Jieanne Parungao

The outcomes produced throughout the project have been really experimental especially as it was a very collaborative project where we worked together in groups to finalise our concepts – it has also been really interesting as we are in the middle of a pandemic which has forced us to work differently and in different ways. It has been a productive project due to these circumstances and one to remember alongside my new learning to do with styling and production. 

Regarding the themes, it meant learning every week about these subject matters and how they may be different in each other’s lives in the classroom. As a classroom, these themes affected us really differently as we were from a pool of different backgrounds which was obvious in our ideas and execution of what we wanted to portray. 

I had never massively done styling to a concept before it was usually personal styling but with conceptual styling I found myself thinking in a lot more different ways due to how many ways you can interpret a single concept. I also learned a lot about producing fashion shows with our lectures that addressed past careers and previous work teachers had presented to us, opening our creative brain to a sector of the fashion industry some of us haven’t touched on yet as we are on different courses that haven’t covered the subject in depth. Because of this learning, I’m much more interested in production as a lot of it ties into Creative Direction which is, of course, my course.

When styling, I was uncomfortable at first when creating looks because I didn’t know very many ways to transform a garment but with the help of tutors I was shown expressive ways to distort the look of a piece of clothing and how to use it in more ways than one – that a jacket didn’t only have to have one shape. Alongside the clothing, props were something we could use to highlight the Better Lives themes which is actually a big part of styling when it is on the conceptual side. 

I think my learning can be easily applied and transferred into my course as it taught me about lots of different perspectives and to be flexible in your communication when working with others. It was also interesting having to work in the conditions of this pandemic, styling at home was quite free but you could be limited in diverse clothing as you only really have your style wherein working in groups meant you had access to pieces that were out of your comfort zone which ended up being something positive as it gave your styling diversity.

Overall, I massively value my learning throughout the project and hope to be more involved in collaborative styling projects whether that be styling the looks myself or capturing them with a camera. Production has become something I’m interested in too so there is definitely that aspect I appreciate learning about within my project. It has been a very memorable project.

The better lives themes to name a few are social responsibility, sustainability and diversity. Using these themes through styling, we have incorporated these themes in our masterclasses to be communicated through clothing. Using these themes make you think much more than just clothing and you delve into the use of poses, expression and props. For example, when creating a look for social responsibility it was important to make the model like they were in action as if they were doing something as a metaphor for taking action literally but hypothetically towards social issues. 

In times where awareness is important for social issues, learning to communicate these themes is more important than ever. When it came to working together, these themes were really brought out in an array of aesthetics – some of us created a more minimal look whilst other looks we assisted with were eccentric with wooden shoes and white face paint. 

As these themes cover a wide range of social issues and can be communicated and interpreted in an array of ways that mean a lot of different things to different people, it can be difficult to communicate them at first especially in a group but we soon realized that our differences made our looks more diverse. We had a global perspective and different angles. The challenge to make the looks work only emphasized the idea of the themes as it taught us how these themes bring people together no matter their background and experience, to come together and understand the themes to then communicate them together only enforces them.

They have changed the way I work as I can now think of ways to incorporate these themes in a diverse way instead of thinking too simply and obvious – there is no right or wrong especially when you deliver your messages to the audience that will understand as some people will have experienced social issues within the themes on different levels. Instead of me making sure that absolutely everyone understands what I’m trying to say, I can curate my messages to the audience with room for those who understand to educate those who may not be able to pick up on the messages because they have had less experience in the subject matter. The themes and enforcing them has made me realise that with issues that are complex and have layers and levels, it isn’t always possible to communicate to all at once, especially in a growing post-demographic society.

Overall, I’ve gained more skills in working in a group with base themes where we are trying to communicate a message collectively where we can educate each other on our meanings. It also let me in on how other people view these issues and how you can communicate them through different materials, poses and expressions when we shared as a class what we managed to do in our first masterclass. In the future, I will remember the themes to be able to produce work that is able to tackle issues on an important level to increase awareness in the matters that affect a lot of us in the world today.

The better lives themes to name a few are social responsibility, sustainability and diversity. Using these themes through styling, we have incorporated these themes in our masterclasses to be communicated through clothing. Using these themes make you think much more than just clothing and you delve into the use of poses, expression and props. For example, when creating a look for social responsibility it was important to make the model like they were in action as if they were doing something as a metaphor for taking action literally but hypothetically towards social issues. 

In times where awareness is important for social issues, learning to communicate these themes is more important than ever. When it came to working together, these themes were really brought out in an array of aesthetics – some of us created a more minimal look whilst other looks we assisted with were eccentric with wooden shoes and white face paint. 

As these themes cover a wide range of social issues and can be communicated and interpreted in an array of ways that mean a lot of different things to different people, it can be difficult to communicate them at first especially in a group but we soon realized that our differences made our looks more diverse. We had a global perspective and different angles. The challenge to make the looks work only emphasized the idea of the themes as it taught us how these themes bring people together no matter their background and experience, to come together and understand the themes to then communicate them together only enforces them.

They have changed the way I work as I can now think of ways to incorporate these themes in a diverse way instead of thinking too simply and obvious – there is no right or wrong especially when you deliver your messages to the audience that will understand as some people will have experienced social issues within the themes on different levels. Instead of me making sure that absolutely everyone understands what I’m trying to say, I can curate my messages to the audience with room for those who understand to educate those who may not be able to pick up on the messages because they have had less experience in the subject matter. The themes and enforcing them has made me realise that with issues that are complex and have layers and levels, it isn’t always possible to communicate to all at once, especially in a growing post-demographic society.

Overall, I’ve gained more skills in working in a group with base themes where we are trying to communicate a message collectively where we can educate each other on our meanings. It also let me in on how other people view these issues and how you can communicate them through different materials, poses and expressions when we shared as a class what we managed to do in our first masterclass. In the future, I will remember the themes to be able to produce work that is able to tackle issues on an important level to increase awareness in the matters that affect a lot of us in the world today.

The lectures throughout the past 2 weeks were a great opportunity to engage in important and arising topics related to fashion and our lives as consumers, designers, creatives and as even as basic as relating on a human level. I would say my most preferred lecture was the ‘Power’ by Julia Crew which covered the many layers of issues within fashion and its unbalanced power throughout its production stages and values. For example, most of us and hopefully all of us attending UAL especially the London College of Fashion are aware of the effects of fast fashion and its many violations to its workers against their human rights but I didn’t know specific statements lawfully published by prevalent institutions such as the U.N such as “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, necessary social services and the right to security”. The reason this very much intrigued me was that the statement barely holds any weight today with millions still living in poverty and being denied such simple needs despite this being declared 70 years ago. As someone from the Philippines, a developing country, this statement bored me. Aside from developing countries who haven’t been able to access so much of what’s written down as a ‘Human Right’ even Western nations  are struggling to do well by children and people in poverty that can’t afford housing – an example being the Grenfell Tower victims. The statement bored me because what is the point of declaring such a bold and hopeful statement when people are constantly being put in power who fail or prevent such promises?

This being highlighted to me in the lecture was new and important learning from me and I will most definitely carry on with this project with much more awareness about Human Rights and Power in our society today with an attitude that challenges where those who are in power lack today. Why is this still happening? What caused it to occur in the first place? Is there anything being put in place to fix and present this? And even more so, is there anything or anyone that is preventing such solutions? It’s also very difficult to think of the fact that people barely have access to physical health care which is usually down to finances and poor wage but also, equally as important, mental health care. More people are trying to raise awareness for the importance of mental health and how to deal with these issues, it now almost feels like a privilege to be mentally healthy which is contradicting to the fact that the fight is for making it normal type of healthcare which is the issue in itself – human rights will be seen as privilege to so many people in this type of world we live in, we are not fundamentally or humanely equal as of right now if the measure is the said statement of what a human has the right to. Will we ever be?

In conclusion, It’s hard to comprehend sometimes such huge inequality and hard to accept that this is the world we live in but this lecture really put into perspective that although it may make us fearful, there’s no fixing anything without addressing it first. I’ve walked away from these Better Lives lectures with more of a desire to be purposeful as a person and in my work.