Aarushi Asthana

From the entire collection of better lives lectures the One lecture that stood out to me was the LECTURE – INCLUSION by Lara Salisbury. When I thought about the word inclusion, it always meant to not leave anybody out but after attending the lecture I inferred the burgeoning demand of inclusion in the fashion industry. The way we live now is quite contrasting to the way we lived 20 years ago on any terms. This lecture made me think about one particular quote by Pablo Picasso

                                                       “There is only one way to look at things until someone shows  us how to look at them with different eyes”

One such particular example given by the lecturer was of the YVES BAHAR – POWERSUIT, designed to help the elderly with mobility. However, the same power suit had its disadvantages, one being that that the elderly would only use it till the battery lasts. One woman said that she could not use it because she had a baby and she was not sure about the material. This shows that the designer was giving the disabled choice in one element but excluding a whole range of fashion choice and styles. 

Designers need to keep in mind that they are not designing for the elderly or the disabled but for the entire population, that’s what inclusive fashion is. Fashion tells so much about our roots, ethnicity, gender and that can’t be ignored while designing. Specially providing for the disable, what does the clothing say – is it being worn underneath or is seen as the main form of clothing. By doing so what does the designer want the people to feel?  If it seen as the main form of clothing it will make them more noticeable and will stereotype the abilities that usually hidden. Cutecircuits sound shirt enabled the deaf to feel music, this not only helped the deaf community but also people who could hear wanted to know how it felt, it also helped enhance the experiences of the people. 

Designers need to find a way to make the people feel more comfortable and not make them feel out of place either it is through basic clothing or something different. They shouldn’t feel as if they were different.

The lecture was very insightful it helped understand me how Inclusion can be part of the fashion industry and how important it is for the brand to keep in mind, they are producing for the entire population as a whole rather than a certain group of people.

After going through different blogs I have decided to review Zain Balkar’s 3^rd blog where she talks about her better lives experience.

For her better lives project she had to create a trailer and for that she chose to talk about Islamophobia and how media outlets spread Islamophobia. She wrote about how she spent hours and hours researching about that topic, that surprised me as to how something this big is not spoken about.

She further wrote about Diversity – one of the themes of better lives. Diversity definitely has a vague presence in the fashion industry but still has a long way to go. She also mentioned the use of social media and how powerful it is, which is true such issues cannot be solved by once person.  Big fashion brands, magazines and influencers have the power over their audience through social media. Social media has to be used in a more inclusive way. Brands need to stop seeing Diversity as a way of promoting their brands and need to take it up as a serious issue.

 She initially had a different plan for her trailer, she had to change it due to the pandemic situation and I am so happy she could get her message across with the lack of resources. She mentioned how this unit helped her learn a new skillset, which is true for I think everyone. Given the lockdown situation none of us had much to work with

She even shared her experience while presenting her trailer and honestly I could relate so much to her. Everyone had so much to show with all the problems going across the globe, it was overwhelming. 

She said that this unit resulted in so much awareness and I totally agree with that,  better lives definitely helped us all look past through the initial surface and actually go deep into the social issues. Her blog gave me an insight about her topic, how it was a part of her life, how Covid-19 affected her situation, how she made her trailer and how she presented it. It was like a train ride which  I completed enjoyed and definitely gained a lot from. 

I think everyone in their first year learned so much just by looking at different people’s work and projects and how the basic 3 themes of better lives – Sustainability, social responsibility and diversity were looked at differently but had the same meaning for everyone.

Zain’s blog post definitely helped me understand a little about the critical design world and how important it is.

Her Blog :

https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/04/better-lives-blog-post-3-4/

For someone who has always been vocal about social change, I knew I had to pick fashion activism as my better lives project. I had always wanted to tap into creative direction and better lives allowed me to do that. For our project we were put into groups of 6, 3 girls were already from my course so there were four of us from fashion PR. There was a sense of similarity but at the same time I wanted to interact with people from different courses. It would have been really helpful if all members came from different courses. There would have been new ideas with a different outlook.

For the project we had to create a moving image for our brand ‘Nubian Skin’. Between all this the coronavirus outbreak and everyone leaving for their homes. By the end of the Easter break I became more anxious as to how we would complete our first year. At first I was confused as to how we would complete our group projects since every member was in a different time zone, but technology came through.

All the girls in my group were equally contributing and made the job easier. For our moving image we all decided to do the research about our brand before anything else. Since the beginning of the lockdown the creative industry has been actively participating in ‘facetime photoshoots’ we too wanted to do something on these lines, our brand Nubian Skin is a shapewear brand that provides for women of color. We went with creating an Instagram ad campaign for the brand, used their line ‘a different kind of nude’ with this we added our own line too ‘a confident kind of you’. We used Instagram because it is widely used by everyone and is also considered a strong marketing tool. Our brand and our moving image strongly aligned with one of the main themes of this unit (Better Lives) – Diversity. Diversity in general has been very close to me and when I got to use that with my better lives project it made me very happy.

 With the coronavirus around I thought I would ask Melodie if I could work individually on the project since all my group members were either in UK time zone or the Europe time zone where as my time zone was GMT+5:30 but during out first online Q&A when Melodie told us that the entire industry is communicating online, that made me realize that I can too. But the entire process was quite simple, and I never once felt I was away from my group. We finished our moving image just on time and it turned out to be perfect. Over this entire unit my personal growth and development has been really positive, better lives has definitely added to my knowledge and enabled me to learn various new skills. 

Here is the link of our moving image: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TzobhyowgrONsJ1nI3PDugpbCMDcWEvN

The three major themes included in better lives unit are sustainability, social responsibility and diversity. As a fashion student I want my work to be around sustainability, social responsibility and diversity. This unit has definitely given me a new perspective and I would want my work to concentrate on everything I have gained from better lives.

Especially during this time, we need to integrate these 3 themes of better lives, which are seen as the pillars, into our everyday life. It is true the way the fashion industry works needs to be more ethical, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. Keeping covid-19 in mind it is important that we use these themes now more than ever. 

Better Lives also helped look through a theme, I completely overlooked for the PR industry, that was diversity. Diversity is something I have always been aware of, but I always saw diversity focusing on the outward-facing stuff like models on the runways, magazine covers and ad campaigns. Fashion industry is one of the few industries that has an influence on all lives in one way or another yet the industry failed to represent diversity. Diversity is definitely a big issue of the industry. It is true that one of the biggest threat to a company’s image is tone-deaf advertising. 

The PR industry needs to pay attention to the brand strategies and how their campaigns would be perceived. The case of diversity is not just about creating campaigns and advertisements that features people from different backgrounds, cast, race etc after all they need to consider the brands target audience, the diversity within the PR team is essential if they are truly going to reflect the society they are part of.  Often times the teams don’t recognize the offensive ideas due to the lack of diversity within the creative team. The PR industry should focus on hiring people from different backgrounds. This would not only contribute highly in the campaigns but also help avoid the loss of unnecessary respect in the brands audience. 

Better Lives themes have definitely influenced my perception and how I will work in the future.

From the entire collection of better lives lectures the One lecture that stood out to me was the LECTURE – INCLUSION by Lara Salisbury. When I thought about the word inclusion, it always meant to not leave anybody out but after attending the lecture I inferred the burgeoning demand of inclusion in the fashion industry. The way we live now is quite contrasting to the way we lived 20 years ago on any terms. This lecture made me think about one particular quote by Pablo Picasso

                                                       “There is only one way to look at things until someone shows

                                                         us how to look at them with different eyes”

One such particular example given by the lecturer was of the YVES BAHAR – POWERSUIT, designed to help the elderly with mobility. However, the same power suit had its disadvantages, one being that that the elderly would only use it till the battery lasts. One woman said that she could not use it because she had a baby and she was not sure about the material. This shows that the designer was giving the disabled choice in one element but excluding a whole range of fashion choice and styles. 

Designers need to keep in mind that they are not designing for the elderly or the disabled but for the entire population, that’s what inclusive fashion is. Fashion tells so much about our roots, ethnicity, gender and that can’t be ignored while designing. Specially providing for the disable, what does the clothing say – is it being worn underneath or is seen as the main form of clothing. By doing so what does the designer want the people to feel?  If it seen as the main form of clothing it will make them more noticeable and will stereotype the abilities that usually hidden. Cutecircuits sound shirt enabled the deaf to feel music, this not only helped the deaf community but also people who could hear wanted to know how it felt, it also helped enhance the experiences of the people. 

Designers need to find a way to make the people feel more comfortable and not make them feel out of place either it is through basic clothing or something different. They shouldn’t feel as if they were different.

The lecture was very insightful it helped understand me how Inclusion can be part of the fashion industry and how important it is for the brand to keep in mind, they are producing for the entire population as a whole rather than a certain group of people.

From the entire collection of better lives lectures the One lecture that stood out to me was the LECTURE – INCLUSION by Lara Salisbury. When I thought about the word inclusion, it always meant to not leave anybody out but after attending the lecture I inferred the burgeoning demand of inclusion in the fashion industry. The way we live now is quite contrasting to the way we lived 20 years ago on any terms. This lecture made me think about one particular quote by Pablo Picasso

                                                       “There is only one way to look at things until someone shows

                                                         us how to look at them with different eyes”

One such particular example given by the lecturer was of the YVES BAHAR – POWERSUIT, designed to help the elderly with mobility. However, the same power suit had its disadvantages, one being that that the elderly would only use it till the battery lasts. One woman said that she could not use it because she had a baby and she was not sure about the material. This shows that the designer was giving the disabled choice in one element but excluding a whole range of fashion choice and styles. 

Designers need to keep in mind that they are not designing for the elderly or the disabled but for the entire population, that’s what inclusive fashion is. Fashion tells so much about our roots, ethnicity, gender and that can’t be ignored while designing. Specially providing for the disable, what does the clothing say – is it being worn underneath or is seen as the main form of clothing. By doing so what does the designer want the people to feel?  If it seen as the main form of clothing it will make them more noticeable and will stereotype the abilities that usually hidden. Cutecircuits sound shirt enabled the deaf to feel music, this not only helped the deaf community but also people who could hear wanted to know how it felt, it also helped enhance the experiences of the people. 

Designers need to find a way to make the people feel more comfortable and not make them feel out of place either it is through basic clothing or something different. They shouldn’t feel as if they were different.

The lecture was very insightful it helped understand me how Inclusion can be part of the fashion industry and how important it is for the brand to keep in mind, they are producing for the entire population as a whole rather than a certain group of people.