Callum Baylis

Blog 4: Peer Review

After reading a lot of blog posts, my attention was eventually drawn to blog 3 written by Celine Brand, who attended the Fashion Activism lectures. She said that they were required to make a video for Bode, which is a brand that I follow and I’m a fan of their work, so I was intrigued to see where she went with this task.

Having not attended these lectures, and not knowing the content, Celine summarised the task well, giving me a good overview of what they had to do. Her blog is also layer out nicely in concise paragraphs summarising each part she has to talk about, leading to easy reading throughout.

The first idea she described is in line with Bode’s ethos as a brand, and to utilise filters to create a 60’s look is a great idea, Bode’s designs would fit right in with any photos from the 60’s. Whilst keeping in line with the brands visual identity, this idea is also very on trend, as we see 60’s and 70’s style clothing being a major trend in fashion in the past 6 months. It’s good to see you considered multiple of the better lives topics, incorporation both sustainability and diversity into your final outcome, and I particularly like the way 

It was very interesting to read how the current pandemic has affected your work, and how you have altered your original idea, to work during the pandemic. I like aswell how you discuss the initial problems you had working as a team, and how you overcame these, by dividing the components of work up equally among your group, something I will be sure to try next time I have problems working within a group! 

The idea of having footage of the clothes being made incorporated into the final video shown in the shops is wonderful, I absolutely love the idea of being able to see a piece of clothing in front of you instore, whilst a video of it being produces is shown in above you.

It’s great that you’re not only looking forward into the future to how better lives will influence your work and creative process, but also to look into the past at your previous mistakes to analyse what you can change in the future. 

Overall, after reading your blog, it is clear to me that you have invested a lot of work into the better lives project, engaging well with the brief. You’ve managed to learn a lot looking not only at how the course has affected your thinking into the future, but also looking back on your past mistakes and how these could be improved. You’ve also considered 2 out of 3 of the better lives themes, it would have been nice to see how social responsibility was introduced into your idea aswell, but great work!

Celine Brand’s blog: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/09/blog-post-3-26/  

Blog 3 – Reflection

For the better lives unit, I chose to take on the Emerging Technologies in the Fashion Industry course. I’ve always been interested in technology, so combining this with Fashion seemed like the perfect course to take. With the current pandemic, we suddenly saw the introduction of new technology to our lectures, with them taking place in online sessions, which was incredibly interesting to see how quickly we all adapted to the current situation, and utilised the technology available. 

In the sessions, we looked at different technologies that could be used to benefit the fashion industry, such as Blockchain, Augmented and Virtual reality, and AI. Although I was already aware of these technologies, and had a base understanding of them, it was very interesting to learn about them in much greater detail and see how they could be applied to the fashion industry in ways I never could have imagined.

As a group, we decided that sustainability was one of the most important factors we wanted to consider was sustainability, a very important topic in current times with the ongoing climate crisis.

For our final outcome, we decided to develop a trend forecasting app for the general public. We found that other trend forecasting tools where very exclusive, normally with a substantial paywall. To be diverse and allow anyone to access, we decided our app would be free. Also, the majority of people have (or at least have access to) a smartphone, allowing for a diverse audience to use our app. The app would show vintage trends from the past, promoting the purchasing of vintage clothes and therefore sustainability. We put together a pitch deck for an app, which is a process I had never heard of before, and was very interesting to not only look at past pitch decks from current popular apps, but also to actually make one as a team. We also used a SWOT analysis to help analyse our apps strengths and weaknesses, which was another process I’d never really done before. This process plays a crucial role in ironing out any potential problems in our design before it is completed. This has taught me an important process I need to add into my work, and I have actually already utilised in my own work to analyse a Fashion Facebook group that I help run.

As we come to the end of the better lives unit, I’ve found a new area of interest that I want to research further in my own time, and that I can even apply to my work, in ways I could never have imagined. I’ve learnt useful processes, such as a SWOT analysis, which I will be adapting to utilise in my future projects.

Blog 2: Themes Reflection

Better lives has made me reflect greatly on social and personal responsibility when talking about sustainability, especially within the fashion industry. Throughout the lectures, consumer habits have been pointed out and discussed on multiple occasions. Previously, I was in denial about how my consumer behaviour had an impact on the environment, choosing to pin the blame solely on big fashion corporations instead. However, it’s clear to me now how the consumer is also equally to blame. I’m now trying to take a more sustainable approach to my consumer behaviour, and how I work on photoshoots/projects.

Although sustainability has been a major topic of discussion in recent years, I always deluded myself into believing I was exempt. I’ve always been conscious of the affect that the fashion industry has on the planet/environment, but I’ve chosen to ignore this when purchasing items for single use, just to sit in the back of my wardrobe after I’m done with them. In Nick Almond’s lectures on emerging technology within the fashion industry, one of the topics we discussed consumer behaviour and how it can become more sustainable. We highlighted the importance of shopping sustainably, and mainly buying used clothes rather than buying new.

Rather than buying new, one can visit their local charity shop and give once used and loved clothes a second lease of life. However, buying new isn’t always bad. By taking a moment to research the brands that one is buying, it becomes much easier to shop sustainably. Many designers are working to become more sustainable, for example Vivienne Westwood (an advocate for sustainable and ethical fashion) has a line of bags, handmade by Kenyan locals, providing the poorest of Nairobi with fair wages, and a better life. Buying these products new, provides disadvantaged people with the chance to improve their lives.

The idea of social responsibility is an important concept for brands/companies to consider alike, and many brands are. Vivienne Westwood has worked towards a more sustainable company for years and years. Stella McCartney is another big sustainable brand, being fur, leather, feather and PVC free. The processes used to make all her clothes are as eco-friendly as possible. Other big brands are following suit, with Burberry stopping use of real fur in its products and stopping the destruction of unsold goods. However, other big-name brands are yet to follow suit. In France, new laws have been put in place to ban brands from burning or dumping unsold product, and instead they must either recycle or donate products.

In my future projects I’m going to consider how I source clothing and props used within the project. Rather than buying something new to use once for the project, I will rather look at borrowing clothes from others and buying pre-worn/used clothes, in the aim of being more sustainable with my work.

The Fall Mag (2019) Sustainable, part I – Vivienne Westwood. Available at: https://thefallmag.com/vivienne-westwood-sustainable-pt-i/ (Accessed: 26/03/2020).

Stella McCartney (2020) Sustainability Policies. Available at: https://www.stellamccartney.com/experience/en/sustainability/policies/ (Accessed: 26/03/2020).

Shannon, S. (2020) Luxury brands burn unsold goods. What should they do instead?. Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/professional/luxury-brands-burn-unsold-goods-what-should-they-do-instead (Accessed: 26/03/2020).

Blog 1: Lecture Reflection

Throughout the better lives lectures I attended, sustainability was the topic that came up the most, and has never been more relevant than in recent years, especially since the fashion industry is one of the biggest polluting industries in the world. Before these lectures I believed that the responsibility was solely on the producers to produce sustainable fashion, however over the course of the lectures, this way of thinking I had was changed.

In Nick Almond’s lecture’s on Emerging technologies in fashion, we discussed blockchain and how it could be utilised in the fashion industry. Blockchain is a record keeping technology and is commonly used in cryptocurrencies. One block represents one stage of digital information and is linked to the blocks before and after it. Each block is designed to be un-editable, and therefore it keeps an accurate record of data. In relation to fashion, this could be used to store information on fabric, dye and other practices within making the garment. This means that in theory, anyone can walk into a shop, use their mobile phone to scan a QR code on the garment’s fabric label, and see the origin of all of the factors of production, whether they were sourced using sustainable practices, and much more. This makes it much easier for consumers to make sustainable choices when buying the item, making the supply chain and production chain much more transparent.

There are already plans to use blockchain in the fashion industry, however rather than being used to make the industry more transparent, its instead being used as authentication technology. LVMH announced plans to work with Certilogo to introduce scannable QR codes that would authenticate their products using blockchain technology. Although it isn’t the main aim of this introduction of blockchain technology, it will also have sustainable impacts. Firstly, people are more likely to buy used items if it is easy to find that the product is authentic, causing consumption (and therefore production) of new products to decrease. This authentication technology will also mean that the sales of fake products, and therefore the production of fake products, will decrease. Fake products are normally made in un-suitable conditions, using un-sustainable practices. 

In the current climate crisis, government intervention may be needed to step in, and to regulate practices to increase sustainability. Governments could implement new laws and regulations on what is and isn’t allowed in production, which can then be tracked through blockchain.

To conclude, in a climate of uncertainty and crisis, blockchain provides a chance for a more transparent and sustainable future, where consumer and producer alike are held responsible for their environmental impact. 

The better lives lecture I have attended have helped me see that I also am responsible due to my own personal consumer choices, and to be more thoughtful when purchasing something in the future.

Reiff, N. (2020) Blockchain explained. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp (Accessed: 23/03/2020).

Certilogo (2019) Making blockchain real: LVMH and the future of authentic luxury. Available at: https://brands.certilogo.com/hubfs/Downloadable%20Content/Making%20Blockchain%20Real.pdf (Accessed: 23/03/2020).