Sol Ruiz Bastida

For my peer task review I chose to comment on the blog post by Jia Hui Lim. They did their Better Lives project on makeup and building a character, something which I think is one of the most intriguing disciplinaries that could be taken in this project. I also applied to do, but I sadly didn’t get it.

I am commenting on their project outcome blogpost, and from my perspective they really understood and tried to implement what the Better Lives philosophy is all about. They looked on how the character they were building could be in tune with the ethos of Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Diversity. 

In their blogpost, Jia Hui Lim discusses the different ingredients that compose makeup formulas and how some are more environmentally friendly than others. But what I found particularly interesting is that they question, is there really a possibility from completely environmentally friendly makeup, with the amount of waste and chemical processes that go into it? I think there are pathways to take into consideration for more eco-friendly cosmetics, but to achieve 100% success seems still a long way. Most ethical companies nowadays are trying to do responsible sourcing of materials and focusing more on a natural approach, with herbs and essential oils as main ingredients instead of super processed products with parabens and sulphates, that not only have a big impact on the environment but also on the user’s skin. Cruelty free makeup is also more and more common to find nowadays, and it is great to see how brands are pressured to stop testing their products on animals.

Jia Hui Lim also questions her own practices in her execution of her project, as they discusses how they have used A4 new paper, instead on a computer program that would have generated 0 waste. The approach Jia Hui Lim took was quite interesting, as they designed a character that, after all human beings have consumed from Earth, this character is a representation on the so called ‘’cycle of life’’ and feeds back to Earth, and as the Earth was, is sucked the life out of it in more degree than it can sustain. As Jia Hui Lim quotes ‘’I am trying to envision a world where humans would give back to nature.’’

To wrap up, I think Jia Hui Lim had a very good overall comprehension of what this unit was about, and was thoroughly committed to put the main values into practice and examine her own actions, which I think Better Lives is really all about. If anything, this unit should help all of us be more careful with our actions and realise the impact they have in the planet and other people before doing them, and I think in this Jia Hui Lim succeeded.

For the project in Better Lives unit I chose to do ‘’In and outside of fashion: Sportswear Fashion language and sub-cultures’’ which is part of Styling course. I had always had a great interest for the practice of styling and I think it is one of the most interesting disciplines within fashion, as it allows one of the most tactile experiences and certainly the most hands on when it comes to working with the clothes. 

The project was carried out by the Head of the Styling course, professor Karen Savage, who did a great job at explaining the job of a stylist and all the research and referencing it takes. She explained its role as an examiner of influences and cultural/historical references in order to convey a message though the clothing. We were given lecture on the history of styling as well as some insight into some subcultures and the evolution the image fashion has had through out the 20th century into the 21th century.

This part of the project also consisted In two Masterclasses, in which we would take into practice the knowledge we had acquired in styling and subcultures and had to come up with our own looks. The first Masterclass was done at the Lime Grove facility, and we played around, choosing models within the class and putting an outfit together. I found it a very fun little project to do, as we all had different ideas and inspirations, and came to sportswear as a common ground to play around with. The second Masterclass, due to the Covid-19 pandemic we are experiencing, was delivered through online classes. I chose to do mine inspired on the Mod subculture and the swinging fashion era, and I translated it via the medium of a collage with pictures screenshots of Frank Sinatra music and a sporty colour blocked outfit in Chelsea boots. This is what I wrote about it.

‘’My style has always been extremely influenced by the clean lines and colour blocking of 

the 50’s and 60’s. I thought this could be an opportunity to honour that inspiration and take sources from 60’s mod fashion from the swinging London period.

With little access to material or pieces, I took the opportunity to reach my mother’s closet and mix up her pieces and mine to give it a more relaxed and modern take to the creative foundation. I tried doing some layering and giving the look some more texture by overlaying materials. I took use of a collared top belonging to my mum, a pair of black and white Chelsea boots and mixed it up with more casual pieces to allow the outfit to have a more athletic approach.

I think re-using, re-purposing and re-imaginaning pieces that we might find in our house, our grandma’s place or just some charity shop is a great way to aim towards sustainability. If we are able to give all this pieces in our hands a longer, more complex life we’ll reduce significantly the waste of materials and be able to add value to the pieces in our hand.’’

The Better Lives project revolved around three major subjects: Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Diversity. Three issues that I think are crucial in the development in fashion for the present and the new coming decades, as it has been throughly proven the negative impact the industry has both for the planet and individuals in social and economic disadvantage.

I believe for years we have been extremely ignorant to the way the works of the fashion industry is both elitist and oppressing to some many in the chain of production, and I’m glad it is a significant part of out education to understand how this chain of production and distribution is building a world that destroys an array of opportunities for our planet and people living in it. 

I study Fashion Media Practice and Criticism, which is centred in reflecting on practices within the Fashion Industry and a critical communication with this practices. Thanks to the Better Lives unit, we have been giving an insight on the amount of product waste that is caused by fashion manufacture, plus the contamination by dyeing and toxic emission in factories around the world. 

This is no issue we should be sleeping on for any longer. Fast fashion companies are creating infamous amount of waste product and are a significant contribution to the rapid decay of our planet. We as fashion students are (hopefully) going to shape the fashion industry one day, and it is our responsibility to make sure our craft is empathic to the world we live in and the way we are on the breach of colossal disaster. As it is understood, we are more informed than the average person, and we are the ones in need to respond to this issues, promoting locally and ethically sourced materials, as well as re-using and elongating the life of garments and fashion pieces.

One artist I was recently inspired by was Judi Werthein, an Argentine multidisciplinary artist who created a shoe called Brinco in 2005. Brinco was a high top trainer, that was manufactured in a  sweatshop in China for 17$ (as a way to bring light to the poor conditions in this manufacturing processes). The Brinco shoe was distributed in limited quantities in shops in the USA for 200$, while simultaneously been given for free to people trying to cross the border between Mexico and the USA. The shoe was equipped with flashlight, a compass and a map with the most common routes from Tijuana to San Diego, plus pockets with money and pain killers in case people got hurt in the way. This shoe, that helped people do the ‘’brinco’’ or jump in English showed from many different perspectives the hypocrisy of neo-liberal consumerism while helping people for a difficult task.

I think fashion having a more utilitarian approach while being conscious of the sourcing and manufacturing process is the only way to be respectful to a planet that is sooner than later not going to be able to provide for mass amount of consumption, while being mindful of the vast amount of livelihood’s depending on this industry and its fair work.

I was pleasantly surprised with the way the Better Lives unit unpacked this year, having switched courses and re-doing First Year again for me felt somewhere repetitive and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, especially having found the Unit last year very slow and honestly tough to engage with.   

I still thought sadly many of the lectures I attended were underwhelming, and failed to fully dive into the subject deep enough to keep a strong attention. I found myself dozing off sometimes as many of the themes among the likes of Culture Appropriation, Inclusivity and Sustainability I feel like have been over exploited and can feel repetitive at times. I still thought there was a severe improvement from last year but I wish, instead of beating these subjects so much they emerged more into insight about fashion and media practices, while putting these themes into context for them instead of repeating the same themes over and over again as the main focus. I never want to imply like these topic are not fundamental, because I think they are a crucial imperative in the way fashion should develop for the future, but in my opinion the way we were saturated with it almost made a lot of people lose interest for it.  

Not to say everything was bad, there was one of the lectures I found specially interesting, it was the one on Empathy by Professor Lorraine Gamman, she gave a very interesting lecture about the psychology of empathy in society and discussed very interesting topics about the way fashion can be both constructed with empathy and for empathy. It was really compelling the way she was very specific with concrete examples of books and videos plus several case studies for us to go  into further development into the subject and she analysed the pros and the cons of everything she was recommending. She seemed like a very interesting lecturer with a background more focused on scientific research and psychology rather than fashion, which I personally find fascinating and I found her lecture specially compelling. 

She discussed ways in which designing for empathy might be developed; like User Centred Design, in which the situation and feelings of users are thoroughly studied by methods like active listening in order to promote understanding and a good perspective of the user experience, rather than what one person might tell you their experience is in their words, as she said:

‘’The way I might explain to you how to prepare a cup of tea might be really different to what I do when I go prepare that cup of tea myself’’  

In her lecture she  gave examples of her own work, like the furniture design for prison cells, or her phD on shoplifting. Other works by people were also discussed, one which I found particularly compelling  was a project called Mile in My Shoes in which the user grabbed a pair of shoes, and as they walked in them were listening to a podcast of that person’s life. 

To conclude, I think the Better Lives project is a great initiative, but as it is still very fresh in my opinion it needs some polishing still. But I think giving art students a point of scientific research and specific pin point to explore on is very useful, and I found the lecture by Dr. Gamman fulfilled those needs for me.