Jannah Barakat

Upon completing my final project, I’ve come to find that this unit has really opened my mind about the fashion world. Id usually limit fashion to a series of subjects like, the design and production aspects of this unit has allowed me to explore the more important things in fashion; diversity, sustainability and social responsibility. All three subjects involve way more than just the people interested in fashion; it effects the world we live in.

Doing make up break down my main goal was to practice my skills and expand my knowledge on my skin and how to properly take care of it, thank you to Meena Bhella and Natsumi I was able to do more. I’ve also learned a lot about not only my skin but also working with other people and how every person is very different. I also surprised myself with what I was able to achieve with so little experience.

For me the hardest part of all this was not having the material to complete my work confidentially (due to the pandemic), a lot of the products we used in class were exclusive, for example one of the activities we had to create a look using adhesive glue, (something I didn’t own) so I did my researched and honey had the same effect. Another aspect of classes which helped me greatly with this unit was the diverse group we had for the class, when we would participate an activity we would be put in pairs, so every activity I practiced on a completely different face than the one prior. Every aspect of the face is unique, nationality and ethnicity play a big part of diversity and I believe this class allowed me to understand diversity more than any other I was offered.

Upon completing this project more than anything I learned, I realized the impact make up has on societies beauty standards and how much make up can change someone’s perception on how they look and feel. When conducting my final look for this project I was unhappy with the way I was looking due to being stuck indoors for a long amount of time, I was losing confidence in myself as I stopped taking care of myself the way I used to. But for this final look I felt motivated to create a look I that would make me feel like myself again. The final topic I chose was the colour chart, I’ve learned so much about how colour improves our lives. During the process up to the end of creating the look I transformed back into how I prefer to look, even after removing the make-up I realized I should treat myself and take more care of myself, and I have to the point where without any make up I’m happy with the way I look. Every person’s skin requires something specific; no two people require the same thing to have the same outcome. That’s something that a lot of people need to understand.

My better lives course Make up break down is a very good fields to practice the three pillars of the better lives course. Due to the subject having an extremely large platform for millions to use a lot can be said about the use of make-up and its role in practicing sustainability, diversity and social responsibility.

Even though fashion clothing is great on diversity there are some things that can fit all kinds of people, people may have the same body type or the same nationalities and traditions, but in make up the most important aspect is the canvas (the face) no two people have the same face or skin types, that’s why I find make up the most diverse aspect of fashion, people are able to represent themselves and express themselves through they makeup looks. Going into this course I will keep this in mind, there will be different faces I will try looks on they will each have different eye shapes and size features, so it’s important I use products that can fit all diversities; for example, use pallets which don’t have any offensive marketing, or brands who have all shades of foundation so that everyone is able to use their product.

I will also try to use sustainable make up when practicing my project, I’ve learned from the lectures the consequences and impact the fashion world has over the environment. I did my research and found that there are a lot of make-up brands which use sustainable make up by natural ingredients produced from renewable raw materials, which could even be better for the skin. Make up packages can also be sustainable, a lot of make-up packages use plastic, but some brands like KIKO have changed to recyclable wood compacts, which can be refilled.

Social responsibility is an aspect of the better lives pillar which the make-up industry has not tackled yet. Some cosmetic companies still test their products on animals, even thought the number of businesses which animal test has decreased in the last few years the majority of cosmetic companies still use them for testing. However, there are other ways social responsibilities have been dealt with other than animal testing, and that’s charitable activities led by those businesses. For example, one of the largest make up companies FENTY created by Rihanna donates a large sum of her profits from her make up to fund education for children across the globe. Having this information, I will try to gain more knowledge on this topic.

References:

While watching a number of better lives lectures a lot of thoughts and ideas entered my mind, but the lecture which inspired me the most and taught me a lot was Teleica Kirkland’s lecture about representation, I feel like what she has offered educated me about a subject I was aware of but hadn’t really understood it’s importance into the fashion world. What I learned form the lecture was not only the importance of diversity and representation, but the history and meaning behind cultural appropriation and appreciation. Showing the history of fashion ads and campaigns which lacks diversity I understood the points she was making on a deeper level.

Having a diverse family myself I took interest in this lecture more than any other because it was a subject I myself used to struggle with (lack of diversity) and made me appreciate my culture more, now that there are more designers which appreciate diversity and cultures it makes me relate to the fashion more. Teleica also shed light onto the fashion world which I was unaware of. For example, a number of fashion brands like prada create items which are offensive and insensitive, where before I would just see these items and not think of anything, I now know the repercussions of how some consumers may feel.  

The lecture also showed me how much better the fashion world would be with more diversity and representation, offering something to everyone instead of limiting it to a number of people. History showed the lack of diversity, yet consumers were still investing in the brands. But now that the brands have embraced diversity more than they used to, more people are getting inspired, I know because I feel inspired when I see diversity like British Vogue’s May 2018 issue. I also did my own research after hearing the lecture, and I found that louis Vuitton has just welcomes their first diverse creative director Virgil Abloh.

Making everyone feel included crates unity between everyone and because fashion is such a big part of life, it’s important that the fashion industry is filled with different, ethnicities, nationalities so that no one feel excluded and not just that everyone is represented but done so that they are respected and appreciated. In the future I do see that there will be more diversity, the fashion world is growing and there are diverse people running big brands which were once exclusively run by a type group.  

References:

Lecture 11: Teleica Kirkland, representation. (2020)