Phoebe McKenzie

Now that the Better Lives unit has ended, I can now reflect on the progress I have had throughout the project and the overall outcome and my personal growth in general. For this unit I was part of the fashion activism group, where we went through the different processes connected through creative direction to create an outcome of a promotional video or social media content. I found this really interesting learning about the promotional side of fashion and how its highly important to talk about sustainability and other aspects, especially in times like this. In one of the lectures we were shown the importance of the use of typography, sound design, and other design techniques which were important when starting this project.

In my small group, we were assigned the brand Lazy Oaf, their collaboration campaign, Lazy Oaf X Time to Change. I was happy to be given this brand as its personally one which I love, I love their aesthetic and morals as a brand. This collaboration focused on the mental health awareness week, with the slogan ‘it’s okay to not be okay’, which I connected with on a personal level. This has had strong connections to the Better Lives themes, in particular the social responsibility theme. 

Before researching further into the brand and starting our project we had to understand the idea of a brand as a whole:  where do they place themselves on the market, what is the motivation of the brand, and also what are their visual aspects. Having this simple understanding of a brand allowed us to have a deeper understanding which then we could take further to create visual ideas that we wanted to include in our work.

Keeping in mind the three Better Lives themes of diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility. We moved on to gather the information on how Lazy Oaf as a brand fits into these categories. As a brand they are very diverse, having diversity as a brand is very important to show that everyone is included. 

For our moving image, as a group we thought it would be a good idea to create an IGTV that promoted the brands’ collaboration. We thought this would be a perfect idea to create as it would be a modern way of promotional videos. Instagram is a great platform to showcase brands on as it’s a fast-paced platform which can reach a large audience, this is helpful as it would be a way of reaching a larger point of sale which would make more people aware of the brands’ slogan.  

In reflection, I think that this whole prosses was refreshing to be a part of, also was a great way to meet new people in the process. I feel as though I have definitely progressed as a person and has made me think more positively as a whole about different issues that we face in the fashion industry.  Better Lives has helped me see a totally different side to activism and realise how important it is to be socially aware as a brand. This experience has encouraged me to work in a different way to impact my future choices positively. 

The three key themes that the Better Lives unit is based on are diversity, social responsibility, and sustainability. Learning about all three themes and picturing it within reality, the concept of Better Lives alongside diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility will help or might change in how I work in the future.

Sustainability is one of the most important themes in my eyes as it is extremely impactful to the world and how we live, it is a theme that I am conscious of. It has been the centre of all discussions in the fashion industry for the past few years. It is both something that I try to keep in my mind when shopping and when creating.  

With the ongoing issue that is pollution and climate change, there needs to be a change and the fashion industry could make a huge impact on the cause. I think that moving into the future, fashion brands will start to look at producing more sustainable clothing collections and in general being more eco-conscious due to consumers trying to shop eco-friendlier. There are many new and upcoming brands that have changed the game when it comes to being sustainable. Whether that’s changing their packaging when shipping orders that have been bought online or having their factories based local areas to stop as much transportation. a brand that comes to mind is Tala, it is a sustainable clothing brand which offers eco-friendly sportswear, the items are produced ethically. The pieces themselves are made from recycled materials such as plastic bottles and the clothing tags are made with seeds in so that you can grow them yourself. Each aspect of the brand has been thought through so that everything is sustainable. Not only is Tala sustainable but they are very diverse which I think a lot of fashion brands need to develop with. Their models are diverse and include all genders, sizes, and ethnicities. From this I have learned to shop with smaller businesses who have local factories or who make the clothing pieces themselves. It’s easy to get caught up in the online fast-fashion world but I am trying to cut out this habit. 

As a fashion illustrator you can draw anything, it is a sustainable way to show fashion and it is something that I try to do in my practice. The fashion community has massively grown and moved forwards when it comes to diversity. Models from brands such as Vitoria Secret, have only one silhouette, only including one body shape. They have not grown from old views and do not show a range to include everyone. Moving forward I want to include more diverse models when drawing people as I think it is important to showcase every type of person. 

Moving forward, I want to progress and be more socially aware of the climates that we are in and also make sure I am more socially responsible in my day to day life, making small changes in my day to day life. It’s vital for us as individuals to reflect on our actions and be conscious of our behaviour and work towards bettering the future. 

When reflecting on the first two weeks of the Better Lives lectures, they all cover a range of themes including social responsibility, diversity, and sustainability. This process allowed me to get further knowledge about topics that I did not have a huge understanding of. It has also created an opportunity for me to reflect on my values and ethics, especially in the fashion industry. I found it very informative and refreshing to listen to these lectures about the topics especially in the climate that we are in. The lecture with Julia Crew, talking about power, allowed me to understand deeper about elements such as sustainability.

The lecture raised ideas that power in the media is one of the most influential forms of fashion consumption. The use of apps such as Instagram is a form of advertising fashion brands and new products to the audience. From a source it stated that 45% of users in Britain say that they follow fashion brands to influence their style so that they can recreate the same look. I would say Instagram is one of the biggest platforms where the younger generation will gather their fashion inspirations from. We are engaged in the influencer’s lives and therefore will purchase anything that they are wearing to recreate their fashion looks. Knowing this Information, fashion brands will collaborate with influencers to create collections as they know that they will be selling to a larger audience. The use of Instagram holds power in the fashion industry as it’s the perfect way for consumers to follow trends and to share their looks. It’s an easy form of advertising for many fashion brands. 

Another example where power is highlighted within the media is through television. Brands are collaborating with television shows and getting the people to wear their brand, this is a perfect way of increasing sales and promoting their clothing to a larger audience.  

 Within the fashion and media industry, there are huge amounts of clothing are wasted due to overconsumption and the idea of only wearing an item once or just for a picture and then never wearing it again this is from the idea of having to look a certain way for others. 

A statistic was drawn from the lecture that “we buy 400% more clothing that we did just 20 years ago, and of the 100 billion garments that are produced annually, it is estimated that up to 75% of those will end up in landfill or be incinerated.” 

Brands are slowly thinking about being more sustainable whether through the clothing materials, where the products are coming from, or the packaging that the clothing items are sent in if they are bought online. 

Across these lectures, this has been one which has stood out to me as I find it interesting how the power of the media specifically can influence fashion. Moving forward I am going to be thinking more consciously when shopping online by shopping at smaller brands rather than fast fashion ones and not buying into the trends.

References

Lecture one, Julia Crew, power, 10/2/2020