Abigail Lawal Reynolds

For our project outcome in styling sportswear for subcultures, the unusual times have really called for us to use the better lives themes now more than ever. In particular ‘sustainability’ as being under lockdown we are forced to use and create with and materials readily available to us. The brief we were given was to choose a sport, as at home exercise and the need to keep fit is a huge part of our new way of living, and style the sport with elements of a chosen subculture.

My piece was inspired by being nominated to do the 5k run which has been one of the many challenges going around social media during this lockdown. After doing this challenge I have begun running every morning and its finally something that seems adequate for replacing the gym. Therefore, I chose my Nike running leggings and Adidas ultra-boost trainers to represent the athletic half of my look. Both of these brands have supported a sustainable fashion future as Nike now are sending parcels that are recyclable and for every brown bag parcel from Nike a tree is planted, in an aim to outweigh their contribution to pollution from deliveries. Likewise, Adidas have been doing a lot of work with recycled materials.

However, the second element of my look is less sustainable and forward thinking. This Is because stems from another lockdown habit. I have been constantly on an app called TikTok which I know the other students will be familiar with. On this app I kept seeing this trend of tie dye hoodies and sweat pant sets which just looks so cool as a form of lounge wear. Unfortunately, the lockdown boredom has led me to purchase clothes online.  To make sure I am being more socially responsible when being a consumer of fast fashion, I am being very particular with what I buy to ensure these pieces last in my wardrobe. Therefore, I paired the running attire with a recently purchased dye hoody. The origins of tie die link into hippie culture and socially aware youth of the 60s.The 60s youth culture is very much depicted as a time of freedom and free living which I feel is ironic considering the current restrictions we are facing.

Something that works as reference for my project outcome is the film Forrest Gump, as it features both the sport running and hippies. For me when I think about this film, I reminisce of Forrest Gump’s character and how he is an important character for diversity. I feel at these times touching films like this can give us a sense of comfort, this is why I have included the sofa as a prop.

Engaging with this project has allowed to understand more how I can in small ways begin to develop my understanding of the better lives themes and I am excited to use these in my mindset towards future projects.

After hearing the Better Lives themes being discussed over the past weeks, I now realise I need to think of exactly how I want to incorporate these into my work. Both as fashion journalism student and as a styling student during this better lives unit. 

During my first few lectures of styling in and outside of fashion I have felt a really creative side of me appear that perhaps hasn’t been able to be explored in my degree course Fashion Journalism. In ways I have begun to fall back in love with clothes and fashion however part of me is as we were told we need to bring in clothes, in particular sportwear, to lesson for our styling master class. Despite owning gym wear I feel I would not have appropriate items to create at really innovative look. However, this is a perfect example of how I should bring the theme of sustainability into my work. I now realise that this is a perfect time to experiment with clothes and give them a second life. Initially I did think I need to buy something appropriate but now I realise that clothes such as my old hoodie with a hole in the sleeve is perfect for this unit. It is this mindset of reusing and upcycling that I want to carry through my better lives project. I feel this could be a massive inspiration for a lot of my journalism work too, looking at documenting more ethical and sustainable changes that are being made within fashion.

From the very first lecture social responsibility is something that has stayed with me and particularly the idea of clear and fair representation of subgroups is something I intend to include in any future work. The course I am doing for this unit Is not just styling but styling sportswear for subcultures. From what I have learnt about the importance of taking responsibility for your work I now need to ensure I do adequate research into any subculture or group movement I try to use in my conceptualised piece. Whilst in lesson we were given a task to create our own subculture in which my group decided to merge the 50s Teddy Boys with the current English Grime scene. Both groups have this complete ‘cool’ factor as well as an association of violence. Yet I feel the Grime scene is sometimes wrongly categorised as violent, this was proved when we came across the quote in one of Stomzy’s grime tracks where he says ‘Everybody calm down, it’s a tracksuit What the f man? I ain’t gonna stab you.’ Therefore, showing how this sense of identity within the community is very much missunderstood as their chosen clothes make people feel they can stereotype them. In this case it also feeds into racism and this is why social responsibility is so important as it also links into other themes such as diversity. The better lives themes are really allowing me to be self-critical and assure I am not only transparent but sympathetic in my work.

Reference

WICKEDSKENGMAN PART 4, (2015), Published by JME, Written by Stomzy, Released September 10^th 2015.