Cheryl Basko-Humphreys

Blog review. 

When looking through the blog posts I came across yours and decided to do the review. 

I like how Holly Morris has decided to explore more in-depth and to improve her skills by learning something different in photography. 

Reading through the blogs I can see how she spoke about clothing from different backgrounds cultures in photography. She gave an example also towards sustainability by the works of Treacy, D who helped clear our some of the dirty environment by sourcing clothes from the river Thames. I can imagine that there is so much clothing that just gets left around in the streets or in rivers which is running the environment. 

In Holly Morris’ blog she also spoke out about the Well-Being lecture. I liked how she also include her habits as also myself tend to buy from fast fashion brands. Every little choice we make can make a big impact towards businesses and the environment. I agree also on how it is definitely okay to wear an outfit more than twice, washing machines exist! As you can also begin to start being creative and think of ways you can style the same clothing different or even do some diy, creating a new piece out of old clothing. 

She also mentioned ways in which social responsibility could be included towards photography as she gave an example from “The Beautys Inside’, a magazine established in 2012;” 

Overall I love your final outcome and the work you have created. I like the through process and can see what she has learnt. You have thought well about the better lives topic and how it has an influences on you and others. 

Blog: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/author/19016935/ 

For this project we had to work around the story Hansel and Gretel. We had to pick a character and begin to explore and design them. 

For research we were also able to visit the British museum. This helped us to consider the different cultures also as we visited many of the different rooms. When it comes to culture appropriation asa designer you should be aware of these things. 

I learnt ways in which research can help create images of your character. It can be like if you like the spirit of your character for example or it can be about the clothes or garments that you want to capture with the character. 

It is good to look around at your environment and see what you can use this also helps ways in which you can be sustainable. You could even use second hand clothing and create something totally different and “new”. 

When it comes to creating a character  you can create collages where you can begin to play with the scale and also the surreal.  

Our task was to create a collage of our chosen character. 

As I am doing the witch, when I think of that character I see her with candy so I decided to include old candy wrappers and work with them in my collage. It would be sustainable by using old used candy wrappers for example 

We explored people like Ralph koltai  where we could see different examples of images using different shapes. He created his own papers and patterns and resembling them into collages. It would be good to learn how to be aware of your surrounds as you can find so many inspirations. 

As also what is happening now with covid-19 people have also found ways in you can stay at home and still be creative. You start to find ways in which you can make your time go by fast. Loads of brands has also been moving towards online as most people are not going outside, so things such as online shopping just of increased a lot. 

Overall I this project help me explore more ways of thinking and also creating a character. It was good to try something different which I normally don’t do like creating designing a character. It would be good to continue with these new skills I have learnt.  When it comes to the topics of diversity, social responsibility and sustainability we have a choice to make a change. Everything we do and the decisions we make can make a huge impact. This can come down from choices such as buying from fast fashion brands, choosing to reuse old clothings. When it comes to diversity it is about making everyone feel welcomed no matter their background making sure to not offended or use a culture just for buyers for example.

How might it change my work in the future. 

Navigating through clothing.

This really opened me up towards ways in which I can be sustainable and think of the responsibilities you have as a creative fashion student. 

Starting this unit you begin to become more aware of these themes and find ways in which you can change the fashion industry. 

I am a hair and make-up for fashion student for this would also help me find ways in which I can also create characters in my work, show and learn about diversity. Also when it comes to makeup there are still companies that don’t have foundation for darker tones or even know how to work around different hair types. It would be good if people became more aware of the different culture and included more poc. 

For navigating through clothing we got the chance to visit the National Theater. I was able to see the different types of clothing and fabrics they used and also how they created it.  It was nice to see how the thought process went. 

This better lives unit should help more people to get an understanding on the fashion industry and also ways in which we can help shape it for the better. 

This Better Lives unit is to help us become aware of the issues that we should care about. It is good to have a clear understanding on what you want to do in fashion and how we can grow and make the fashion industry better. It is good to explore and see something outside my own course and think about different ways my own practice can change. One of the lectures that I liked was where it was based around diversity and also, I liked the lectures on cultures.  

Diversity 

What is Diversity? “the fact of many different types of things or people being included in something; a range of different things or people:” website: visited 23.02.2020 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/diversity 

Diversity is something that doesn’t always need to be about race. It can be of age, sexuality, gender and so much more. Diversity is where you begin to create loads of room and opportunities for a wide range of views. You have to think and challenges ways in which you can include more types of human beginnings.  In the lecture it said how fashion itself is a visible creative medium, it is something that is a very powerful system in the industry. So, you would need to be able to think of how you can start to cater to more people. Having diversity can bring so much impact you start to explore different perspectives of the world seeing ways in which you can include everyone and show eqaulity.  

Shahidha Bari on one of the lectures for Intro: Diversity gave examples of different campaign brands and how they each different explored diversity. For example, one of the examples was Dove real beauty campaign in 2004. They explored through the word beauty and it aim was to celebrate and inspire others in their own body making them feel comfortable with oneself. In the campaign they had varies of model’s different race and body types which help to also appeal to a wider range of audience. It is good when it comes to campaigns to include a wide diverse and not give out an unrealistic image of what beauty really is. Some brands however might just include diversity as it would help with business and increase the revenue. Diversity is not a trend. 

As a student we have to start and learn ways in which we can challenge the old beliefs of views such as why do some people believe white is ideal, why is fashion categorized? 

Overall, this really help me learn more about the different aspects and ways in which we can start to challenge the world around us. We have to start to think of new ways of doing things and how we can change unrealistic thoughts.