Zora Brunath

For my 4th blog post I chose to reflect on the work of Alma de Ganay. I enjoyed being in the same Better Lives course as Alma (‘Make-Up Breakdown’) and had the opportunity to work with her during the workshop in which we studied contouring. We were shown how to apply our new knowledge in a practical and creative way by working together, using each-others’ faces as the canvas. On this occasion I experienced her working with make-up and her open, interested and creative approach to the subject made me curious and excited about her final project of this unit.

The way Alma describes her approach to projects and her usual work processes as a Creative Direction student is very close to the way mine are. The workflows are similar in the sense that, as a PR and communications student, a major amount of my work is also based on thorough and intensive research. Alma also mentioned that the main theme of the project ‘Fashion Mistake and Imperfection’ played into her hands, in the sense that as a non-professional in make-up she would be prone to make mistakes along the way. I was able to relate very well to this statement, due to my inexperience and limited knowledge of make-up. I really enjoyed using the topic of ‘fashion mistakes and imperfections’ as a narrative for our final projects in this unit.  It allowed us to experiment with courage and fun and to learn through the creative processes without being limited by the fear of making mistakes.

I like the fact that Alma has used the Vogue Make-Up tutorials as her main source of inspiration, as I love to watch them myself. Suitable to the topic ‘Fashion Mistake’, I usually enjoy the videos best, in which the celebrities allow themselves to make a few mistakes during their tutorial – it makes the whole process very charming and authentic.

I personally believe that Alma’s idea to rather engage in the process of applying make-up instead of focusing on a perfect finished look, is very exciting and interesting. Her project clearly shows that anything that looks like a mistake during a work process might as well lead the path to a successful final outcome. This once again demonstrates that we shouldn’t always dismiss mistakes as failures so quickly, but that even if mistakes happen, we should continue, learn from them and always look ahead.

Studying Fashion PR and Communication we also work creatively, but a large amount of the work we do is more likely to be applied in theory based on research and strategy. Therefore, I decided to choose Make-Up Breakdown for my ‘Better Lives’ project as I wanted to implement a practical component into my studies. In addition, my knowledge and skills in the field of make-up are very limited in relation to my great interest in it. So, I chose this project to learn to be inspired, but most of all to understand make-up as an expressive medium in the context of the Better Lives themes.

On me personally, I prefer a very natural Make-up, but I am still very much intrigued by the processes, both practical and creative, behind more complex looks. I have been painting, drawing and crafting for as long as I can remember, and I like to experiment with different colours, textures and layers. I consider make-up as the artistic tool for the skin, for the face. With make-up you can not only enhance your own features, but you can also give yourself a completely different, new and unique look. The variety of make-up products and the endless possibilities to experiment with them in my opinion turn it into a unique medium for self-expression and to create exceptional art pieces.

The overall theme that we were to engage and deal with throughout the sessions was ‘Fashion Mistake and Imperfection’. In my opinion, we should celebrate mistakes more and despise them less. Our society is often so quick to denounce them as failures even though from mistakes one learns and from supposed mistakes can also arise unexpected new and exciting ideas! If you are never daring and don’t move out of your comfort zone from time to time, then you can’t grow and nothing new can emerge. And exactly these risks that you have to face sometimes can lead to mistakes happening. With this thought in mind, I wanted to use my project to confront the seemingly ‘perfect’ Instagram world, in which everyone appears to be striving for unattainable flawlessness and where presumed blemishes are retouched to the last detail. The unrealistic, unattainable beauty ideals that are celebrated and spread on this platform are predestined to cause a disturbed, unhealthy self-perception in the majority of the predominantly young audience. An image of beauty, which is usually personal, subjective, unique and different for everyone, is thus minimized to a uniform look. This look is also often heavily edited or ‘optimized’ through aesthetic procedures, accordingly a large variety of people will not match this image, resulting in a large number of individuals suddenly discovering ‘flaws’ on their outward appearance.  I also find it perfidious how the Instagram and Snapchat filters appear to suggest how we would look prettier, all the same, with identical facial features: Small nose, narrow jaw, full lips, big eyes, perfect skin. These filters are like a virtual mask behind which you can hide, just like the perfect, always sunny lives that are usually displayed on Instagram.  With my project I wanted to take a look behind the proverbial virtual mask and show that we are all human beings behind it, unperfect and yet each of us is beautiful in their own way – diverse and unique and that’s a wonderful thing!

We, who are currently studying fashion, are the future generation that will work in this industry and be part of shaping it. Considering the immense reach and influence of this industry on the world, I feel this is a great responsibility that one should be aware of and also a challenge that I would like to face after my studies with new ideas, passion, profound knowledge and creativity.

There are countless social, political and environmental problems in the world, which the fashion industry, as a huge and powerful globally networked economy, has a massive effect on. With the ever-growing interest and awareness of the consumer society (especially within the younger generation) for topics such as sustainability, social responsibility, fair traid labour, representation, inclusivity etc. the importance of these subjects in the industry is steadily growing. Taking this into consideration it is becoming increasingly relevant to find solutions regarding the issues in these areas and new creative ways to approach them – a substantiated knowledge of them will be indispensable. The Better Lives unit offers a great opportunity to delve deeper into these current and complex topics, to expand and deepen our knowledge and be inspired by the lectures of experienced, creative industry professionals. 

At school (in Germany) I was always quite frustrated by the fact that so little was being discussed about current vital socio-political issues. That’s why I am so enthusiastic about the fact that these fundamental topics are communicated and taught to us at university as the foundation for our work approach and as food for thought.

During this Unit I also became aware that there are many parts of the business that I would like to explore more thoroughly and with more curiosity, which I did not really have on the radar. Today’s media-driven world seems to turn faster, and faster, new technologies are emerging and revolutionizing parts of the fashion world. This for instance is one of those areas in which I am hardly versed, but I would like to acquire more knowledge, because I am aware that new technologies, if used sensibly and efficiently, can have a great positive influence on the fashion world. Whether it is in production, logistics or communication.

As a Fashion PR and Communication student I find it most important for my future job prospects and future career to work with brands whose values I can stand behind and which are authentic. The ‘Better Lives’ unit showed me once again that in the long run I would be unhappy in my job if I had to work with brands and companies (no matter how big or small) that only outwardly project an environmentally friendly, desirable, open-minded image of themselves, while behind this façade there are dilapidated structures with outdated worldviews, -mindsets, -ideologies and exploitation of workers.

In the context of the Better Lives unit I have seen many interesting lectures, but especially the one on ‘Democracy and Activism’ by Professor Lucy Orta captivated me.  As I’ve been interested in politics and social movements since my early teenage years the title of the lecture directly caught my eye.

Orta opened the lecture with an overview of her work as a visual artist at Studio-Orta. She went deeper into the stories of those sections of her work that relate to her interest in fashion. However, she has also emphasized that this is only one component of her work and that other sections deal with further questions on major topics such as water, environment, migration and mobility.

At the beginning of her career in 1994 Orta worked on the project ‘Refuge Wear’. Hearing about it from the artist behind it herself, I found this part of the lecture particularly intriguing. The project was born out of a period of severe economic recession (recession of the 90s) after the Gulf War, which resulted in many people losing their jobs (including Orta herself who was a fashion designer in Paris) and the huge increase of homeless people on the streets.With these predominant conditions in mind, Orta created ‘Refuge wear’ which consists of a variety of designs of sleeping bags, bivouacs and tents that have the ability to quickly transform into items of clothing. These designs opened up the possibility to literally wear your shelter (for example as a backpack) and move around with it – different shelters work differently in terms of their transform ability. Starting this project Orta worked experimentally and without the pressure of it having any commercial outcome. She considered her Designs to be a socially aware project shining light on the homeless situation in Paris- so more like provocative prototypes rather than something actually going into industry. In 1994 though the Paris based Salvation Army homeless shelter exhibited Lucy Ortas’ work. I was touched when learning that the reactions to the exhibit of those who lived in the Salvation Army at this time were really positive, because they were the people who could actually identify with the central issue portrayed by the project, and as “living without shelter for a long time, rapidly detoriates your mental health and causes stress and disocialization” as Orta stated, it made the positive reaction even more valuable.

With this in mind I read a description of ‘Refuge Wear` by art curator Jérôme Sans on the Studio-Orta website that seemed particularly fitting to me. It provides a little insight into some parts of the Philosophy and thinking behind this socially relevant project. Sans states: “[Lucy Ortas’] Refuge Wear openly manifests man’s procedures of space definition, that is to say, how he produces his spatial condition. The Habitant, being a necessary element of an individuals need for a minimum personal space, allows the wearer to isolate himself from the world and create a place of reflection and meditation; a closed, four-dimensional universe.”

When learning that her skills can be useful to other people Orta started workshops in the salvation army, making clothes out of discarded items. This made her one of the first designers to work with recycled clothing and it since has evolved into a social enterprise where people all over the world are provided with training and skills and can work together through the process of creativity of making clothes. I am really inspired and impressed by how Lucy Orta created something so positively impactful on people in need with little finance and resources at the beginning and how she did it without the goal of profit and success but rather using her artistic and design skills for doing good.