Daisy Easterby-Sands

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BLOG 3: FASHION JOURNALISM & MY PROJECT TASK REFLECTION (Diversity)

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Within my chosen project, Fashion Journalism, we were asked to complete a 500-word feature, adhering to an audience of our choice. As part of our feature, we were required to discuss an issue, of course concerning the fashion industry, as well as linking it back to one or more of the Better Lives themes, of diversity, sustainability or social responsibility.

As part of this Better Lives module, we were required to attend lectures for the first two weeks. Amongst these presentations, lecturers covered a range of topics regarding the fashion industry, one of which was diversity and its effect on the industry itself. This chosen area interested me the most, as I believe that there is still room for improvement in regard to how brands approach this concept. Due to my interest in this theme, I thought I would use this as a starting point on writing my feature for my project task.

Within our project lectures, Liz Miller, talked us through skills such as how to structure a feature, the difference between a news article and a feature and many other helpful pointers to start us up when it came to us beginning our project task. Aswell as this, Miller also discussed with us the power journalists hold, due to their role to convey information. This linked back to my previous blog post where I discussed the social responsibility held by fashion journalists, to not deliver ‘fake news’ and use only reliable and credible sources.

Miller also discussed the issues around Fashion Journalism, and the potential difficulties of which could be faced when covering the three Better Lives themes, due to the fact they are very broad subjects resulting in potential controversy because of this. Miller concluded this ideal with the fact that ‘journalists have the power to speak, so therefore have the power to call out morally wrong behaviour acted out by brands.’. However, despite this, it is very easy for a journalist to receive backlash from their readers, depending on how they approached their feature or story.

In relation to how the Better Lives themes influenced my project task and personal development, I feel as though they have really helped enlighten me top the issues that are still in need of development within the fashion industry and their delivery of content.

For example, in my feature, I discussed the issues focussed on diversity within the fashion industry. My main focus was on Gucci’s 2019 release of the black fold-neck jumper which people argued, resembled similarly to a ‘blackface’ caricature (Ferrier, 2019). As my conclusion, I stated that I believed the change lied within the production and development team of such brands, and the fact that I thought it would be beneficial for brands to involve more people of diverse background to contribute to this process. Therefore, more knowledge will be passed down through teams (and hopefully generation) for less mistakes to be made in the future, and for there to be more understanding around the matter of diversity.

Citations:

Ferrier, M., 2019. Gucci Withdraws $890 Jumper After Blackface Backlash. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/feb/07/gucci-withdraws-jumper-blackface-balaclava> [Accessed 27 April 2020].

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BLOG 2: DATA JOURNALISM & ‘FAKE NEWS’ (Social Responsibility)

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BLOG 2:

I chose to study Fashion Journalism for the duration of this Better Lives project, in which we are currently looking into the practice of Data Journalism. Within this unit, we are also required to keep in mind the three Better Lives themes of diversity, social responsibility and sustainability.

Throughout the lectures so far, we have analysed an article written for ‘VOX’, by Sarah Frostenson, about the Women’s Marches that took place in 2017, across the US. Within this article, Frostenson states that on one particular day, it was found to be the “largest day of demonstrations in American history.” (Frostenson, 2017), in which she backed up with statistics and data, collected by reliable sources. 

In addition, we assessed further, the data surrounding the idea of how many marches occurred across various states in America and thought about how and why these particular statistics were shown. In order to do this, we discussed as a group, a variety of questions that were raised, which would also work as good leads for further articles that could be written around the subject.

Whilst looking into this article and the statistics around it, it occurred to me, the importance of social responsibility, when working in the field of journalism, whatever form of journalism that may be. As a journalist, you have the social responsibility to deliver factual information to your audience. The concept of ‘fake news’ is a very common occurrence in the journalism industry and across the media, where stories will be twisted, false information will be shared, and this mainly bottles down to the fact that there was a lack of data or statistics in the article, to support the said information. In today’s society, as the use of media and technology has heightened, the concept of ‘fake news’ is a problem that seems to have increased hugely, especially amongst celebrity news. 

Conclusively, the past few weeks of these Data Journalism lectures have shown me the strength of which data obtains, when it comes to certifying an article or piece of writing. It’s opened my eyes to the social responsibility journalists have, when it comes to public delivery of their work. In the future, when it comes to my personal practice, in this discipline in particular, I will ensure that all information used and all statements made, are backed up with a reliable source. To do this, heavy research is required, but as a responsibility of ours, it is a role, which as journalists, we must deliver.

CITATIONS:

Frostenson, S., 2017. The Women’s Marches May Have Been The Largest Demonstration In US History. [online] Vox. Available at: <https://www.vox.com/2017/1/22/14350808/womens-marches-largest-demonstration-us-history-map> [Accessed 26 March 2020].

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  1. Ruby Donohoe: Blog Post 4: Peer Review of Daisy Easterby-Sands Blog Post 2 Among other’s Better Lives blogs, I read Daisy Easterby-Sands…

BLOG 1: POWER (Diversity & Social Responsibility)

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BLOG 1: POWER

Following the initial two weeks of our Better Lives project, I attended a variety of lectures that focused on diversity, sustainability and social responsibility within the fashion industry, whilst covering a range of different topics within these themes.

Reflecting on the lectures I attended, the one that influenced me majorly was entitled, ‘Power’, led by Julia Crew. Within this lecture, Crew covered a selection of thematic sub-topics, discussing the relationship between power and fashion, money, media, the consumer, protest and ‘you’. By covering such a broad subject with such intricate discussion, I found that this lecture really enlightened my way of thinking when it comes to the question of, ‘who holds the power?’ within the fashion industry.

In regard to the Better Lives themes, I found that this lecture reflected ideals of diversity within the fashion industry, as it addressed the concept of the fashion chain and who holds the top spots. Crew displayed a slide showing the top eight European stakeholders, which showed that Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, based in France, owning the high-fashion brand, Louis Vuitton, had a net worth of $66.7 billion (Warren, 2019).Alongside Arnault were the co-owners of the fellow high-fashion brand, Chanel, whose net worth sits at $26.1 billion, and the CEO of Deichmann, whose net worth sits at $9.2 million. Overall, amongst the eight companies, the CEOs obtain a combined net worth from $9.2 billion to $66.7 billion (Warren, 2019). In addition to this, it is interesting to note that the eight topmost successful European stakeholders are all of white ethnicity and are all male. This data shows that within the fashion chain, in which consists of arguably the most powerful people in the industry with regard to finance, there is a huge lack of diversity. 

In addition, it was shown in an Oxfam report published in 2018, “it takes just four days for a CEO from one of the top five global fashion brands to earn what a fast-fashion garment worker in Bangladesh will earn in their lifetime.” (Oxfam, ‘Reward Work, Not Wealth’, 2018). Whilst this statistic shows the level of power that these CEOs hold over the fashion industry, it also raises the issue of inequality amongst roles in the industry too, linking to the Better Lives theme of social responsibility. 

Within this lecture, Crew also discussed how power intertwines with us as the consumer. It was argued in an interview for ‘Vestoj’, by Laura Gardner, that “The consumer also has substantial power: the power of where and how we spend our money. This power can be positive, if handled correctly.” (Gardner et al., 2015). In regard to the Better Lives theme of social responsibility, and tackling the inequality seen within the fashion hierarchy, I believe that the power lies within the consumer. As consumers, where we shop, makes a difference as to what brands become successful. Therefore, if we choose to shop at companies which source sustainably and treat employees fairly, such as labour workers, supplying them with the fundamental human right of a living wage, then through the use of support, we are the ones striving for this change to be made, 

CITATIONS:

Warren, K. (2019). The 15 richest people in the fashion industry, ranked. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-richest-fashion-designers-and-brand-moguls-in-the-world-2017-9?r=UK&IR=T#7-heinrich-deichmann-106-billion-19 [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020].

‘Reward Work, Not Wealth’. (2018). [online] Oxfam. Available at: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-percent-bagged-82-percent-wealth-created-last-year-poorest-half-humanity [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020].

Gardner, L., Gardner, L., Akbari, A., Cronberg, A. and Richardson, D., 2015. The Best For The Most For The Least | Vestoj. [online] Vestoj.com. Available at: <http://vestoj.com/the-best-for-the-most-for-the-least/> [Accessed 10 March 2020].

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