Eleonora Reali

after reading many blog posts of my fellow students, I found the post of Iman Cuddox from blog 1, about the lecture “power” (Julia Crew) very interesting. I thought that doing a peer review of my same lecture blog, was a good idea to confront our thoughts and discovering new points of view.

Even if I attended this lecture, I think that Iman summarized the main concepts very well, exploring deeply the different key arguments. I also think that his layout blog is very precise, with concise and different paragraph for each argument covered.

I really enjoyed reading different ideals about the same lecture, but at the same time I found out that we think about important themes such as sustainability and diversity in the same way. An important argument that both of us treated very deeply was the power that we have as “you” which we both analyzed as the importance and the ability of having a voice for changing things and make a difference. It made us realize that we are the driver of trends and every time we buy something we are voting with our wallet.

A topic that Iman thought and discussed thanks to the lecture, was about the equality: he wrote about the apparel industry and how it has proved to help richen people; it was very interesting to read about it and to be able, through his blog, to found examples such as the top richest European business owners that he mentioned. I completely agree with Iman when he says I reflect on business’ needing to be more transparent to ensure no exploitation and also working towards being sustainable and diverse”.

It is also great that he is not just reflecting on the lecture, but he is looking forward to do and see positive changes in the fashion industry. A thing that, we have in common, is that after this lecture we both reflect on being more sustainable, agreeing with buying at vintage or charity stores and knowing who realize clothes and under what conditions.

Overall, after reading his blog, it is pretty clear that you putted lot of efforts in this better lives lecture, that you really enjoyed the arguments and that you understood the topic completely. You also have managed to do research and find examples for making clear your ideals.

I really enjoyed reading a lecture with the same ideas and thoughts as mines, so great job.

I attended the workshop navigating through clothing which made me realized that during the process of the creation of your costume design you need to deeply understand who your character is; furthermore you also need to understand the body that you want to dress and the function that you want to intend.

Thanks to these classes I learnt more thoroughly the process behind a great costume and I deeply understood that our way of dressing, the brands that we are more comfortable with or the color of clothing that we purchase the most, represent our identity and our own character. When you need to create a character, or even think about your own, you have to understand what is the real essence of it; ask yourself questions and try to respond as your character would, identify with it  and analyze the way of thinking, the cultural background and the story. They encouraged us to visit museums for realize how important is the ethnic cultures for the creation of a character.

 Furtherly, I realized that we need to start thinking of our clothing as an interpretation of our inner self:  our style is our identity and consequently our own character. I strongly believe that the way of dressing is not just for social reasons or for trends; we have to understand that if we choose a style between others is because it is the right representation of our beliefs and personalities. It is no doubt true that nowadays people tend to buy clothes, not just because they are comfortable with, but because they saw others wearing them, such as celebrities, influencers or fashion bloggers; for this reason they tend to follow the mass and forget about what really means fashion for them.

To sum up, thanks to the better lives course “navigating through clothing”  I have learned that when we are talking about costume design it is important to be sure that every character is represented in a proper way and also, pay attention on a theme such as diversity during the creation of it. I really enjoyed looking and exploring the steps for the realization of a figure and the thoughts for a proper creation.

The better lives unit has as main themes diversity, sustainability and social responsibility which during the course lectures and the panel discussions were deeply analyzed and explored. These three core themes changed my perceptions and way of thinking and developing.

The fashion industry is considered the second most polluting industry in the world; for this reason, and many others, sustainability is a theme that nowadays people are more aware of and interest into change or analyze.

Being sustainable could be buying in secondhand shops, charity shops, using vintage garments or buying from sustainable brands. Sustainability lately, has also made known thanks to activisms and their protests; some brands that include in their style sustainable clothes  and are fighting for a better and less polluting world are Vivianne Westwood, Stella Mccartney that during this year collaborated with Central Saint Martin’s university for a sustainable project regarding her latest collection. During this last decade, the theme diversity has become more inclusive and present in our industry; it is not just about skin color anymore, it includes characteristics such as size, gender and age.

In my creative practice, I am looking to embrace different characteristics (e.g.  race, age, size, gender, disabilities and many others); I want people to feel appreciated, considered and to be able, through different stories, to recognized themselves and be more aware of their diversity and unique qualities. It is important to understand that people in our world have different needs and when we are designing, creating or writing, we have to consider the diversity and the unique necessities of the consumers. 

Looking at these two themes, the better lives program changed my way of thinking and analyzing situations. It helped me clarifying my ideas, my approach and my styling practice which has changed since the beginning of this course. Themes such as diversity and sustainability are some of the most important topics for the fashion industry; thanks to these I understand that with a large scale of knowledge of these two issues, I will be able to develop my work more properly and in an efficient way.

In conclusion this course helped me realize how important is to be aware and even educated to do better, better than the people before us;  because no matter who we are or where we are from, there is no doubt true that there are things, even small ones, that we ca do to change the story.

Throughout the better lives lectures and briefings attended, the topics that come up the most were about themes such as sustainability and diversity through fashion.

A theme such as sustainability, during the last decade, has been even more relevant and thanks to the better lives lecture I realized how much power we have to possibly change the future of fashion.

Julia Crew lead the lecture “Power” which I considered really inspiring and open-minded with topics that caught my eye really deeply. The lecture was about fashion, in relation to different t aspects, such as diversity and sustainability.

The lecture purpose was to compare fashion with different themes such as money, media, consumer, protest and “you”. As consumer we have the power to choose where and how we can spend our money; as Julia said we are the driver of trends and every time we buy something we are voting with our wallet. It is also important to know who realize clothes and under what condition. Within the lecture, the quote “it’s up to each of us, as producer and as consumer, to decide how to use that power responsibly” from Vestoj, issue 4: “on power” made me realize that we have more power and more control than we think we have. 

Keeping up with fashion clothing, power has always been able to communicate through clothing worn by firstly, Royalty and subsequently the Military and Political figures; as a consequence, the way of dressing has always been able to communicate their class, status and work. The quote “right now, power in fashion boils down to economic power” by Vestoj made me realize that in the fashion industry, creativity is not important as being an economic and commercial industry.

A topic that struck me a lot is the comparison that Julia made between fashion and “you”; the importance and the power of having a voice for changing things and make a difference. As already mentioned above, as consumer, we held a great amount of power, that we do not even realize we have; we are capable of changing things via different actions, such as protests. Thanks to this lecture I found out about “the Pussyhat Project” which is dedicated to advancing women’s and humans rights through the arts, education and dialogue. This global movement was created in response to a concerning and negative rhetoric used towards women and minorities.

To conclude, I think that this course made me realize how important is to be aware of facts, current events, whether we are talking about fashion or other themes such as politics, climate change or sustainability. In addition, it helped me understand that we can do better and together we can find the solution for the actual problems and issues that characterize the fashion world.