Amelia Haslett

Now having finished my chosen discipline of ‘mask making and politics’ and reflecting on the better lives themes, I feel that I have been heavily influenced by them all. Having the opportunity to complete this project I have been able to put into practise the key themes of sustainability, diversity and social responsibility. I feel that I have made progress in adapting my creative thought process when designing to consider these elements every time I create something new. I’ve realised that if the whole industry started to do this, then, over time we could make significant improvements to the state of the fashion industry currently and begin reversing its environmentally damaging effects.

As a costume student, I have been inspired by the intricacy of Haute Couture masks. Upon discovering that ‘the apparel industry alone accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions’I felt this needed more attention so I chose to focus on the importance of sustainability as my political message. After conducting more research I discovered that ’70 million trees are cut down each year to make our clothes.’Making matters worse, ‘30% of rayon and viscose clothing comes from endangered and ancient forests.”Every year, thousands of hectares of forests are cut down and replaced by plantations’ to account for this. The ‘loss of forests is threatening the ecosystem and indigenous communities’, which in turn, reflects how all the better lives themes link, as through a lack of social responsibility impacting sustainability, our planet’s diversity is being affected. (All citations from: ‘Sustain your style’ 2017)

Consequently, I decided a powerfully visual way to show the importance of sustainability was by exhibiting the death of our planet’s Rainforests through my mask. The adapted brief due to Covid-19 meant that my design ideas improved. Without the hinderance of having to obtain materials, I had limitless opportunity. Further inspired by Salisbury’s lecture on Inclusion and her mention of smart textiles, I knew that I wanted to include said technology within my design:

The base is constructed from a recycled and renovated gas mask. It symbolises how without a focus on sustainability we are enhancing the greenhouse affect and in turn suffocating our planet -’23 kg of greenhouse gases are produced for every kilo of fabric produced.’(Sustain your style 2017) The mask would then be embellished with recycled astroturf grass, and foliage constructed out of Tyvek fabric offcuts, dyed naturally. With a purpose of being shown as part of a catwalk collection pioneering the importance of sustainable design. Finally, the mask would be sprayed with thermochromic ink invisible at room temperature, however in the performance environment, the models would be walking on the runway slowly against warm air blowing at them. Throughout the duration of the runway show, the masks would begin to change colour turning black and the heat mouldable Tyvek flowers would begin to change shape and wilt as if the flowers were withering away. The mask’s performance exhibits the rainforest dying as a result of a lack of serious focus on sustainability.

REFERENCES

• Salisbury, L. (2020) ‘Inclusion’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 14 February.
• Sustain your style (2017) Environmental Impact. Available at: https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/old-environmental-impacts (27/04/20)

If the series of better lives lectures has taught me one thing, it’s that as designers and other workers in the creative industry we have a certain social responsibility and power for change.

The fashion industry faces many challenges during the upcoming years, most of which will consist of undoing all the damage that has been done leading up to this point in time, and completely re-constructing an entire system to be sustainable and inclusive. As a costume student with aspirations of advancing into the elaborate  Haute Couture side of fashion as well as costume design for performance. I view it as my responsibility to be one of the next generation designers to pioneer these changes.“Haute couture is inherently a push-and-pull of old and new: old techniques, new materials; old maison, new designer; old silhouettes, new interpretations”. “We must foster the idea of using the preexisting to create the new, because therein lies the solution to a more sustainable future in fashion.’’ (Amy Verner, 2016)

Moving on from the teachings during this better lives unit, I will do everything in my power to help combat the many issues discussed. To help make my designs more sustainable I will be mindful when pattern cutting, using every scrap of fabric possible and laying my patterns in the most effective way. I will use more sustainable materials wherever possible such as recycled Nylon and Polyester, vegetarian leather and organic cotton to name a few. Laura Salisbury’s lecture on inclusivity introduced to the concept of smart textiles, so I would love to become a pioneering designer in developing new sustainable fabrics such as Bolt Thread’s Micro silk that mimics a spiders silk without damaging the environment.

Also inspired by Salisbury’s lecture I have become more aware of inclusivity within my designs. Both Haute Couture and performance costume have a magic element to them. They can act as a form of escapism allowing people a break from reality, to be in awe of the beautiful. I want everyone to be able to share this, so I will design collections for all consumer types because everyone deserves the opportunity to feel like the best version of themselves. Relating to this I will ensure that my cast for either a performance or catwalk are inclusive of all body types, ages and ethnicities as well. Cher Potter’s lecture on Perspectives has made me more culturally and racially aware when designing, so I will understand how to never culturally appropriate, something that so many designers have been rightfully called out for.

However, our mission as upcoming creatives is not just about protecting our fellow human beings, its about a wider effort to protect our planet from extinction. The theme of Sustainability, has informed my practise for the Mask Making and politics project in which I have designed a fashion gas mask that highlights how we are currently killing the ‘lungs of our planet’ through unsustainable production, to draw attention to the change that urgently needs to occur in not just reconstructing our methods but rebuilding the entire foundations of our society in order to sustain positive change, as inspired by Katelyn Toth-Fejel’s lecture.

References

Toth-Fejel, K. (2020) ‘Sustainability and Society’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 19 February.

Salisbury, L. (2020) ‘Inclusion’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 14 February.

Potter, C. (2020) ‘Perspectives’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 14 February.

Verner, A. (July 6th 2016) Fall 2016 couture, Viktor and Rolf. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2016-couture/viktor-rolf (16/02/20).

‘Fashion touches our everyday lives and we cannot underestimate its influence within society. It connects people from all backgrounds, crossing social and educational boundaries’ (Claire Swift, 2020) The past two weeks of Lectures have made me think differently about how I approach the fashion industry. I now realise that in order to solve the many issues surrounding power, culture and sustainability for which I’ve consequently gained more of an understanding, I need to accept my own social responsibility as a designer, embracing it as a tool to help stand out and change people’s lives for the better. Claire Swift’s lecture on Social Responsibility and Laura Salisbury’s on Inclusion, have made me realise how fashion has the power to stimulate positive emotional and physical change for people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

For example, Swift talked about ‘Making for change’ a community design project that has the capacity for improving female prison inmate’s mental health, chances for success and overall quality of life, by giving them recognition and offering them the possibility to redirect their future by learning how to construct garments for the fashion industry whilst sharing their personal stories on the actual clothes through embroidery. I learnt how the positives of an empowerment design project such as this one, benefit everyone involved, from the women in prison being offered an emotional outlet and chance at change, to those teaching and sharing their knowledge, who experience the fulfilment of impacting someone else’s life for the better. After learning that other social projects such as this, have been so hugely successful, I felt inspired to continue to set up and expand my own female empowerment fashion design project based in Africa working with widows, arming them with garment construction skills in order to fight the present issue of polygamy. The project celebrates Maasai culture whilst acknowledging their heritage within the designs, another factor of importance expressed by Cher Potter in the ‘Perspectives’ lecture that I learnt more about.

As well as designing and using my creativity to help those from all walks of life, I now feel so much more aware of making sure my designs are inclusive to all, despite any disabilities or impairments. In her lecture, Salisbury introduced me to Cute Circuit’s ‘SoundShirt’, a new smart top designed to enable the deaf community to feel the vibrating sensation of live music. What’s so fantastic about this example is that it has the capability of being truly inclusive because even people who can hear, are expressing the desire to test the product as a result of the entirely new experience it’s offering as a piece of smart textiles. The growth of smart textiles is something that really interests me, as does the idea of how we can use it to further improve the fashion industry, making it more inclusive to a broader market. As a costume and Haute Couture practitioner, it has made me curious how new upcoming smart technologies could enhance the world of performance, allowing everyone to be apart of the magic. Although this lecture series broadened my knowledge of issues we need to solve in the fashion industry presently, it also reminded me of why I love fashion and its immense power for positive change.

References

Swift, C. (2020) ‘Introduction to Social Responsibility’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 14th February.