Phuong Tran

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Good Practise

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The Better Lives project for Fashion Journalism shed light to me on a very interesting and influential element in journalistic writing – statistics. After having the opportunity to experiment with manipulating and using numbers for writing articles, I realised how they play importantly to the interpretation of the writing. We had the chance to explore how statistics led the narrative on the Women Marches, in which raw numbers can be extracted, refined, and placed strategically to persuade readers.  

This opens up to me the potential of statistics in journalistic writing, as well as other forms of writing. Whilst statistics acts as factual evidence that can be very convincing, this project also helped me realised its dangers. Although numbers do not lie, they can indeed be used to mislead the readers, detracting them into unintended topics. Such potential power leads to the responsibility that has to come with the use of statistics. I find the Better Lives theme of Social Responsibility to have a big role in fashion journalism practise, as how writers and publishers choose to narrate would have different results, and if taken lightly, can have societal repercussions. When I was writing the news feature for this project, just by quoting statistics I gained good persuasion for my writing. Also, I realised that by imposing a certain tone to my writing, any quote can persuade the readers into different thing. Within the age of information excess, where anyone can publish writings on the internet to be seen, it can be issue when a writing has a negative tone.  

The assessment of statistics is another important aspect in journalistic reporting that I found. When looking at raw data, it can seem quite cumbersome, but when dissected, it can reveal many interesting things. In the case of reporting on the Women Marches, the analysed raw data shed light on the demographics took part in this movement, where in a fight for diversity and equality, I found the lack of diversity and equality – the majority of the people took part were wealthier, white women. Such a discovery was implied in the original raw data, and I had to be critical in order to reveal the fact.  

Although I followed the Fashion Journalism pathway for the Better Lives project, it has nonetheless helped me gain better understanding to my future career practice through the themes. The theme of Social Responsibility especially interested me in the course of this project, which has reminded me to always be critical, as well as to be considerate of the implications and potential of my action in my work. As I go back to being a Fashion Practices and Criticism student, I now take with me the skills to responsibly inform with good awareness.  

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Wielding data.

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In the Better Lives project for Fashion Journalism, I had the opportunity to explore how data was used to report on the event of the Women’s March. Over the first two sessions, we got to analyse the data to understand its potential use, as well as to see what it reflects of the event.

We are surrounded with data in our everyday lives. Almost every piece of news or discussion has got data in it. Data does not lie, it is good evidence that makes any statement become more believable and convincing. But in our sessions, I also recognised how data could be used to direct its viewers towards specific topics, for better or worse. Data on the Women’s March, for example, can be encouraging, where we see many women took action in certain locations, nonetheless, when dissected, it can reveal how these many women represented only a certain demographic, such as middle class women, which could be off-putting. Having delved into further investigation, I discovered that the movement behind the Women’s March eventually fell apart. And the data implies the reason behind its downfall – the movement involved many different demographics. At first sight it may seem a celebration of diversity, but in reality, misalignment between these demographics lead to the movement’s downfall.

Despite being factual, when we put data in different perspectives, it conveys different stories. And I realised that it is important that data, or any other tool in any career, should be wielded responsibly, where they might hold impact on society.

Through this bit of the project, it becomes clear to me how the Better Lives themes are relevant in our future career, and even in wider life. I have realised how social responsibility is imperative in fashion practice, or any other, because it is what would drive the industry towards the better or the worse. Since realising from this project how there are many sides there can be to a topic, it drives me, as a Fashion Practices and Criticism student, to always be critical and expose the potentials behind any practice in the fashion industry.

Reference:

Frostenson, S., 2017. The Women’s Marches May Have Been The Largest Demonstration In US History. [online] Vox. Available at: <https://www.vox.com/2017/1/22/14350808/womens-marches-largest-demonstration-us-history-map> [Accessed 26 March 2020].

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Culture can be better

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After seeing John Lau’s lecture on culture. I became very intrigued by the way fashion interact with larger cultures. Culture exists as a collection of ‘ideas, customs and social behaviours’, and thus it influences our ‘values, actions, and expectations of ourselves’, John said. So thus throughout history and different cultures, we see people donning dresses that reflects their respective statuses, needs, and era. I see that fashion grows accordingly to the things happening around different cultures — society, politics, and beliefs. Thus, certain appearances have been made to be associated with certain occupations or beliefs, like how John exemplified the politician look epitomised by Margaret Thatcher. It seems then, to me, that fashion is born to be the embodiment of culture — we assign certain semantics to certain aesthetics. However, this practice brings repercussions that have always baffled me. In our age of globalisation with bursting grow in diversity, we often see talks of cultural appropriation versus appreciation in fashion. And people tend to quickly get angry when bits get borrowed from a culture appear in a garment, or when put onto a person of a different culture. Certain subjects in many culture become isolated, and I feel like they become reserved exclusively for current members of each particular culture. John made a point talking about fashion items that might have infringed on the cultural significance of other cultures, such as the blackface inspired sweater, saying that it is bad designing, in which the design fails no acknowledge the meaning of the aesthetics. I understand this point, but I also think that when we restrict the use of aesthetics that are associated with worse things in history, such as slavery, religions…etc, we turn them into taboos. And I feel it is an extreme way of assessing fashion during our strive for globalisation and diversity. We should not have to get angry when we see Justin Bieber with dreadlocks, or when John Galliano run a Japanese inspired runway. Just because certain looks are bonded with ugly things from the past, doesn’t mean we should bury it away, especially when we very much make the better out of it.

Reference:

Lau, J. (2020) ‘ Cultural Sustainability’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 18 February.

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