Amena Couki

Throughout this project I have had time to reflect upon what the themes mean no only for my future in the industry and societal change we can bring but also what my practice can reflect in my own self in the present.

When discussing my thoughts on sustainability during this unit in conjunction with the styling practices it is interesting to discover the importance of re-working/ re-using old garments with the brief being to do with fashion cultures of the past. It urges us to go back in time and evaluate trends and styles of the past which has given me an understanding and urge of importance to stop looking into the ‘next trend’ or ‘new aesthetic’ when many sub-culture and fashion groups have already existed. The beauty of fashion especially when it comes to styling is to be able to look back and reintroduce old styles and re-work them into something that is a new trend. I demonstrated this within this project by focusing on the 90’s sports chic aesthetic and pairing it with items that are ‘trending’ right now.

Reflecting upon the theme of diversity within this unit it was eye opening to recognise the way that clothes represented and actually grouped people together in a way I never would’ve thought of. For example, when we looked at the football hooligan aesthetic and sub-culture it represented a certain group of people with the clothes that also had pre-existing opinions tied to them. For example, the football tracksuit came along with the stigma of aggressiveness or hooligan behaviour and people who wore this style were usually seen as ‘chavs’. As time has gone on, the idea of this subculture has been diversified and expanded into a universal look with people of all cultures/ backgrounds, with the connotations being slowly pushed out as this style has been more glamourised especially within high fashion with the likes of Burberry and Off White influencing this change.

Social responsibility within this unit has been the most difficult for me to expand on, however when researching this through the unit of styling and what clothes represent I have learnt that power, authority and privilege come along with the clothes that we wear and how we chose to represent ourselves. Looking at the idea of unofficial uniforms such as business suits and ‘power suits’ it distinguishes a certain power and idea before a person meets you based off ingrained social requisites and existing ideas of the suit. We have the privilege to choose what aesthetic we have and expression through our clothes and I feel as though a lot of us don’t recognise this enough. Though this module I have learnt a lot about this topic and how much I took this creative expression for granted.

The themes of the better lives unit are important to think about in conjunction with discussions about our future careers because this change and focus will be evolving our industry in the years to come.

I wanted to start off with how sustainability will be changing how we work in the future of fashion. As we know, the world is going to end sooner than we want it if we don’t make significant normalised changes within our daily lives which includes fashion. Whether you’re a fashion buff or not we all wear clothes at the end of the day. As a generation, and collective as people we are becoming more aware of this issue with upcycling and thrift shopping becoming a trend. With more hands-on fashion approaches such as designing collections we need to think about abandoning the idea of seasonal refresh within brands or re- purposing previous collections. How I think we will tackle the issue of traditional publication distribution is through more digitalised content and productions that reduces the amount of natural resources we are consuming, for example paper. By doing this we will also be using less plastic and non-bio degradable resources used in manufacturing therefore, also producing less emissions and pollutant waste.

Regarding the issues of social responsibility, as a fashion student wanting to embark on a career in this industry we have to acknowledge our privilege of education and practice. I would like to think that more fashion companies make use of their power with providing better working conditions and the end to sweat shop culture that fast fashion brands use. Aiming to focus more on creating better living and working environments for those not as privileged with education and means of work. This can be achieved through collaborations with charities and transparency between brand and consumer.

And finally, I believe diversity will change how I work in the future through more dynamic and open discussions upon issues like tokenism and how to avoid these problems by creating an inclusive tone and attitude within my work. I hope to radiate this message through our community as a whole instead of separate markets based on race, culture, disability and size. It is important to recognise the massive changes taken even as recent as the last five years. I am hopeful that the future of the fashion industry is more about fashion for the many and not the few guiding us to be more focussed on the evolution and content of what we’re giving out to the fashion world instead of excluding certain ‘groups’.

My first initial thoughts upon approaching the Better Lives unit was cloudy to say the least, I felt very lost with the structure and what I was approaching in this new project. When discussing it with my peers and my course leader I felt as if I had a better idea and was ready to throw myself into this new venture but there was still a feeling of uncertainty which was exciting but also intimidating.

With the layout of the lectures being accessible online as well as the option to attend physically I felt the pressure was lifted, especially as the lectures were dotted around different LCF campuses, I got a little confused. I attended all of the lectures online in my own time which I found calming as I feel I could really grasp the ideas of the lectures, being able to flick through the slides and listen to the speaker simultaneously, clarifying my learning and what I was taking in. I also liked the function of being able to pause the lecture because I often feel like I miss important points and then get panicked, so by having that function I felt more relaxed and could ease myself into this project more. 

I attended the recommended six lectures which were; Inclusion, Diversity, Collaboration, Religion and Belief in Creative Arts, Sustainability and Power and Empathy in the industry. For the topics on collaboration, diversity and inclusion I found myself zoning out. Granted, this could be because I have covered these topics frequently, with my previous explorations in the ‘intro to’ assignment in the first term and my critical words assessment (within my BA fashion media course). I did feel as though they were helpful as there were some points which I hadn’t picked up from studying these topics prior, however next time I think I will make more of a conscious decision to choose lectures in which I haven’t previously thought about deeply or haven’t touched upon in my study as within the first week I felt uninspired in a way. On the contrary, starting the second week of lectures, I really enjoyed the lectures which focused on empathy and power. It was interesting to dive into these topics which I have never really thought about connecting fully to the fashion industry and my practise. I especially enjoyed the aspects in the power lecture that explored the different influences of power on the fashion industry and the contributing factors such as the power of protest and the power of money.

Leading into my first week of my specialised Better Lives topic of styling, I feel more confident in what I will be working towards in the next six weeks. Reflecting on the first two weeks of this unit, although for me it has started slow, I believe that specialising will give me a better focus to but my energy into and I am excited to start this journey.