Natalie Hadfield

Reading through the blog post website, it was interesting to see other people’s responses to the Better Lives unit and the creative outcomes that people have produced. Reading everyone’s views and responses gave me a new perspective on the unit and it was refreshing to see new approaches to the ideas and work we were presented with, as well as the knowledge that people have gained from this unit.

I have chosen to peer review Molly Zapletal’s third blog post where she reflected on her Make Up Breakdown Project. I really enjoyed reading her blog post, as I have an interest in makeup myself. Molly discussed the disruption that the lockdown caused to her project, being at home meant that there was no access to the professional makeup that was used in class, therefore people turned to unconventional methods to develop their ideas. She also wrote about the further limitation of only being able to do the makeup on herself due to the lockdown being imposed. She linked this perfectly to the theme of sustainability and how people can innovate by using new and unexpected methods and materials to overcome obstacles in unprecedented times.

I enjoyed reading about how she used lace from an old project instead of conventional makeup to develop her ideas, again linking to the theme of sustainability by recycling materials. It was refreshing to read about the environmental consciousness in her decision and how she put the Better Lives themes into practice within her work. Recycling materials was not something that I considered using within my own project, and reading about this gave me inspiration for what I could do differently within my own work in the future.

Molly also wrote her final design being influenced by the New Romantics era, and being inspired by the key theme of diversity within the lectures at the start of the unit. Although limited in the final outcome due to the lockdown, it shows that she again considered the Better Lives themes within her work. She then spoke about wanting to create her makeup look on a man which links in with themes of diversity. Finally, she wrote about her intentions to explore the Better Lives themes in greater detail within her discipline of Costume for Performance.

It is refreshing to read about how Molly overcame the obstacles she faced caused by the pandemic, approaching them in a thoughtful, environmentally conscious and innovative way. I think that she has reflected fully on themes of diversity and sustainability within her writing. There could have been a mention of social responsibility, however it is difficult to include all themes into one project, and there will be future opportunities for this. Maybe she could have considered social responsibility in terms of where she acquired the materials from. Overall, It is clear that she has taken the ideas and themes behind the Better Lives unit on board and will continue to utilise this knowledge within her future work.

Link to Molly’s original blog post: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/10/blog-post-3-31/

During my time in Fashion Activism I have approached my project in an enlightened way based on what I have learnt from the lectures in the Better Lives unit. Being in Fashion Activism has taught me a lot about branding and communication, considering fonts, graphic design, aesthetics and creating a strong brand ethos for a campaign. The focus themes of sustainability, diversity and social responsibility have tied in perfectly with the themes of the Better Lives lectures, and I was able to use what I learnt from the lectures within my new practice.

Creating our group project by working as a team has helped me to develop new communication skills. We all tried to bring something new to the work to make it rich and diverse, combining our different areas of interest. Our brief was to create a moving image campaign for a brand of our choice. We chose to create a campaign for Lazy Oaf’s “Time to Change” campaign, which is based around mental health awareness. The main slogan was ‘It’s ok to not be ok’ which really resonated with me and I wanted to include that as part of the moving image. These themes tie in well with the social responsibility and wellbeing lectures that I watched as part of the Better Lives unit, and I found it refreshing to see a brand create a campaign like this to raise awareness.

Lazy Oaf has a very strong brand aesthetic, which we knew we must consider and include in our moving image campaign. We created a project statement to outline our ideas and goals for the moving image. This helped to focus on what to work towards and get the project moving straight away. Creating mood boards also helped us to visualise a strong aesthetic to convey for Lazy Oaf in the moving image, and narrow down our broad range of ideas to a specific few to focus on. I am already interested in moving image and I am confident in video editing and effects, so I was excited to work on this project and didn’t feel too overwhelmed with the task. I also wanted to bring some illustrative elements to the moving image as my degree is Fashion Imaging and Illustration. As a group, we delegated different tasks to each member to share out the workload, based on what we are interested and confident in. Obviously, it was more difficult for everyone to do a bit of the project separately rather than work together due to the pandemic, but I think we were successful in overcoming the challenge.

In reflection, I think that given the lockdown we are currently living in, and during the stress of the pandemic, my group did a great job working together to innovate and push the boundaries to create a moving image campaign for Lazy Oaf that we are proud of. I like the message we could convey within our work, promoting the Better Lives theme by spreading awareness of mental health issues, as well as creating some nice moving imagery.

The lectures that I have watched during the Better Lives unit have impacted my approach to the fashion industry and how I work as a fashion illustrator. This unit has prompted me to be more thoughtful and considered with social and environmental consciousness. I think all the themes covered are important to learn about, but the themes that particularly stood out to me are technology, power, sustainability and culture.

I found Nick Almond’s lecture on emerging technologies in fashion especially interesting. In my practice as a fashion illustrator I am always looking for new technologies to improve and innovate my work, as well as new ways that my work could be used or displayed. Learning about bitcoin was a really interesting aspect of the lecture, I would like to further my understanding of these progressive technologies to keep on track with current events. I enjoyed being educated about new things in technology such as bitcoin because I wouldn’t have known about it before, and it has prompted me to delve further into research of new technology.

When he spoke about ‘disruptive technology’, being technology that displaces or improves on another, it made me consider how I need to be ahead of technologies and innovations in order to stay up to date with consumer needs and trends. It also made me think about how my own work could have a planned obsolescence, or expiry date, creating more demand.

Nick Almond also spoke about ‘XR’, which allows you to reshape reality and perception. For example, creating digital clothing to try on before it’s even made. It’s hard to imagine how this will shape new ways of illustrating, but I think it will open a lot of new avenues for me to explore and enhance the possible outcomes of my work.

Julia Crew’s lecture on power made some really important points about the fashion world. For example, the power of the influencer, the inequality in the balance of power in the fashion world and consumer culture. Also, the level of power and wealth that CEO’s have in comparison to factory workers. In my work, I must consider the impact it could have on consumers, the environment and workers. I hope that I can create work that supports positive attitudes and creates better lives, championing the right causes and promoting ethical, sustainable approaches towards the fashion industry.

In the future, I want to create more work that promotes sustainable fashion. Imaging and illustration can be used in widely influential ways, for example in advertising campaigns or to spread a message of social awareness. Perhaps I can use my work to raise more attention towards environmentally friendly fashion, or to show the detrimental effects that fast fashion can have on the environment. I think it’s important for my work to have deeper meanings and thought processes behind it and not just creating a pretty picture.

Overall, the themes of the Better Lives unit have made me consider how I approach my work and how I can include important themes into my illustrations to create better lives.

Out of all the Better Lives lectures that I viewed, all of which were incredibly interesting, the one that resonated with me most was Julia Crew’s lecture on Power. It was insightful to look at the wider structures that affect fashion within our lives, and recognise the responsibility that we have in this institution as fashion students and as consumers.

I feel that it is important to recognise that the clothing industry has allowed some people to become extremely wealthy, e.g. CEO’s, while virtually enslaving others such as Bangladeshi garment workers. We need to recognise the lack of equality in the system and work to fight this injustice. Low pay keeps people trapped in a cycle of poverty and exploitation.

Increase in consumption means there is demand for factories to produce higher quantities of clothing for cheaper prices. This demand can be seen everywhere. For example, “200 million Instagram users follow at least one fashion account. #fashion is mentioned 13 million times a month. 84% of millennials are influenced into making a purchase from this”.

I was really surprised by the influence Instagram has on young people. 84% is such a high statistic. I underestimated that so many people would really be purchasing from this influence. I personally saw Instagram fashion accounts and trends more as inspiration for people rather than a consumption driving machine. This proves that influencers need to recognise their power and that they have a moral obligation to promote fairly and should be considering the ethics of the brands that they post. Influencers can use their power for positive change within the industry if they support ethical companies.

Another example of increasing demand and the effects of influencers is Love Island. Missguided clothing was featured on Love Island, leading to a 40% increase in sales. Items worn by popular contestants saw an instant 500% sales boost. This shows the extent of power that the media has, and made me think about how many people considered these purchases before buying, whether it was an investment or are they just buying a throw away garment on a whim. Why don’t the media promote more sustainable and ethical brands to consumers? This could be a great way to improve the fashion industry, reaching a wider audience that would be influenced into supporting better companies.

There is evidence of the consumer taking power back, for example through boycotting people/brands that they don’t agree with. Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand was boycotted for paying poverty wages to workers which led to sales falling by 45% and the eventual closure of the brand. This demonstrates the power that consumers hold and can use to create change.

I think that by supporting brands that are fair and sustainable, making more considered purchases and being more socially and environmentally aware we can shape the industry to move in a better direction and create better lives. Taking back consumer power and boycotting the brands that are operating unfairly will create positive change for the fashion industry.