Andrea Jaqueline Sacal Romano

Throughout the course of this unit, I have been able to explore the key elements that have constantly surrounded my practice during this time. These themes are diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility. Myself, along with the rest of my course-mates, have been able to explore these core themes inside of our selected practice.

At the start of this unit, I was certainly intrigued by the multiple elements and techniques that go into the job of a fashion stylist. I was also confused about how this unit would unfold and what the result of my project would be. Now, at the end of this unit, I can certainly say that my views on the elaboration and the difficulty of styling have shifted as a result of my growing knowledge and personal development around the subject.

As half of the unit was done from home, during the co-vid19 pandemic, I was able to reflect on the basic necessities of humanity and how certain objects, like clothing, become practically irrelevant during such unprecedented times. It is not difficult to walk into your own closet and see how, as humans, we haven’t barely even scratched the surface of sustainable clothing across our daily lives. During this time, I have seen dozens of people buying more and more clothing, during a time when we should be cutting back on our consumption as a result of the global crisis. 

For my project outcome, I was tasked to create two styled fashion looks, incorporating elements of sportswear as a base. 

For my first look, I was able to style a few elements of my own wardrobe in London, as a team along with a couple of other course mates. For this styling piece, my team and I allowed ourselves the freedom to use alternative styling elements that greatly differentiate from common clothing materials. We were able to emphasize the fact that sustainability is a growing trend in fashion. By including uncommon materials like plastic wrap, aluminum foil, and recycled paper. We were able to create a very clear-cut styled look that clearly expressed the better lives themes that were focused on during this unit.

My second styled look was centered around the teddy-boy aesthetic which dominated Britain during the post Second World War 1950s. This style consists of a greased, pulled-back hair look, oversized blazers, drainpipe trousers, and highly buttoned dress shirts. 

The necessity to create this look from my home during isolation greatly impacted the mood, aesthetic, and result of not only my final styled look but also my own personal development and growth. For my closing look, I allowed myself the creative freedom to change the common visual impact of the teddy boy by completely flipping the entire look to face the back of my body. As a result of this, the back of my head is facing forward giving the impact of a more haunted and enclosed look. I decided to style this look by using a black oversized blazer, a white pinstriped fully-buttoned-up dress shirt, and a greasy pulled-back hairstyle. Whilst my face is actually directed towards a wall, it gives the impression of a dark and haunted, isolated, and trapped experience.

My personal development during this unique journey has been substantial. I have been able to deeply connect with the better lives themes by including elements of each one of them into my final project outcome. Overall, I think that both of my styled looks especially reflect the sustainability theme by using recycled and unpredicted materials whilst creating them.  

The journey that I have encountered during my time in better lives has gratefully impacted the way that I think about the fashion industry by realizing that brands should be doing more to accommodate their consumer’s demands. The three core themes studied have been social responsibility, diversity, and sustainability.

These themes have made me reflect on how I will approach my future job and career, no matter the industry or position that I hold. By studying these topics intensely, I have come to realize how little diversity surrounds the fashion industry. Diversity should be something essential in any workforce and should be implemented on a larger scale. Models should be cast from a large and diverse range of individuals, of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. This allows for access to a larger market, opening up an opportunity for brands to reach a more diverse range of consumers.

Social responsibility is a form of action that may bring large scale recognition to any company. It is a way of carrying out actions within a company that an increasing amount of companies have begun to take part in over the years. But, with the undoubtable increase of globalization across all business sectors, it is nearly impossible for world-dominating brands such as H&M and Urban Outfitters to adopt socially responsible norms as implementing the rules required cause extreme and large scale changes that are difficult to contain inside such a large corporation.

It is undeniable that sustainability has become a huge trend in fashion, after a few years, it is just now transforming from a trend into a necessity. The global climate crisis that we are currently experiencing has become a main focus around the world and shows no sign in stopping.

The knowledge that I have gained during my experience in the better lives program has been astonishing and eye-opening. I hope to apply the three core themes seen during this unit in my future practice because I believe that it is essential in the success of any fashion-related career in today’s day and age. Social responsibility, sustainability, and diversity are an ever-growing topic in the fashion industry. In recent years it has grown to be talked about by industry leaders and practitioners that truly believe that these themes need to be incorporated into any and every fashion-related business worldwide. In the coming years, these themes will undoubtedly allow for the growth and expansion of the fashion industry, as is already occurring. This is a fashion industry that I want to be a part of. A fashion industry accepting of all. In times of the Corona Virus, these themes become especially ubiquitous. The way that we are living is changing, the community is changing, and people’s mentalities are changing as well. We have never lived in a more unthinkable time. After the current crisis ends, the fashion industry will be forever changed and I hope and expect that these themes will become clearer than ever.

During the Better Lives lecture series, I was able to attend multiple lectures that allowed my way of thinking to expand, by exploring the recurring themes of diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility, it began to influence my way of thinking in new ways. I had the privilege to attend a mind-opening lecture about power.  The enthusiastic and energetic lecturer spoke about the power within fashion and how it has visually communicated power for centuries. A clear example of this being royalty clothing, including gowns and jewelry. The discussion continued towards power within the worlds of military, business, media, and music. The lecturer made some surprising connections between each of these sectors and how they symbolize power.

Fashion undoubtedly influences areas that we possibly don’t cross our minds much. Clothing holds a specific power in military dress. Allowing for the creation and design of protective gear that has the power to shield soldiers from injuries during the unthinkable times of combat. Military uniforms also allow for the representation of political symbols, intending to communicate hierarchy and leadership. 

A certain platform that holds an astonishing amount of power, perhaps one of the most vigorous, is today’s media. Consumers are exposed to “4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. Humans ignore most of them and select which advertisements they actually engage with.”  Fashion brands connect with their consumers through social media platforms, allowing them to grow their influence in the consumer world. Platforms like Instagram also allow for the advertisement of clothing, thus, granting the consumer the opportunity to purchase any brand’s clothing instantly. This gives a direct turn to the power of the consumer. We as consumers are the sole people that drive trends and the success or demise of any given brand. When we speak, brands listen.

This lecture made me realize that as consumers we have the power to change the direction of the brands we love, demand more sustainable clothing, and request an increase in advertisement and in-brand diversity. It is also important to realize that clothing in itself holds an incredible amount of power. Any particular garment has the power to spark conversations between complete strangers, acquaintances, or friends alike. 

Consumers and brands, together, are trying to introduce new sustainable ways of creating, designing, and manufacturing clothing. This appeals to the every-changing world that we are living in today. A world that demands equality, and diversity. A world that wants to save our planet from complete ruin, paving the way for future generations to do the same. The powerful consumer can undeniably change the course of fashion and shift it towards a new direction. The power that fashion holds is certainly reaching new heights and we have the ability to change its route into something sustainable and empowering. Of course, this all comes down to economic power. The production of sustainable clothing produced by any fashion brand requires greater economic wealth. It all boils down to our demand, and if brands want to give the consumer what they demand.