Abigail Swain

‘How the Better Lives themes have influenced your project outcome and your personal development’

Back in 2019, when we were asked to bid for the Better Lives projects, I jumped at the chance to undertake the styling unit, titled ‘In and outside of fashion: Sportswear Fashion language and sub-cultures’. I have always been interested in styling and production, my BTEC qualification was in theatre production so I have some experience involving set construction etc. and it was one of the UAL undergraduate courses that I was initially drawn to. Alongside my general interest in styling, the project brief was the clear stand out to me and I loved how the team wanted us to become the stylist, study the history of subcultures and sportswear and incorporate the Better Lives themes.

During the first two weeks the styling team delivered lectures informing us on how a stylist can make responsible choices, my favourite lecture was ‘How do stylists & producers shape lives through fashion?’ this was extremely insightful and discussed topics that I had not thought of before. It was beneficial for me and everyone else to learn about sustainable styling as we can use this knowledge in the future when working with stylists in the fashion industry.

Throughout the project we were encouraged to work in groups and speak to people we had not met before and this was important during the creative group tasks because each group member had a different background and skill set. The diversity in the group meant we could put all our creative ideas together and produce a dynamic final outcome, it was also a great opportunity to learn about different subcultures that perhaps weren’t as popular in the country that I grew up. Working in a group, in a physical space to make something creative is something that I will never take for granted again, I realise now how lucky we are at UAL to have these experiences.

During the Easter break, we went into lockdown and university studies were moved online, I was sceptical and intrigued to see how this would affect our project as it meant we could no longer work physically together. Luckily, the styling team (and the entirety of the university) adapted well and we were able to continue. One of the lectures during the first week back was about body positivity and diversity in styling, this was another engaging lecture that included a lot of student interaction. I really enjoyed watching this lecture and adding my opinions to the discussion.

Our final task was to create our own look with the resources we had at home that represented sport/ sportswear and a subculture of our choice, the brief was also updated slightly to reflect the current Covid-19 situation. I have inserted my submission for this task so you can see how I combined the punk subculture with ballet, please feel free to read my artist statement for more information.

I found the masterclass enjoyable and the Better Lives themes influenced my creative process and outcome. I can see that this project has enabled me to think more about the issues regarding diversity, social responsibility, and sustainability throughout the fashion industry and not only in the areas that I am most familiar with.

I wanted to start this blog by addressing how I have engaged with the Betterlives themes so far, as I study fashion  public relations I am always thinking about how brands can connect with their consumers and a wider audience in an authentic/ socially responsible way. This is something that has only been amplified during the covid-19 pandemic as brands struggle to market their products in a considerate way. Brands must be culturally aware and respectful as the global public battle heightened emotions of anxiety.

I have also been thinking about the positive effects of the global lockdown regarding sustainability, as fashion events or entire fashion weeks move to digital spaces the industry’s carbon footprint will decrease (perhaps drastically if lockdown restrictions remain for both AW and SS). I predict that fashion weeks will never be the same again, even if most brands decide to return to traditional catwalk presentations, some brands will realise that digital platforms are far more effective and profitable for them specifically. Taking all of this into consideration, the Betterlives themes and the current global pandemic have already changed how I might work in the future.

Currently there has been a greater global sense of appreciation for physical belongings, this will hopefully transform into a new wave of consumer behaviour post virus that moves away from the current level of over consumption. During the recent styling masterclass we were challenged to use clothing in our homes to create a look combining garments from a subculture and sportswear, this task made me personally look at everything I had in my wardrobe and cherish it more than ever before. At the end of the day, we all study fashion and we all love clothes! We just need to make sure that the clothes we have, are respected not wasted.

In conclusion, how will the Betterlives themes change the way I work in the future?

• A greater appreciation for the things we already own will start to stop over consumption and this will change how brands communicate with their consumers, meaning there will be a desire to create a valid community rather than marketing to the masses.
• Brands and individuals are contributing to the efforts to stop the spread of the virus, this charitable and community feel will stay and there will be more marketing/PR strategies that include this.
• Digital spaces will be used more frequently and potentially replace the traditional fashion show, this would benefit the environment and could create a new fashion calendar.

17/02/20 Jekaterina Rogaten

Overall I found this lecture on well-being extremely insightful and it made me look at well-being in a totally new light. As I am a fashion public relations and communications student, I am always researching into the latest trends within the fashion industry and beyond. Recently I have only ever viewed well-being as a trend and a sector, I now see that it is so much more than yoga classes, aromatherapy, veganism, lounge wear etc. Well-being globally needs to be seen as part of humanity and implemented into daily life so that it can be used beneficially rather than for profit. I think fashion has the capacity to improve everyone’s well-being in some way or another, for fashion students like myself we might gain self-confidence through the clothes we wear to university but for others it could be as simple as needing a coat in order to stay warm on the streets at night if they are homeless for example. Although these acts are very different they are both improving individual well-being. Jekaterina also mentioned that when linking fashion and well-being it is important to think of both fashion consumption (customers) and fashion production (employees) and the hundreds of ways that the fashion industry could improve both. This is a topic that I believe is more important in today’s society and the Better Lives unit proves this, we are the next wave of creatives in the fashion industry and are being taught how to pioneer better inclusivity, diversity etc. into our practice and subsequently in our professional lives after university. During the lecture I was particularly drawn to the Hierarchy of needs pyramid and the denotations of the layers. In order to be creative and problem solve, humans need so many foundations such as; confidence, friendship and basics like water or food which sounds obvious now that I am writing it but is something that I have never explored before. In my brain this reminded me of the iconic phrase used by drag queen RuPaul “if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else”, I guess I’m trying to say that as creatives, designers and so on we have to be confident in our own work and have good well-being in order to produce fashion that is both purposeful and will better the lives of the consumers and our employees. I do feel that this can be seen in the fashion industry already when designers such as Stella McCartney not only produce fashionable and desirable pieces but also dedicate so much of their work to making the world a better place. In conclusion this lecture has made me think differently about the connections I draw between fashion and well-being, it has made me more aware, and I hope that other students in other pathways that will have slightly different impacts on the industry also feel more educated and inspired to better their practices.