Joo Young Kim

Reflections on how the Better Lives themes have influenced your project outcome and your personal development;

When we first assigned to the brand ‘Traid’, everyone wasn’t too happy about it since charity shop clothes are not traditionally regarded as beautiful in the fashion industry. So our main focus was to make sustainable clothes look ‘cool’ by fast-paced editing and using diverse models. However, because of COVID-19, we had to use footages to convey the message. One of our group members showed us an example of a video that juxtaposes nature and fashion with a double screen and vintage effects. We thought it was a good idea and found footages of nature and brand runways that are based on sustainability. Since I made a fashion film and edited several videos before, I took a charge of editing. At the beginning of the video, I tried to make a comparison between luxury brands and trash fields to show how the fashion industry contributes to world pollution insurmountably. And then I showed runway shows that incorporate sustainability and diversity and then juxtaposed nature scenes to show how social responsibility and caring about sustainability can stop pollution. Moreover, one of the group members suggested putting voiceovers, which is Virgil Abloh’s speech about sustainability and diversity to make a message more clear. 
Throughout the project, I’ve learned several things. Firstly, I learned how to work as a team. It could have been very difficult and conflicting since we have more than 5 people in our group. But a few of us gave a very good idea of the project and try to move on with the project so the whole process was relatively easy for me. Furthermore, we had several group meetings via Zoom and we also had a group chat on Instagram so the communication among team members was efficient. Participation and communication made us a good team. And also, having good references and ideas gave us good results. 
Secondly, I learned sustainable clothes could be as edgy as luxury brand clothes. I used to complain about the brand we were assigned since Traid is a charity shop. However, Traid had a lot of traits to explore: it is for a diverse range of people, good for sustainability and eclectic, which is good for creativity. And as I was finding for runways that are based on better life themes, I noticed that representing a diverse group of people and using recycled materials could be very aesthetically pleasing; it was different from most luxury brands and it was beautiful in its way. 
Lastly, I learned how to convey a message through a fashion film. Most fashion films that I made only showed clothes and handsome models; they did not convey any political message. However, though this project, I learned how to make a political statement through fashion and film. 

• Reflections on how the Better Lives themes might change how you work in the future;

As a student who is studying fashion photography, I was pondering how to apply better lives themes in the future. The easiest theme to apply would be diversity. I have been incorporating diversity in my works since I started taking photographs. My first fashion photography work was a drag queen in Korea, who is also a high school student. And my second work’s theme was a boy with laces, which is about exploring male sexuality by breaking gender boundaries. And for the future work, I’m going to capture the crossdressing scene in Korea and how it’s hidden and tabooed throughout the history of Korea. I believe representing sexual minorities is crucial especially in South Korea since LGBT culture has been disguised. And also, in the future, I am going to work with models with different body shapes and colors. In Korea, having bright skin and a slender body is a beauty standard. And I used to think that to make beautiful photos and portraits, one must use models with slender body types since models with slender body types were all I could notice in the runway. But as I was getting to know more photographers who take models with colors and different body types, I reckoned that representing all types of people in the world could be as beautiful as models with perfect hair, skin and slender bodies. 

It might be harder to think about sustainability as a photography student but I thought of a couple of ways to reduce wastes. Instead of buying clothes from Topshop, COS, ZARA, H&M, which are my favorite brands when I work since they are selling clothes at reasonable prices, I would rather borrow clothes from vintages shops or small brands. And the other day, I watched the Netflix show called, Next in Fashion, and Daniel W fletcher, a menswear designer, used logos to alert world pollution. Likewise, I could include logos and words in my photographs to make a strong and direct political statement. Furthermore, using digital rather than using films would be a better way to reduce waste. But if I want to use films, I could take photos consciously to reduce film waste and reuse some darkroom materials and liquids. And when I print photos, I could use recycled papers instead of coated papers. 

Lastly, I thought about ways to include my cultural background in my works in the future. I took inspiration from a photographer minhyunwoo, who is a Korean fashion photographer. He uses traditional Korean costumes and makeups and he takes photos in rural areas of South Korea. It might seem tacky but he uniquely incorporates traditional Korean culture and show the world how Korean cultures could be as alluring as other Asian cultures. In the future, I will devise the ways to show Korean culture and heritage. 

Among all lectures on Better Lives, the lectures that impressed me the most was the first lecture, Power and Fashion, and 13th lecture, Democracy, and Activism. In the first lecture, the tutor explained the relation between power and fashion. There are numerous kinds of powers in the world: Royalty, military, politics, business, media, music, etc. In the fashion industry, money plays a big role. Only a few employees are getting rich by enslaving others, giving workers only minimum wage. Workers are often forced to work overtime and workers don’t get paid enough because the high wage will damage the clothing market. Moreover, the overconsumption problem is getting noticed. 400 percent of people buy more clothes then they did 20 years ago because of the influence of social media and fast fashion. So as consumers, we need to be aware of what problems we are facing and how clothes are made under what conditions. Fortunately, there are few ways To improve defective conditions in the fashion industry: consumer boycotts and protests. The consumer boycott is the most effective way of influencing the industry. In July, Ivanka Trump closed her fashion brand due to Ivanka’s connection with President Trump. Macy’s and Bloomingdales fell almost 45 percent. It was one of the direct effects of boycotting. Furthermore, through protesting, one could bring attention to the public about unethical situations. Extinction Rebellion Activists did a fashion funeral ceremony at London fashion week. And Greenpeace started the detox campaign, calling out brands for their use of toxic chemicals. There’s also pussyhat projects for feminism and Vivienne Westwood often uses a catwalk as her political stage.
Though the lecture, I realized that education for consumers is crucial since there would be no demand without supply. So consumers need to know how their clothes are made and make ethical consumptions. We need to acknowledge the complexity of consumption. Not only education but also practicing is important. I used to buy a tremendous amount of clothes on fast fashion brands. I repeatably buy cheap clothes and throw them away frequently. However, after I know how toxic fast fashion is in terms of labor and climate issues, I started to buy vintage clothes and did not buy clothes often. If I want to wear high brand clothes, I go to the website called, ‘Vestiaire Collective’ to buy second-hand clothes. It’s a minor shopping habit, but I am trying to make ethical choices in my life. Moreover, joining a group or going to a protest is as important as making small ethical choices. I was a queer and left-wing activist in Korea so I went to some protests and volunteered for Seoul queer parade. Through protests and pride parade, discrimination and oppression against sexual minorities are diminishing in Korean society. Likewise, I wanted to join groups like Greenpeace for climate change. Also, on a lecture called, Democracy and Activism, the tutor gave examples like the Collective Dwelling, the Refuge wear, the Exhibition of Salvation Army anniversary so I knew diverse ways of expressing activism and seeing a political message to the public.