myself after reading your blog, where I analysed the most recent photographic work I have produced in lockdown shooting people over Zoom and it was indeed extremely insightful as to what I have done well and what needs to be improved, if I have produced something that is already existent etc. This is something I learned from your blog post that I am sure I will use further myself as well as recommend my other creative peers.

Overall, after having read your blog post I got a feeling that you did invest yourself a lot in your team work and the subject and you managed to learn a lot. You even taught something new someone else like me, for example. Hopefully, your idea will be successfully developed into an actual working app that will promote and help the society to shop without really harming the environment.

In the Better Lives unit, we were to create a project in a team on the subject we chose/were allocated to. 

In all honestly, somehow I missed the moment when we had to choose what we want to work on specifically, so I was allocated to the Messaging Fashion. 

Nevertheless, I was very happy with where I was allocated to because I thought that it was something I would choose myself. So I could say that I am one of the lucky ones who were randomly allocated somewhere where they would be happy/chose to be.

In Messaging Fashion, we were divided into smaller groups and each of them got a brand to work on and create a campaign for the brand to support a good cause/charity. I got into the Duro Olowu goup (there were 2 Duro groups). 

I have not met my team mates for quite a while as nobody was appearing on our smaller group sessions. Therefore, I was allocated to the other Duro Olowu group where we made our final project by the unit leader, Sophia, when we all already were in quarantine, back in our countries. I met everybody from my new group online and I was afraid at first how I am going to fit in as everybody has met each other and started working back in London, in one classroom.

However, my team mates were very welcoming and we started to work together as one straightaway. 

Initially, we planned to do a campaign to support feminism but later on we figured out with the advise of our tutors that we don’t have enough proof that our brand would be the best match for such cause. Therefore, we decided to create one that would support children in arts education.

We found it challenging at first to find the best charity/foundation that would match our target audience but eventually we figured out everything together.

As a fashion photography student, creating non-photographic campaigns was very foreign to me but I am very glad I had the chance to dive deeper into another very different field in the industry of fashion that I never thought I would see myself in before. Better Lives is one of the best units that I’ve had in LCF so far because I found it extremely insightful and eye-opening.

Later in my photographic career, when I will work with a brand/foundation/charity etc I will be aware of what is going on in the process of creating a campaign. I believe that I would therefore be able to create a better content for my client.

It was a great experience to work in a team online. I even think that possibly having this unit online is more efficient as me and my team mates could easily find the time and organise a group call to talk everything through and make some essential changes in our campaign.

I have never had such experience of working closely in a team before and I really loved how responsible everyone was. We each had to contribute: for example, I chose the foundation to work with, someone else did the target audience, another person dealt with how and where we would promote our campaign etc.

Creating a campaign in a group for a brand in Messaging Fashion was a mind changing experience that made me learn more about the industry as well as how to effectively work in a team. 

In the first lecture of Messaging Fashion we got introduced to the very basics such as what is PR and social responsibility.

The social responsibility part of the lecture was the one that resonated with me the the most as I have watched an online lecture on this subject where LCF students went to prison to collaborate with female prisoners to give them the voice and the chance to bring their creativity to life while being locked down.

At first, I thought that social responsibility has to do something with the environment, especially with the climate change, however, it turned out that it is about contributing to improving society and the environment. Nowadays, customers are becoming more aware of the influence that fast fashion and consumption has and, therefore, fashion (as well as non-fashion) brands are now trying to be more socially responsible.

Nevertheless, one does not need to have a brand of any kind to promote the social responsibility approach. Everyone can make their own contribution to it. For example, I , as a photographer, can take pictures that would make more people aware of the influence and power that the industry of fashion has in our world and what could one do to improve the situation (or at least not make things worse).

I thought of people that consume a lot of unnecessary items and bulk up in their homes. Some TV channels, such as TLC, for example, have shows about people going to supermarkets and get dozens of shampoos, tissues, plastic cutlery/dishes because these are the items that are often on sale. I highly doubt that those people consider that buying so much is, firstly, unnecessary, and, secondly, would promote a company (for eg. shampoo brand) produce even more which will most likely eventually end up as a waste. In this case, I think, the TV companies should stop broadcasting shows of that kind in order to stop promoting this kind of unhealthy consumer behaviour.

Having been allocated to the Duro Olowu fashion brand, me and my group mates now have to choose what cause should we go for.

The beginning of working in teams was very insightful as to what one can do in terms of improving the society and the environment. It feels good to know that in collaboration with other students we will create something that might help someone out there.

For myself, as a photographer, I personally decided to do a project about fast fashion and waste from it and try to get published in a famous publication so that I would be able to reach as many people’s minds as possible.

Every single person should know that they are capable of communicating their ideas and approaches to help us all live together on our planet and Better Lives is a great tool to bring more aware people into the industry of fashion and our world.

Throughout the Better Lives unit, I have seen many different lectures that have massively influenced the way I perceive the industry of fashion. 

Before starting the unit, I read the information about it and I was quite skeptical that there can be a bright future for fashion because of how unsustainable and resource-consuming it is.

Out of the lectures that I have seen, the two lectures in particular changed my thinking.

The first one is “Emerging Technologies In Fashion” and the second one is “Inclusion”.

Emerging Technologies In Fashion:

This lecture was incredibly interesting to watch, I got the insight on how technologies have appeared, developed, how they are developing now. The interesting thing is that we can not predict what is coming in the future and what technology will appear and change our world as we are only ale to look into the past. However, the reality is that technologies are developing faster and faster – like a snowball.

There are a few ways that would make shopping way more easier and one of them is a program that would allow a user try different outfits without actually putting the clothes on. On the one hand, I thought, this could simplify the procedure of shopping as well as save a lot of time and possibly give an even better perceptive on how the outfit looks on a body as mirrors and lights in clothing stores can often be confusing and inaccurate. On the other hand, however, trying clothes that easily and accurately could increase the consumption levels that are already incredibly high. Customers might start purchasing clothes and other things in larger amounts as it will take way less effort to see how something they liked on a shelf will look on them. Basically, my main concert regarding immersing technologies into fashion industry is that it could bring the problem of pollution to a whole new level.

Inclusion:

This lecture fascinated me because I have never thought or heard of inclusive fashion. Turns out that the whole industry is mainly targeting white male with a certain income. That made me question how unfair it is to all the other people that do not fall into this category. I then realised that I have never seen clothing for people that do not have some part of a body (arm, leg etc). Why does the industry leave so many people behind?

This is the problem to be solved.

If we come up with fashion that could be of use for as many groups of people as possible, we could satisfy the customers as well as massively decrease the pollution as well as the waste.

There are many questions to be answered and we have to think of the future now. These two lectures really made me wonder of what is coming next and how to influence the industry to make it “healthy” and fair for everybody.