Yaoying Zeng

I really like this article by Tara. The beauty of the flaws she expresses and the reuse of items are consistent with my thoughts, and she makes me want to make myself a makeup decorated with flowers in this way.

First of all, I think that many people now use cosmetics to cover up their original beauty, such as making their own characteristic eyes very large or plasticizing them into double eyelids, because the current aesthetic trends are big eyes, and people have formed stereotypes, Therefore, most people follow the trend and lose their aesthetic judgment, thus forming prejudice. I think that as fashion students, we should promote aesthetic inclusiveness to the outside world to slowly eliminate stereotypes because I think everyone is very good-looking, but need to explore the style that suits their best. It is impossible for any beautiful artwork to have no small flaws, but true beauty must be able to cover up these small flaws.

Secondly, I think to reuse any flawed or idle items to make up or make clothes, etc., and regenerate the items. This not only creates new things but also environmental protection.

Finally, I thought about the sustainability of the cosmetics industry. The most detrimental impact of the cosmetics industry is deforestation, primarily an effect of palm oil production. By 2020, palm oil production is set to release more than 558 million metric tons of carbon into the environment, an amount greater than all of Canada’s current fossil fuel emissions. Water is also a large concern for the cosmetics industry because it is a rapidly depleting resource palm oil production that contributes to high Co2 levels, warmer temperatures in water, as well as the adverse quality of freshwater sources. I think we as consumers should choose products with few recyclable packaging and materials and to be responsible for society and raise awareness of environmental protection.

All in all, thanks to Tara for making me think a lot of questions.

References:

Kelly Airola (2020) Sustainable Innovation in Cosmetics. Available at: https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/resources/sustainable-innovation-cosmetics/ (Accessed: 30/05/20).

In better lives, I chose Contemporary Portrait Photography as my course, but in this difficult period, I can only shoot objects to express my ideas，because I am the only one at home and have no photography props. During this period I thought about many issues about sustainable development, such as water use and waste. In modern society, water is very important to us, and humans and animals must depend on it to survive. Speaking of globally, the fashion industry consumes about 79 billion cubic meters of freshwater every year. It is conceivable that without water, human beings will not survive. Without water, there would be no life on earth. However, the problem of water shortage is becoming more and more serious. I think that as a part of us, we should think more about how to solve these problems, such as increasing publicity. One day I saw a glass bottle and an electrical plug and suddenly had an idea, which happened to be related to the water problem I wanted. “Water is very important, we have to charge the water. People without water are like electrical appliances without electricity.” So I used a blank wall as a background and set the glass bottle and plug. But when the film came out the background is green, I don’t think it fits what I want to express a feeling, so I used VSCO to convert the picture to blue, then it can better integrate with my theme, because the water is blue, just look also more natural and comfortable. Later, I submitted this picture. At that time we discussed this picture in class. Danny said that my picture is very interesting and the composition is very good. Then photographer Mark Kean gave me some suggestions. For example, it is good to blend this picture with a portrait of a person and be styling. I was very happy after listening to it, so I wanted to shoot this project after the end of COVID 19. I look forward to what kind of effect it is, and I also wanted to make a video to call people to protect water resources.

Through various lectures on social responsibility, diversity, and sustainability included in better lives, I have learned a lot of knowledge. These lectures have helped me transform my thinking into the way of future works.

First of all, with regard to sustainable development, due to the rise of fast fashion, people ’s desire to buy is becoming stronger and stronger. Because the price of high-quality and low-cost clothes has fallen, more and more clothes have become disposable things, which consumers have the ability to keep up with every accelerating style change, so clothes can almost be discarded. I think this is a manifestation of irresponsibility for a sustainable society. As a student of creative direction for fashion, I decided to build a sense of environmental protection for the audience by shooting or building a website. As far as shooting is concerned, I can look for a natural environment and let the models wear second-hand clothes or clothes of sustainable materials to use their bodies to show the power of natural beauty. In this way, customers will be curious about the clothes in the works and where to buy it, they will search for more information to protect nature. As far as building a website is concerned, I think that major brands can establish a website that exchanges with each other. For example, customers can exchange their old clothes for brand vouchers. In this way, the brand can not only use materials to protect the environment, but also benefit customers, or It is said that old clothes can be cleaned and treated as other vintages to other people in need. I think that such continuous recycling is very beneficial to the protection of the environment.

Secondly, I chose the photography portrait project in the better lives unit. In this unit, the teacher gave us many photographers, such as Hippolyte Bayard, David Bradley Armstrong, Samuel Fosso, etc. Their works have strong national cultural characteristics, and I think this has a great effect on preserving the history and continuing culture. At the same time, I also found some documentaries about photographers to watch. Especially the movie “Face, Village” inspired me to think about future works. Because the film tells that Anes Varda and street artist JR drove a small truck through a French village. They photographed the characters they encountered along the way and posted these photos in a row on the wall in order to express respecting these ordinary workers. So I want to make some works in the future works to contribute to society and express the excellent culture of my country in the works.

Finally, I watched Teleica Kirkland’s lecture on Representation, which also benefited a lot. She talked about Wafrica’s project. I really like this project. This project is a kimono created by the combination of Chinese and African culture and Japanese culture. I feel very creative. I think it is very important to cooperate with partners from different countries and cultures, which can not only expand the horizon but also obtain an inclusive aesthetic way. Therefore, I would like to cooperate and communicate with many people of different races in the future.

To conclude，I am still looking for different knowledge. The above are just my current thoughts. Maybe my thoughts will be better in the future. Thank you for reading!

‘A dynamic process which enables all people to realise their potential and to improve their quality of life in ways which simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support systems’

I watched about lecture theme of Nature from Kate Fletcher, and I have a lot of words to talk about nature. Why I have so many words to say? The one reason is some bad people to eat innocent and virus bats led to a virus outbreak and this virus kills many people. The second reason is that January this year became the hottest January in history. I think these are the result of human beings destroying nature. So I think people should do all their responsibilities to protect and improve the life system of the earth. Otherwise, it is very likely that humans will accelerate to disappear on the earth and produce new species.

 When it comes to the relationship between the fashion system and nature, the apparel and textile industry is the world’s most polluting industry after the oil industry. Each stage of the clothing life cycle poses a threat to the planet and resources. First of all, one kilogram of cotton fabric can be made into a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. In this process, more than 20,000 liters of water are consumed. Second, the process of making raw materials into various clothing, including a series of dyeing and decoration processes, during which up to 8,000 different chemicals are used. What about unwelcome, broken or outdated clothing? Most of them are basically discarded in huge landfills. After incineration, garbage will produce many toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, benzene compounds and other harmful gases, and many carcinogens. These are very harmful to people’s health. 

In order to discuss how to maintain the ecological balance between clothing and nature, my friend and I interviewed many very tasteful people on the theme of London’s fashion wear and got a lot of ideas about sustainable dressing. 80% of people go to charity shops and vintage shops for second-hand shopping. In my opinion, I think these views are worthy of publicity from the media. At the same time, I think we can donate clothes that we don’t need to a charity shop or donate to HM to reuse resources. If we don’t have the resources, we can’t do fashion. 

To conclude, we should call on everyone to save resources and make the planet a better place.