Ruolan Chen

After reading Lucie De Roeck blog three posts, who is studying the sportswear fashion language and subcultures styling, I believe she interpreted the better lives theme sustainability well. In her blog, she talked about the masterclass, which they were asked to bring the unwanted garment to cut into and change to the new design. They will use the cloth many times and create different design and look. In our daily life, people always think the garment only have one way to wear it. But styling can help to create distinct possibility by only using one garment, such as to cut into different shape and position. Or combine various clothes into one garment. By using the redesign process, the cloth can become sustainable and will not become wasteful. Furthermore, after the redesign, the item will become unique and outstanding.

I agreed with your point “The styling of a piece of clothing sets a whole new identity of situation and origin.” It illustrates the theme of sustainability using redesign to turn it into a new garment.

I am a fashion styling and production student, in our classes or technique workshops, we are taught using different materials and tools to create items. For example, in a master class, the teacher told us to go to the market and look for different materials to make styling. And our group used paper boxes, unused clothes, abandoned fruits and other waste to make styling and create different looks. Furthermore, this is a fantastic experience because we all used unwanted materials to make fashionable styling. Disposable bags and water bottles could be used as a backdrop for photography. If done well, it can enhance the beauty of the whole garment and attract more customers. As a result, people can know the importance of reuse and redesign and its boundless possibilities to create unique cloth.

Many famous designers design clothes by combining different materials, so I think as styling, we can create our design by using second-hand materials, which can also be fashionable and contribute to the environment at the same time. In conclusion, I believe you exhibited your excellent understanding of the better lives theme- sustainability in the blog.

My chosen project for this unit “Better Lives” is fashion journalism. In this project, we need to write a feature on the better lives subject, including quotes from the lecture series and secondary sources. I have gained extensive knowledge of the theme.

After the lecture “Diversity” by Nick and Sheldon, I have acquired relevant knowledge. There is an “Equality Act 2010” to avoid discrimination in the workplace and other inequality, such as gender equality, disability, and race inclusion, etc. Diversity should be a necessary foundation for the fashion industry. “Fashion is trying, but it needs to be inclusive behind the scenes.” As a result, it inspired me to learn more about accessible inclusion designs.

I think the designer should not only consider the majority of people needs, but they should also take into account those who have special needs. They should ensure that all people are satisfied and no one is ignored. Hence, accessible inclusion designs safeguard the needs of the disabled community. We need to adopt a different perspective to think about design, such as conducting a survey to get a deeper understanding of society, economy, cultures, and politics. Furthermore, I realized that technology is also essential when formulating an accessible design. For instance, technology can help to survey different customers’ needs, and the variety of computer programmes would make the design a reality.

How to create an inclusive design? We should have a diverse team because we can get a variety of perspectives. A diverse team need to have people from different background, age, and genders in order to generate different ideas. Only with the inputs of diverse ideas, can a design be inclusive.

My viewpoints have shifted after this project. Previously, I only consider most people needs but overlooking the unique needs of a less predominant group. Now, I know we should consider all people’s needs, taking disability, culture, age, economic, sex, etc. into consideration.  Through the peer reviews, I learn a lot about how we should consider the better lives theme; sustainability, diversity and social responsibility in order to make a thoughtful design.

Reference

Csincsak, Fanni. “All Together Now – An Overview of Inclusive Design.” Toptal Design Blog, Toptal, 16 Jan. 2020, www.toptal.com/designers/ux/inclusive-design.

During the Better Lives units, we had learned the three main topics, which are diversity, social responsibility, and sustainability. After the lecture, I realise that sustainability would be the theme that might change how I work in the future. My chosen project is Fashion Journalism. I need to include different perspectives, source from reliable websites and collect various forms of data, like an interview, survey and poll. Hence, it is crucial to acquire a substantial amount of knowledge, so that fashion journal would propel the readers to make more sustainable decisions.

In Anna Fitzpatrick lecture, she mentioned there are 1,130,000 tonnes of cloth purchased in the UK, but 800,000t waste form UK clothing. As a result, a massive amount of clothes are being disposed of and not recycled, generating wastage in resources. The reason for the garment waste is fast fashion; fast fashion brands can quickly produce large-scale cheap clothing to meet the short-term trend of consumer fashion, but fast fashion is not sustainable and environmental-friendly. To illustrate, the CODO report mentioned “another shocking fact is that the production of fast fashion uses 8,000 different synthetic chemicals”,  as chemicals are detrimental to our health and environment. Also, The “Global Fashion Agenda and the Boston Consulting Group” reported that the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry. Therefore, the research shows that the fashion industry wrecks havoc on our environment.

Fashion is made possible by nature, land, water, air, and animals. It is paramount that fashion journalists learn various avenues to a sustainable fashion future.

There are several ways to ameliorate the environmental effects of fast fashion; reusing, reducing, recycling, and redesign. Donate unwanted items to the charity shop for people in need so that the garment can be reused. Also, there are many clothes recycle stations; the garment can remake and become sustainable. Furthermore, buying a vintage or second-hand garment could help to make the fashion industry became sustainable. Last but not least, unfashionable clothing could be altered and redesigned to fit the current style.

The fashion brands should survey to understand peoples needs or interest in fashion garment, and only produce good quality clothes and design. Also, fashion journalism can connect to social media because many famous people will post their looks on social media. Most of the clothes are from luxury brands, and the fast-fashion can copy the design and sell it at a lower price. Fashion journals could potentially alter this behaviour pattern; the consumer should make a smart choice, reduce purchasing and prolonging their lifespan.

Therefore, I think sustainability would change how I work in the future, as fashion journals have an integral role in making our lives better.

Reference

“The Impact of Fast Fashion.” Codogirl.com, www.codogirl.com/blogs/news/the-impact-of-fast-fashion.

After studying a few lectures on Better Lives, I gained a deeper understanding of better lives. The lecture I want to talk about is the third lecture by Nick Almond, Emerging Technologies in Fashion.

This lecture has changed my perspective on how fashion leads to better lives since technology can help us achieve things that could not be done before. The ever-changing technology is helping us tremendously, even though it could be convoluted. As a fashion styling student, technology could benefit us in various ways. For example, the Internet allows us to find more resources to do styling. During the lecture, Nick has mentioned that one of the critical technological moments is that AI can play a significant role in fashion. With the advent of AI, marketers can survey any topic and any group of potential consumers. There are a lot of fast fashion brands that are not sustainable. AI could assist us to anticipate upcoming fashion trends, hence, reducing waste from fast fashion and making fashion more sustainable.

In the fashion industry, the designer wants the design to create different possibilities, but sometimes it is too complicated to convert the design into reality. The technology could solve that problem. I believe 3D printing, can help fashion create better lives because 3D printing can create any shape and use different materials, so it helps the designer to actualise all the impossibilities and turn the most improbable projects into reality. Besides, textile was playing an essential role in the fashion industry, because unique textile can help make the design more outstanding. The 3D printing can not only create a 3-dimensional textile but also synthesise different materials into one piece of cloth. The only limitation is the creator’s imagination. As a result, digitally-created clothing will be more popular due to its uniqueness.

During Nick’s lecture, he mentioned that the third significant moment in technology is “New realities”, which include Virtual Reality(VR), Mixed Reality(MR) and Augmented Reality(AR). The XR builds our future. Peter Druker said: “The best way to predict the future, is to create it”. Nowadays, customers can browse all kinds of products directly on the Internet, but frequently, products do not meet expectations. XR can revolutionalise the fashion industry to a more sustainable one. XR creates virtual clothing experience without even having the product manufactured. The design could be tested by customers; if unpopular, it would not be on the market at all, minimizing the traditional process and waste.

In conclusion, emerging technology is an integral part of fashion in creating better lives. The invention of AI, 3D printing and the New realities benefits the fashion industry in an unprecedented way, making it more sustainable. 

Reference

Ricci, Claudia. “How Technology Is Helping The Fashion Industry To Advance.” WTVOX, 11 Dec. 2018, wtvox.com/fashion-innovation/how-technology-is-helping-the-fashion-industry-to-advance/.