Angelica Forni

Blog 4

For the review task I chose to comment Huayu Liu’s themes reflection post, which is about sustainability in relation to the fashion world and specifically to photography. Probably this topic captured my attention because we share the same better lives course and I totally agree on what he says he’ll take away from this project. 

Starting off with the acknowledgment on how the world we live in now is definitely far from being completely sustainable, he understands the power we as fashion students and part of the younger generation have in order to try and create a better future and lives for those who come after us.

I found myself sharing the same thought about the fact that what makes a photographer, is the relationship between him and his subject and what he wants to express. Of course, I do think technology has a role in terms of creating beautiful visual works, we could just think about how the evolution of cameras, phones have improved what humans can create with different objects, how the representation of the world has digitally changed in a better way in the last few years. But that does not mean that without the latest model of a technology we are not able portrait something as beautiful. Definitely the use of examples like the Tim walker one gave that idea clearer and I found it related to the concept expressed.

Talking about sustainability I found inspiring the reference to Cindy Sherman and her shooting with elements that can be considered sustainable, I probably would have included a picture to give more the idea of her work, but it is definitely something that can make people reflect on how to use different things in different ways. This also made me think on how I could have used texture of recyclable materials or played with something similar to express the idea of sustainability in the tasks we were asked to complete; but it also made me reflect on how I could improve my future work in a sustainable way. As a student from costume for performance I will remember this and will try to use the concept for future projects, which I think is really important as it will help me to go into a better direction for a better world in general. 

Overall what I get from this post is that Huayu found the sustainable theme really interesting in relation with our contemporary portrait photography project, and in general within the Better Lives unit, something we have in common. What I would have also liked to read is how the diversity and social responsibility themes made him reflect during the process and how he might have related those two to photography, for example using different models or trying to express ideas that might have people reflect on their responsibilities through a visual work. In general, I really enjoyed reading this post and finding elements in common with my personal point of view.

REFLECTION TASK – Blog 3

Throughout the Better Lives unit, we have engaged with the key themes in different ways, exploring them within our personal projects was definitely really interesting. Contemporary Portrait Photography is the one I chose and even though photography is something I really enjoy to engage with, I wasn’t sure how to link the three main themes to this particular discipline.

Sustainability, diversity and social responsibility are indeed what we were asked to reflect on, and to consider while trying to create a visual response to portraiture. 

In one of the first lecture our tutor showed us his work where he collected different items from the Thames and then used them to create particular images, giving a ‘new life’ to old objects or clothes abandoned and lost. This definitely made me reflect on how we can response to the theme of sustainability in photography and how we do not need to use new and specific items to create interesting visual works. Unfortunately, because of the current situation, we had to conclude the project at home, and one of the tasks was to create some images in response to that. We were asked to create ‘Home portraits’ related of course to the environment we had available and the people we could engage with and use as subjects. This task was really inspiring from my personal point of view. I had the opportunity to stop and think what I could create with the things I had around me, something I was not used to do before that. The camera has the power to show and underline what the eye might not normally see and that’s why I think this power could be used in order to make people reflect on how they can approach sustainable elements in their own experiences. 

The work done throughout the photography project helped me to develop as well the theme of diversity and social responsibility, two factors that are directly connected to sustainability. Being a photographer means being able to represent something, in a personal way and being responsible of the ideas communicated with those images. I believe this is strictly connected to the key themes of the unit. The process we went through made me understand how what I portrait in my picture can be seen from the outside, and how it can be interpreted. This is something that can be applied to different disciplines and indeed important for our generation to remember in the future. Having applied it all to a specific project helped me to shape my ideas and definitely made me aware of my responsibility of being sustainable and represent diversity through my work and my creativity. 

Blog post 2 – How the better lives theme might change how I work in the future.

This second Better Lives blog post asks us to reflect deeper the themes this unit is focusing on, and how those themes may influence our work in the future.

Many years ago, it was impossible to imagine the fashion world as a world with different model sizes, different skin tones and so on, but today things are starting to change. Diversity indeed is one of the elements this unit is asking us to reflect on, something that our generation has the responsibility to remember when it comes to represent a fashion idea or a message that will then influence the thoughts of an amount of people, either a grand or a small one. 

This idea has made me think on how everything is connected and how even the small thing can help to create a better world or can influence the well-being of people. As a costume student my job will be to create pieces for performers I won’t get to choose, this will might get me in contact with different body shapes, different cultures, religions and I will face different challenges, what I can do is remember how the world is so various and how we are all in this together. Certainly, the current situation with Covid-19 has made me reflect on how this invisible enemy is not choosing who he wants to attack or who he does not, at his eyes we are all the same. So why should we see different skin tones on a scale from better to worse? 

We had the fantastic opportunity to explore a project different from our own course and to see how things can be from a new perspective. I chose Contemporary Portrait Photography as I’ve always been interested in how the camera can shed light to things we might not normally see. Something that really inspired me is the work of a photographer that decided to go around the city and to ask people to write on a sign how they felt in that moment. Different cultures, different jobs, at her eyes everyone was the same and everyone had something important to say.

That for me is what diversity is about, you don’t have to answer to the beauty standard the society has inflicted us in order for people to listen to you. Definitely it is the direction I will go into in the next years, and I will try to spread as much as possible as I feel is our responsibility as younger generation.

What I also link to this concept that ‘everything is connected’ is the theme of sustainability, trying to use sustainable materials for my projects and making decisions keeping in mind that fashion depends on nature (land, water, air, animal…), will not only benefit the earth but also those who are involved in the industry and all those who come with that. As Anna Fitzpatrick said in the culture lecture, we need to remember that sustainability is a possibility not a negative thing and that we have the responsibility to think what we want to sustain and how we are going to do that.

Credits:

Fitzpatrick, A (2020) ‘Culture’ [lecture] Better Lives unit FU001708. London College of Fashion. Delivered 10 February 2020

Wearing, G. (1992-3) Sign that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say. Available at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wearing-signs-that-say-what-you-want-them-to-say-and-not-signs-that-say-what-someone-else-66092/4 (Accessed: 19 April 2020) 

Blog Post 1 – reflective task

Over the first two weeks of the Better Lives unit we had the privilege to attend different lectures about really interesting and important topics such as sustainability, fashion, diversity, power and so on. These had made me reflect on the importance our generation has in order to help the fashion industry create better lives in the future. The fashion and well-being lecture by Jekaterina Rogaten definitely stood out for me in terms of how fashion has an impact on people and their being.Within the lecture she underlined how our well-being is not just influenced and determined by our physical health, it in fact comes from a wide range of areas.

She broke down well-being in two different theories: the Hedonic well-being, which is subjective, and the Eudaimonic well-being considered as psychological. The first one is connected to our emotions and feelings and how those are influencing our well-being, how satisfied we are with our life realizing we are the ones responsible to decide whether focusing on the negative or positive aspects of something. Maximizing those positive aspects increasing life satisfaction is a model the fashion industry uses quite well, making us continuously believe we need that last item or phone model to reach happiness and satisfaction. This made me reflect on how much nowadays that is actually true and how we make our happiness depend on those things. Although, more is not always better. Maximizing choices does in fact maximize our freedom but that also maximizes the decisions we have to make, and the choices we leave aside.  The Eudaimonic well-being affects people who have a high level of self-acceptance, they are happy about who they are. In the fashion industry more and more people are starting to accept the diversity of beauty styles and body sizes and that increases the level of self-acceptance generally. This type of well-being is also connected to things such as personal growth, positive relations, autonomy and experiences. 

Having a meaningful life means achieving aspects of needs like the physiological ones going forward to the safety ones, love, esteem and self-actualization. These can be applied in the fashion context. So well-being in the fashion industry is connected to happiness, in terms of wearing something that makes us feel confident and accepted by society, it defines our identity and social relationships. In terms of fashion consumption, clothing choices can enhance our well-being, wearing sustainable clothes make some feel better, consumers find clothing impression a source of happiness and for others creating new things improves their well-being, that comes then from creativity itself. In terms of fashion production, improving people well-being could mean motivate them, promote the environment they work in and increase positive emotions. 

To conclude I think fashion plays an important role in enhancing individual and organizational well-being and that is something we need to remember in the future in order to create better lives for people who work in the industry but also for everyone else; fashion is everywhere, is in everyone and everything is connected so it is essential to understand that every little step could make the difference in a world that yet has a lot to learn and improve.