Shaw Fowler

Having finished my Better lives project, ‘Messaging Fashion’, I can walk away with an increased understanding of Fashion PR. From the basic ideas and concepts to having hands-on experience with producing a PR campaign.

I was really pleased with the project outcome my group developed: Focusing on designer Wales Bonner and creating a campaign to support a social cause. I think our project is realistic and our presentation of our ideas was impactful.

I was excited to work collaboratively and my group definitely didn’t disappoint. We communicated effectively to produce our work. I found that we split the workload evenly and based upon personal interest, and were all efficient at producing our respective elements.

Once way our group could have improved however, is by developing our presenting further. This could’ve been done through scriptwriting and some more group practice.

Personally, I have developed my writing skills by creating a mock-up of a press release for our campaign. This is something I hadn’t done before, and using the resources provided by the project leaders I wrote a piece I am proud of. 

This kind of learning (by doing) was really effective in helping me develop my personal understanding of not only fashion PR, but the better lives themes as well.

In conclusion I am proud of the work I have accomplished along with my project group through this unit. I found it to both enjoyable and challenging, which I think kept me on my toes throughout the whole process.

– Shaw Fowler

Now that I’ve begun my project, titled ‘Messaging Fashion’, I’ve engaged in an in-depth exploration of the Better Lives themes. By considering various social causes and investigating leading charities and organisations I’ve gained so much knowledge. It’s become apparent not only how important social issues can be, but how much influence and impact charities and organisations can have. Furthermore, I’ve been able to recognise the role of Fashion, particularly fashion media as a powerhouse in progressive conversations.

I will develop and carry forward my knowledge of these skill throughout my time at university.

It is without a doubt that I can say I will continue to pick up on the Better Lives themes throughout all of my briefs.

This extends to my personal projects; I will consider how my individual work can benefit others. For example, I could work collaboratively with a number of other creatives, writers or photographers to produce my work to a higher standard and represent more voices. I will be able to elaborate upon this, and use my platform as a creative to be socially active.

The Better Lives themes will also affect my professional life choices in the future, this will be increasingly helpful as it will install a sense of meaning to any work I may do.

Ultimately, I really believe that the Better Lives themes will imprint a sense of furthered insight on my working process in the future.

– Shaw Fowler

The better lives unit was an opportunity that I was well aware of when applying to study at London college of fashion, and when the time came to begin the unit I was excited. Over the first two weeks I attended 6 lectures, but one that resonated with me significantly was from Julia Crew, on the theme of power.

According to her Linkedin profile, Julia has experience across all aspects of the fashion industry, from design to education, management research and events. Prior to the lecture, I wasn’t entirely sure how Power would relate to the better lives conversation, and was intrigued to learn more.

The exploration of how fashion can be used to communicate power was enlightening, making note of hierarchies, referencing uniforms as a tool to oppress some and build up others. But how we can see a microcosm of that structure within the use of suits in business. This could be a modern re-thinking of traditional roles of clothes.

This reminded me of the great male renunciation at the end of the 18^th century, where extravagance was put aside for stronger gender stereotypes in men’s fashion, and how that lead to a power shift between women and men in a visual sense.

Another question posed by Julia was that of who has power in the fashion industry. In an ideal world, power in fashion would lie in creativity and talent. But ultimately the power lies in economics.

As the popular phrase says, ‘money makes the world go around’, and this rings true for fashion, from the billions of dollars earned by the top players to the less than minimum wage earned by workers worldwide. The truth of fashion is that it has come down to cutting corners to earn the most, and do it the fastest, with little true regard for human rights/

Now acknowledging that isn’t quite enough anymore. It just sounds fairly depressing. Julia talked about the power that consumers have. To an extent, the general public has the choice to begin equalising the playing field. By shopping sustainably, and consciously, the consumer can influence the people with the money (and subsequently power) to provide something much healthier for our planet, and the fashion industry.

I really enjoyed this particular lecture as it opened a new conversation for me, and really made me consider the structure of power within the fashion industry, and how there is definite potential to cause change, even when as individuals change might feel impossible.

This idea is something I’m going to carry forward in the better lives unit and apply to the work I produce. I will make sure to consider the potential knock on effect of every aspect of the work I create and explore every option to create better lives through the fashion industry.

-Shaw Fowler