Olivia Andrews

For my peer review I chose to write about Kaylee-Rose Payne’s first blog post about the Power lecture, as this was the same lecture, I chose to write about for mine and I thought it would be interesting to see another person’s viewpoint on it. 

            I found the points she made really interesting, as I’ve never really put much thought into the role that social media has over us as consumers. I definitely agree that influencers have a certain kind of hold on us, but the amount of money the industry is worth definitely shocked me. This is also scary as it just adds to the fact that the fashion industry is just so unfair in terms of money and wages etc. as influencers are getting paid however much to promote big brands, giving them more publicity and money, only for the workers who are actually making the clothes to not get any change in their pay or unfair working conditions. She definitely used facts and statistics well to back up her points.

            I think this is also something she definitely did well when talking about sustainability as it made it very interesting to read. Sustainability is definitely an important topic now and this is definitely something I thought a lot about when watching the lecture. It’s insane to think how badly people are being treated in order for people like us to be able to continually buy clothes when we don’t actually need them. I think what’s refreshing to hear in most people’s blog posts that I’ve read – not just Kaylee’s – is how people are now wanting to make a change in their own lifestyles in order to better benefit the planet and other people’s quality of life. 

            Kaylee and I came to the same conclusion that consumers hold the power in this supply chain and therefore we are the ones who have to make the first steps towards change in order to implement change in bigger areas. I think her ending to the blog post nicely summarised everything up and gave her concluding thoughts on the subjects she has spoken about. Overall, I think it was really well written and definitely reflected well on the Better Lives themes.  

For the Better Lives unit, I chose to study Fashion Journalism as I thought it would give me skills that would be helpful for my actual course, as it would give me the ability to look at the Better Lives themes from a more analytical standpoint. 

            We were asked to write a 500-word feature piece on any of the Better Lives themes that we took an interest to, so I chose diversity as I feel as though something that hasn’t really been talked about within the industry is how brands are now marketing towards being diverse and inclusive in order to boost their sales as opposed to doing what is right. Because of the backlash that big companies face in an age of cancel culture for not including enough minority groups within their runways or campaigns, they make changes only because they realise their sales are going down or they know it will gain them positive press, as opposed to doing it from the beginning because they believed it was the right thing to do. 

            Because of COVID-19, we didn’t get as many resources and as much help as we would have got if we weren’t at home, however, I did like the freedom we had to write about anything we liked as it gave me a chance to research something I actually found interesting. From researching this topic, I definitely feel as though at this point diversity is definitely something that is almost impossible to get right, as there will always be a group missing and will always be someone annoyed about it. 

            This task definitely opened my eyes to the issues of the industry, especially as at the end we got to peer review other people’s work and get feedback on our own. Reading what other people chose to write about definitely opened my eyes to the issues of the industry, as no one really chose to write about similar topics, and it also gave me a chance to see how other people write about/tackle difficult to talk about topics. 

            I’m not exactly completely proud of my project outcome as I feel as though the online lectures did hold us back a bit, but I definitely do feel like I’ve learnt something and will be using these skills again in the future. 

In these uncertain times, I think it is more important than ever to keep the themes of diversity, inclusivity, and especially social responsibility in mind as they have become increasingly important over the course of the past few weeks. 

            Moving forward, these themes will definitely change how I work in the future as we have now seen the consequences of people refusing to take social responsibility into consideration during this global pandemic, putting other people’s lives at risk and prolonging the effects that are being held on the rest of us. 

            In addition, with the uncertainty of the future of the fashion industry, I think it is also important to reflect on where these issues weren’t being attended to properly while we have the time in order to create more positive changes in an industry that arguably does the most damage on our planet. Sustainability has been a rising topic of conversation over the past few years, but now as the Earth is slowly healing as a result of lowered human activity it is important for people to think about the changes they will be making in order to keep the Earth healthy upon the return of normal life. I think big brands need to also take into consideration the immense contribution they have on the denial of the planet and take some steps to reduce their footprint. 

            As a media student, I will definitely take into consideration these themes as I don’t think they are talked about enough, or in a way that people will actually listen. I think taking into consideration how I can do my work to better impact how these themes are portrayed is a good first step. Diversity especially is an immense issue still within media practices with not enough minority groups being represented. This is still the case for runways and ad campaigns. 

            By choosing to do Fashion Journalism for the duration of Better Lives I have now recognised different ways in which these topics can influence my work moving forward.

Julia Crew began the presentation by alluding to the fact that we as a society are generally drowned in fashion’s positive side – its creativity and beauty, however with this also comes a dark side to fashion that maybe isn’t as noticeable. 

            Who holds the power in the fashion industry? And does this equate to responsibility? These are some of the questions I walked away with following the lecture, as “blame culture”, which has only arisen in recent years, ensures that every party holds responsibility for their own actions. However, does the majority of this power lie with the brands themselves? The designer? The consumer? I’ve learnt that it is primarily held within the consumer, as we are able to decide where and how to spend our money, and that can ultimately aid or destroy a brand and their image as there is influence in economic power. We are the driver of trends, therefore able to unconsciously decide what brands come out with next. This is also apparent with the rise of new brands that are pushing for sustainability, within the construction of their clothes and other practices within the industry, this is due to the rise of consumer knowledge of harmful processes that are used in the process of making garments, whether that be harmful to animals, workers, or the climate itself. What we choose to consume can help shape the fashion industry into one that is better for the planet and the people around us. 

            The idea of power and money being interlinked was an interesting idea for me, as it was pointed out that six of the worlds 20 richest people run companies that sell large volumes of clothing, with garment workers and other employees earning not nearly enough to live comfortably, leaving them stuck within an endless cycle of poverty. And as fashion consumption increases, mass production escalates with workers’ wages staying the same or possibly even decreasing in order to hire more, which only builds upon the immense wealth of the company owners. Workers are also forced to work unpaid overtime in order to produce more in order to feed this overconsumption. However, it is not as simple as just raising workers’ wages as this will just drive companies to produce their clothing wherever is cheapest, and with fast fashion brands still widely popular amongst consumers despite the knowledge of unfair working conditions, it is likely there will not be significant change any time soon. Because of this, I will make an individual effort to stop supporting fast fashion brands because of the detrimental consequences they have on our planet and also workers overseas, as although my own individual boycott of these brands will not result in the termination of their production, it is a step in the right direction and hopefully, I can educate others by doing this. 

            As a result of this lecture, I am now left to reflect on the power I hold as a consumer, my own individual role within the industry that is part of a much bigger picture, and also how my choices affect the people around me and the future of the industry that I want to be a part of.