Luanna Briggs-Stewart

After reading through some of the amazing blogs that have been posted by fellow students over the past few weeks, I came across ‘Daniele Facciuto’s Blog 2: Themes Reflection.’ Instantaneously what grabbed my attention was how this student not only explained and reflected on the key themes surrounding better lives but how this has helped and effected their personal life, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Daniele’s ‘Blog post 2’ he talks about the theme of Social Responsibility and how difficult it has been trying to navigate and complete assignments with ‘limited spaces, materials and resources’ which is a hurdle that every student has encountered during these unusual times however, Daniele goes on to say how they have tried to navigate and overcome this problem in relation to completing their fashion photography assignments with the help of friends and the readily made technology we have access too instantly (Facetime.) He touches on how the ‘Better lives’ theme of social responsibility have been one of the most relevant topics over this unit because we have all had to take responsibility in ‘not leaving our homes’ and trying to find ways to adapt and complete our work effectively.

Daniele then goes on to write about one of his favourite themes ‘Sustainability’ because of their personal research into this topic and Daniele has already been writing about sustainability in an issue of ‘MESS MAGAZINE, Sustainable x Conscious.’ He goes onto write about how he does not buy from high street shops anymore and usually buys in second hand stores, this way of thinking is also something I can relate to personally and also try to do in my daily life, the theme of sustainability is one of the most important in our modern day world and every individual should always be trying to think of ways we can help to better and improve mass consumerism because of its effect on the planet, even if it’s as simple as looking into buying second hand rather than from multinational chain stores.

If I had to comment on one thing it would be that Daniele maybe could have touched upon the theme of Diversity more in their blog post, but I think that overall they wrote an absolutely fantastic blog post and explained the better lives themes of social responsibility and sustainability thoroughly, coherently and developed their understanding further by relating to it in a personal way, which allows the reader to fully understand how current the better livers themes are, and as students have effected all of us in multiple different ways. Finally after reading numerous blog posts I felt overall reassured that my feelings and emotions during this COVID-19 pandemic were not alone, it’s amazing to read about how other fellow students are finding ways to cope and in relation to the better lives themes acknowledging ways we can help to improve our overall understanding on these themes. References Facciuto, D. (2020) ‘Reflection on Better Lives Themes for Better Lives SMC, University Arts London. Unpublished.

Throughout the entirety of ‘Better Lives’ I have been engaged and intrigued by the value of the information the unit has taught me.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the key themes surrounding the unit; sustainability, diversity and social responsibility. Other students and I have not only been able to learn about these topics but also put them into practice efficiently which I believe has really helped and expanded my knowledge.

Unfortunately, half of the unit has had to be completed at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this has not restricted my learning in anyway, it has made me think further about the ideas surrounding sportswear Fashion, language and subcultures. Through the masterclasses and learning a small essence of the day in life of a fashion stylist the number one issue surrounding the clothing industry I believe is sustainability.

 When asked to complete our first masterclass and being able to have the freedom to be completely experimental with our styling choices the tutors provided us with some old clothing, combined with what our group had gathered from our wardrobes. This masterclass made me realise how important the topic of sustainability is, we did not need the newest and latest clothing to create a really youthful and subcultural 90s look, in fact the older, more second hand and recycled clothing the better.

This idea of sustainability also became significant in my second masterclass which has had to be completed at home; I was completely baffled about how I was going to be able to create a stylish skater subcultural look combined with the essence of sportswear just from my own wardrobe, however this challenge only pushed me further, creatively and experimentally because I wasn’t able to order new clothing or accessories to complete this look, I had to make do with what I had in front of me. I combined pieces of clothing together that I thought would never have worked and saw them in a completely different light, thus only pushing my creative eye. I think that the second masterclass project made me realise that in our society there is a constant cycle of consumerist wasteful attitudes that we all accidentally adhere to whether we believe we are consciously informed of this or not. However, during the better lives masterclasses and lectures I have realised that we can be just as creative and ‘stylish’ with what we already have in the back of our wardrobes or from buying through charity shops or jumble sales to give clothing a new lease of life. There is a constant pressure to be buying the ‘new’ and the ‘latest’ but a lot of the time there is absolutely no need. We as creatives need to be made to stop and think sustainably especially through the sense of fashion and styling, we may even end up creating a look that we thought could never be achieved if we hadn’t worked sustainably.

The lectures we were given at the beginning of the unit have educated me on the number of issues surrounding the fashion industry, but also ways in which we can change the current problems. The better lives themes have brought to light elements in which I will work towards improving in my working practice for the future.

As a Costume for Performance student, I believe it is my responsibility to reinforce ideas and practice of sustainability due to the issues surrounding modern day fast fashion and the damage that it is having on our environment, many textile clothing ends up in landfills and 60 percent of fabric fibres are now synthetic and will not decay, this often ends up secreting into our oceans, rivers and intoxicating the oceanic ecosystem. (How fast fashion is destroying the planet (NY Times, 2019.) After being educated on this, for my work in the future I will try my hardest to be mindful and sustainable when buying and sourcing my fabrics, by pattern laying in ways which will save as much fabric as possible and working out beforehand the necessary amount of fabric needed, meaning less waste being put into our environment. In future projects where I am able to have autonomy over who models the clothing and costumes I have made or are working with, I will make conscious decisions to cast diversely and consider how varying colours work on an array of skin tones, body types and that everybody is proportionally represented where possible. In 2018 almost 40 percent of the models were models of colour, almost double the percentage reported back in 2015, Black models (Popsugar, 2019.) This is a great outcome for our current fashion runways; however, the issue of inclusivity is still very apparent and those that are differently abled are not often seen walking the runways. Fashion is ever changing, and we have the ability to be able to change the facts and norms, which is what I will consider in my current and future practice. When researching for costume design I will make sure to look at a variety of different cultural backgrounds and history, this will inform and shape new ideas by not only being influenced through the lens of a Western society and will lead to a much more holistic approach into the influence of design ideas in the future. It is our social responsibility to not forget OUR history, this was highlighted by the Perspectives lecture by Cher Potter.

It is now our responsibility as future fashion students to try and make active changes in our own life and work practices to try and better our future.  

Reference List

The New York Times (2019) ‘How fast fashion is destroying the planet’, 3rd September.

Popsugar (2020) Black models 2019 Available at: https://www.popsugar.co.uk/fashion/Black-Models-2019-45761718 (Accessed: March 2020).

After reflecting back on the lectures over the past two weeks, the one that stood out for me the most was ‘Perspectives’ lead by Cher Potter.

In the perspectives lecture I learnt about the Fashion collaborators ‘Sartists’ they use ‘style to tell contemporary stories of African youth and reframe narratives’ as well as being inspired by ‘black excellence and how often brands, agencies… often neglect and choose to undervalue the contribution of black people, artists and culture’ – Wanda Lephoto (Dazed, 2017, Joburg’s best dressed crew.) The Sartists have collaborated with the likes of Adidas, Levi’s and one of my personal favourites the Stussy ‘Our Tribe’ collection. This collection was inspired from African culture and was a mix between both cultural and contemporary street wear. The information I have gained from this lecture has made me aware about the lack of our cultural history that is not incorporated into our modern fashion design, culture has been lost through generation and time. However due to the likes of the Sartists who are tackling the importance of culture through Fashion has led me to believe that Fashion could play a massive roll in keeping our cultural roots alive whether this be Western, Asian, African etc. I believe that through fashion we can work towards better lives by raising awareness of this gap in the market of collaboration between modern and contemporary clothing we wear every day and our own cultural legacy. We can begin to expose overlooked design history and the importance of not forgetting this. Through fashion we can also tackle the fact that particular cultures feel undermined, such as raising awareness towards black culture and its lack of collaboration and justification within multinational brands, companies and organisations. We can press the importance of inclusivity and to have a broader range of collections exploring each other’s cultures, which can lead to an understanding between one another’s roots and history and leading to a more diverse modern-day Fashion culture. It is our social responsibility to be educated of different backgrounds and ethnicities making sure we move forward with a more rounded and inclusive portrayal of this through fashion. This also ties in with the ‘Inclusion’ lecture where I learnt about designing for those that are often also undermined within the fashion industry such as being disabled or old aged. Inclusive fashion is about enabling choice and enhancing people’s lives, but this can only be similarly achieved through education and understanding that certain proportions of our society feel unthought of. We can create better lives through fashion by understanding that the particular needs of our ‘general population’ do not fit everybody and it should be mandatory to think of alternate ways of dressing such as magnets instead of buttons or zips. Account for the needs of ALL people and the value this can have on a person’s wellbeing.