Simona Svantnerova

As the fashion activism lectures revealed, it is closely associated with creative direction. As a result, we were briefed to create a moving image for a brand that we were given. Our team got Traid, which is a second hand charity store.What I particularly enjoyed about this brand is that they put big emphasis on helping charities, lower carbon footprint and a big part of their profit goes towards helping to improve working conditions in clothing factories. Furthermore Traid picks up 3000 tones of clothes from landfill every year. However, we noticed that Traid doesn’t have the best visual communication and marketing. This is expected of charity stores as they heavily rely on volunteers. In order to improve Traid’s visual communication, we adopted a more contemporary approach that should bring wider and younger audience.

After studying Traid’s ethos, positioning and aesthetics, we decided to make a short fashion film combining sustainable and non-sustainable runway with the four earth elements to further highlight how essential it is to be eco-friendly especially in times like these. By using the DIY aesthetics, we created a 90s inspired video with a contemporary mix and overlaying screens which should attract a younger audience and prove that second hand clothes are fashionable too. Combining the video with a fast paced music creates a powerful atmosphere which allows the message about sustainability to be put forward to the audience. Overall, I am very happy with how the video turned out and how the team came together online to put this together. This project gave me an opportunity to work with students across different subjects, which further highlighted what creative direction is all about. 

By learning about creative direction for the last few months, I started to unveil what makes a brand recognisable and how to pick up on what aesthetics, ethos and positioning each brand has. It was crucial for me to understand how brand stays relevant, how brand’s identity is created and then preserved and how to correctly engage and communicate with the costumers. As a result, my work as a makeup artist from now on will be more researched with a deep understanding of what the brand is trying to say. Fundamentally, the ideas that I would present to the brand will be catering to the brand’s needs with emphasis on sustainability, diversity and social responsibility as Better Lives have taught me. Furthermore, we learned how to work with different typography, sound and different editing platforms. Thanks to Adobe’s support in this uncertain times, I have the chance to learn new skills at home which I can later use in my practice. At times like these, makeup artists and hair stylists need to work remotely from home, so perhaps for the next few months we will need to edit our work alone, and thus I am very thankful for the skills that I learned during this unit. 

In conclusion, creative direction was a great choice as it perfectly links to my artistry and gave me essential skills to become a well educated and relevant practitioner.

Here is a link to our Traid video https://artslondon.sharepoint.com/teams/TRAID/Shared%20Documents/General/Traid.mp4

For my Better Lives unit, I chose to attend Fashion Activism lectures which proved essential for my practice as a makeup artist and hair stylist. After attending the Better Lives unit, I learned that diversity, inclusivity, sustainability and social responsibility are the key themes that we need to be focusing on. After what happened in the recent months, many experts from the industry are expecting the fashion industry to change dramatically, by putting bigger emphasis on sustainability than ever. And thus I chose to centralise my essay around sustainability and how this translates into my practice. 

I hope that the Clean Beauty Movement will escalate and thus further support conscious consumerism in the beauty and fashion industry. Clean beauty is an umbrella term that covers beauty products that are hypoallergenic, green and natural. In the recent years dermatologist have noticed a rapid increase in people with sensitive skin due to pollution and stress. Keeping this in mind, I want to be able to cater to all my clients and models and their needs and thus I would like to update my kit with more clean and organic products. One would be surprised how many harmful chemicals there are in makeup products.

Currently I am seeing a big makeup revolution in the runway makeup. Backstage can get very hectic (and messy), using hundredths of tissues, cotton pads and other materials which are incredibly hard to recycle. Fortunately there are makeup artists such as Crystal Riley that are pioneering clean and zero waste beauty in the backstage. After looking closer to Crystabel’s work, I started to admire her DIY approach to clean and organic beauty. She often mixes clay and cellulose and even creates her own organic makeup tools such as reusable pads from flannel shirts. I really hope to use some of the products she recommends and thus slowly transform my kit to more environmentally conscious. Furthermore, by taking my time to look deeper into the ingredients and how products are made, I hope to create a deeper connection with my kit. It is almost like a link between futuristic approach and an ancient one. There is something fascinating about producing beautiful work without producing rubbish around myself.

After reading multiple articles about the mentality of beauty brands in backstage, it is evident that majority of people prefer luxury products with heavy packaging that can be simply put away. Luxury should be comfort and cater each human’s needs. Perhaps makeup artists can stop using wet wipes and go back in the ancient times and use a wet warm cloth on the face. Not only will this be more eco-conscious but also will add a healthy glow to the skin like no other product.

In conclusion, Better Lives gave me a great opportunity to reflect upon my practices. Fundamentally, sustainability in the makeup artistry should be more talked about. Us, makeup artists are often using harmful chemical both to the people and the environment around us. Especially during times like these, industry professionals are expecting fashion industry to change after this pandemic and so should our approach to beauty. 

Throughout the week I have attended numerous lectures, however two particular ones have stood out to me: Power and Cultural Sustainability. Both lectures were very inspiring and full of knowledge that I can use in my practices. The lecture about power was split into multiple sections. I was most moved by Power and Media.

As a student of SMC it is crucial for me to understand that fashion is a medium which visually demonstrates power. For example it can be by looking at military uniforms, particularly how these uniforms explore masculinity and using broad shoulders to symbolise respect, professionalism and conservatism. More recent example would be Beyonce’s garment for Super Bowl in 2020 which was directly inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement which demonstrates solidarity with this movement. Makeup, just like fashion can successfully deliver a strong message of power. As a makeup artist I need to be aware of symbolism and history of makeup. Famously, red lips embodies strength and femininity in equal measures, experiencing particular surge during the Great Depression. This resulted in the ‘Lipstick Effect’, a term used by economists to explain why costumers buy small goods such as lipstick during economic hardship. Moreover, during WW2, red lipstick was associated with political campaigns as red is often associated with power, strength and victory. As a SMC student I was fascinated with how advertisement works. It is believed that only 8% of ads are absorbed consciously and the rest is reworked into the brain and thus advertising is said to be quick and cumulative. This would mean that makeup is sometimes required to be bold and brave to attract attention and thus to be remembered to help the ad be reworked into the brain and therefore I believe that makeup artist has a power to make a statement and eventually to make a change. This lecture highlighted the importance of visual communication and how a creative practitioner can make a difference.

I dare to say that the Cultural Sustainability lecture was the best lecture I attended so far. It was centralised around globalisation, culture, costumes and representation. Culture acts as a filter through which people process experiences. As any creative practitioner, we need to be culturally sensitive and aware of how to avoid cultural misrepresentation and cultural appropriation. Misrepresentation of a culture is usually found in a lazy fashion, meaning the products are only designed due to its aesthetics with no further understanding of the culture. John Lau highlighted the importance of research and consultation with appropriate people in order to avoid cultural appropriation. An example of recent misinterpretation of Chinese culture can be seen in Dior and Gucci designs which focus around exoticism and eroticism, showing too much skin, often associated with the Western world. Additionally, zeitgeist, how current times affect ideas of today, helps me foresee future trends, keep up with the industry and to be an innovative artist. 

In Conclusion, I really enjoyed these series of lectures as I believe that radical change in the fashion industry is required in order for us to move forward. 

By Simona Svantnerova

References: 

Crew, J. (2020), ‘Power’, [Lecture], Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 10th Feb.2020

Lau,  J. (2020) ‘Cultural Sustainability’ [Lecture], Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 18th Feb.2020