Blog Post 1 – Lecture Reflection

I found the lectures series as a whole very informative, as I was introduced to themes I wouldn’t have researched myself such as inclusivity in fashion, empathy and well-being. Two lectures I particularly resonated with however were Cher Potter’s “ Perspectives” and Teleica Kirkland’s “Representation” which both explored aspects of the theme of Diversity. 

“Perspectives” was enlightening as it looked at design outside of a western perspective, not only going into depth with African design and fashion movements but discussing how UAL as an institution can decolonise its curriculum and look further than the west. Not only this but I found it really relevant to my practise, through learning of the South African Sartists use of social media to link current fashion trends (such as streetwear) to historical cultural motifs in South Africa (Iziquaza earplugs) it made me really question how fashion photography can be used not only to promote a socially positive message, but also encourage protest and change. 

One project from them that particularly stood out to me in the lecture was their  Historical Reenactments series (2012). While hunting for second – hand designer clothes, the Sartists started to discover old postcards and photographs that weren’t in the history books of South Africa and in the process discovered little fragments of untold history. They began reenacting these fragments through photography. Their practise was described by lecturer Cher Potter as “a protest against forgetting” presenting how a group with little resources managed to revive part of their history. 

Another really interesting aspect was a look into cultural appreciation in the “Representation” lecture, which is often given less attention than cultural appropriation or sometimes confused with it. In particular I enjoyed seeing a project from the collective Wafrica, which involved a collaboration of African and Japanese artists coming together to design a Kimono with African prints, as it showed how two diverse cultures can come together and benefit each other introducing an exciting new borderless yet culturally rich addition to the fashion industry.

Overall these lectures really got me thinking about more unique ways of promoting diversity in fashion, rather than just a range of skin tones but also cultural diversity, heritage which bring along new ways of thinking. Having not only the people represented in fashion being diverse but also the actual content of the representation being global, as well as people working behind the scenes to create fashion content such as photographers, stylists, make-up artists being diverse can only benefit fashion. 

During the first two weeks of the better lives unit, I watched six lectures titled: ‘Power’, ‘Culture’, ‘Inclusion’, ‘Emerging Technology’, ‘Empathy’ and ‘Well Being’. Thinking generally about the better lives themes, I feel the ‘Power’ lecture by Julia Crew had strong links with social responsibility discussing issues such as brand control, with big names having big industry influence; the idea of a power imbalance causing a wealth imbalance which is abused in the fashion industry for labour – CEO’s being worth millions, whilst workers physically creating the garments in sweatshops barely earn enough to live. One notable part of the lecture that I was able to relate to was the idea of social media being used in today’s day and age to advertise to consumers; Instagram now seems home to thousands of influencers sharing and promoting products mainly from fast-fashion companies such as ‘PrettyLittleThing’ and ‘Missguided’. These influencers have the power to be seen by the millions of people that use social media countless times a day seemingly being subconsciously coerced into feeling the need to purchase more and more throw-away fashion items. However, influencers also have the social responsibility to share and promote the right message; social responsibility for sustainability. Fast fashion most certainly is not sustainable as it produces large volumes of garments in such a quick turn-around time that a lot of waste is left to landfills, with the chemicals damaging the environment substantially. 

An aspect that got my attention most was the idea that consumers have all the power within the fashion industry (without consumers, fashion simply would not exist) and they are responsible for the choices they make. 

I’ve been interested in reading about mental health lately, therefore the ‘Well Being’ lecture was of great interest for me. However, before this lecture, I was introduced to the unsustainable culture of consumerism during the ‘Culture’ lecture by Anna Fitzpatrick. I learned that consumerism focuses on the individual instead of a diverse group creating a selfish idea that they are only responsible for themselves. Change comes from people working together and being selfless; for the fashion industry to be sustainable consumer culture needs to change. 

I’ve recently read ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’ by Matt Haig which is a novel about his struggles with anxiety and depression, and within it he discusses the idea that the economy has created a consumerist anxiety – if people were happy with their lives and what they had then the economy would be poor. This links with Jekaterina Rogaten’s well-being lecture, where she discussed the hedonic treadmill – consumers are never satisfied, once they purchase one item, the need to purchase more increases, as they believe it will make them happy. In both the lecture and Haig’s book, the culture of consumerism is made out to be toxic for a person’s happiness. From both of these resources, thinking about the better lives themes of social responsibility and sustainability, it has made me aware that individual’s attitudes and behaviours need to change; shopping more sustainably (such as second hand) and doing good for the environment not only benefits other social groups, it also positively impacts a person’s happiness. Doing good is proven to make you feel good. Being materialistic, on the contrary, only has temporary positive effects, until the need to buy more is fulfilled.  

Throughout all of the Better Lives lectures, the one that had the greatest impact and I found most engaging was the lecture on Power by Julia Crew. The lecture looked into power relating to topics of fashion, money, media, consumers and protests and the effects of power of each topic. 

As a fashion journalist student, power in media has crossed my mind several times since starting the course in September… in particular the power of social media including the rise of the influencer. Prior the internet, traditional journalists were the gatekeepers of fashion to the public and were the informers of trends and tips. However, nowadays the power lies in the hands of social influencers and anyone can become an influencer. According to the lecture, the influencer economy is worth $1 billion. Influencers are seen as an effective campaign and marketing strategy because of the ads that they post. So, it got me thinking. Are the ads and media that we see ultimately control what we buy? Missguided reported sales increase by 40% every evening Love Island is on, so it shows how effective using ad’s for popular shows really is. Also, there is more pressure to not wear the same thing twice and that “Instagram-able perfect life” which just deteriorates mental health! There is a greater demand for new clothes more than ever before and I do think media does play a huge part towards fast fashion. 

Something I particularly like about Better Lives is the focus on sustainability. Currently, we are buying 400% more clothing than 20 years ago and out of the 100 billion garments that are produced annually, 75% end up in landfills or incinerated. Fast Fashion has increased so much and the demand of clothes Is greater than before. Therefore, factories are being pushed for greater quantity of clothing of a faster and cheaper rate. The lecturer also spoke about welfare of workers which I haven’t really heard too much of. These workers are probably working unpaid over-time, being harassed by those in charge and for what? To earn what a CEO of a top fashion brand makes in 4 days but in a lifetime. I found that quote so crazy! However, because of low minimum wages and falling short, these workers are stuck in a cycle of poverty which is really sad, and it did make me think how could I help?

Thinking after the lecture, I came to the realisation that I think consumers are the ones who have the most power, not the ads or social influencers or the large CEO’s. Consumers are driver of trends and if we didn’t want to spend money on something and/or protested, then chances are the business will stop selling it. After the lecture I looked into some of the organisations including “Love Not Landfill” and began making conscious efforts of shopping more sustainable through thrift shops, Depop or just repairing/revamping what I’ve already got. I’m looking forward to starting the Better Lives classes. 

Upon reflecting on the lectures tackling the themes of diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility I had come to the realisation that I was not as educated on these topics as I had assumed to be. Throughout the many lectures for the better lives unit the one that significantly caught my attention was the lecture surrounding the topic of collaboration lead by Claire Swift, this lecture really tackled the importance and necessity of working with others and emphasised the realisation that it is one of the most fundamental things we do, especially within this industry. I found this topic particularly interesting also considering the current climate surrounding COVID-19 and new ways in which we need to adapt and establish ways to collaborate.

In this lecture I had learned that Collaboration is a non-competitive way in which others work together to solve a problem to achieve a goal, offering a shared understanding of each other’s strengths and the recognition of the power of working together. Whilst following Claire’s lecture she shared some key quotes such as “part of education is learning. And what drives learning is curiosity and collaboration” by Sir Ken Robinson. Claire explains how collaboration is about bringing all your disciplines together and discovering what you can contribute to your team, establishing your own strengths as an individual in a team.

Whilst listening to Claire explain different concepts and processes of collaboration I came to the realisation that before university I was not aware of the necessity and reliability we all have on collaborating and working with others, I believe especially in the arts industry, communicating and establishing strong relationships with your peers and colleagues is one of the strongest skills you can possess in this business.

Claire shares examples of various theories, one that particularly caught my attention was Tuckman’s theory sharing the five stages of group development in which you always find yourself in a team going through these emotions. Her emphasis on transparency within a group is always prominent allowing discussion and debate to be open. A quote I believe best suits this message is “When all think alike, then no one is thinking” by Walter Lippman, this quote particularly stuck with me after this lecture as it is very true in its words, we all do not have to agree on everything, debate and disagreement is healthy within a team, it allows challenges and personal growth, not only individually but also strengthens a dynamic as a group, elements such as feedback and trust are essential when it comes to collaboration.

In reflection of this lecture, collaboration has met new ways and standards in which no one has seen before considering recent events in our society. The realisation and importance of social media has become a newfound value when it comes to collaborating and connecting from home. After observing this lecture, these methods and theories tackling ways in which we collaborate are more useful than ever and is allowing us all to individually adapt to the new environment in which we all currently live in.

BLOG POST 1:

This is the first part of my blog portfolio for the Better Lives unit, in which I will be discussing how one particular lecture from the beginning of the term has shaped my thinking. Sustainability, Diversity and Social Responsibility: the building blocks on which the lectures we listened to are based, made for a very informative and substantial discourse which provided me with a lot to consider. The one that most struck a chord with me and made me realise certain things that I hadn’t thought about before was Lorraine Gammon’s lecture on empathy. As she said, most art projects come from a place of empathy because art is a way to try and make someone understand the way you feel. Art is a natural human way of communication that bypasses the inconsistencies of language, making it accessible to everyone capable of empathy. I believe that the vast majority, if not all, human beings are capable of empathy, but in this day an age it’s not as big a part of society as it should be, considering how big a part it plays in our psyche. This made me think about a study that I found out about a while ago, which led me to a fairly wide-spread article from 2011 on the possibility that rats were presenting empathetic behaviours, by freeing fellow cage mates that were restrained in plexiglass tubes.

 Even just considering the possibility of some sort of biological reasoning for the development of empathy, why is it that it that we have somehow lost our way and in a lot of ways we repress it? As Lorraine explains in the lecture, the main cause is most likely the cycle of consumerism and capitalism that our society finds itself stuck in. I believe that ultimately this development comes from place of good that has become misguided, as we lost track of the initial goal of improving our quality of life. I also believe there’s a possibility that our current society’s lack of empathy may stem from trying to avoid being disappointed or hurt. Offering an empathetic response provides a connection which leaves us open to either good or bad responses, this is why a lot of people, who consider themselves “good”, will still ignore someone on the street asking for money; because of how our brains have been conditioned towards greed, we ignore the natural empathetic reaction, which would be to help them by sharing our money. Empathy can be good for us, as it can help us make connections with others, but it also brings us pain when we think that we can’t possibly share all of our money with people who need it because we do actually need at least some of it to. That being said, when circling back to the Better Lives themes, it’s easy to notice how our behaviour doesn’t reflect them, which I think is the reason for this whole exercise.

Out of all the lecture that I’ve attended, I would say Julia Crew lecture on Power was the most eye-opening and informative one I’ve attended, which I was not expecting because I was assuming this lecture was just going be about the relationship between fashion and power but instead I got the whole package of new knowledge. Julia talks about the relationship between Power and Fashion, Money, Media, Consumer, Protest and Us. Out of all the section Julia talked about, I found the most interesting was the relationship between Power and Media and Power and Consumer.

As a consumer, we forgot that we hold over 50% of the power in any sort of business however we are so used to the action of the transaction that we don’t realise whom we are actually giving our money to and the effects it has on the environment and the workers creating the items. In Julia’s lecture, she reminded me that we’re blinded by the Price and trends in fashion. Nevertheless, it’s just a moment that we’re going through- it’s not something that we need, it’s something that we want and those wants leads landfill mess and unethical ways of shopping. I don’t know a lot about sustainability nonetheless I do think it’s very important and each of should at least does our part to help clean the mess that we have created. Don’t get wrong, I’m 100% guilty of contributing to the landfill mess, I have the most dangerous type of shopping habit which is if I’m in the mood or having a moment, I buy everything. But now there are so many different ways to shop ethically which can still satisfy the shopping craving. Such as Depop, thrift stores, Love Not Landfill, TRAID etc… If we started spending our money in places like these and less in fast fashion brand, we are reshaping our style of consuming products and brand and business will notice and will listen and change their ways as well. 

The topic on Relationship between Power and Media is the most current topic in this lecture and the most relevant as everyone have seen it first-hand. The 21st century is known for the evolution of technology and media and my generation is known for being in the centre of all of it. Social media is one of the most significant, influential and accessible platforms, there are approximately 3.797 billion social media users which means almost 50% of people worldwide use social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Naver, Snapchat, Weibo etc… About 200 million users follow at least one fashion account, this essentially means it’s one of the easiest, quickest and cheapest ways for brands to advertise their collection to a wide group of audiences. However, this may be a positive thing for the brands but not so much for us, I’ve always known there’s a dark side to social media and how it affects our Mental Health but in the lecture, Julia highlighted that it also the effect the way we shop which I never realised until now. Currently, there is a huge problem of Over consumptions and the unsustainable side effect of it. We buy 400% more clothing than we did just 20 years ago, 100 billion garments that are produced annually and 75% of those will end up in landfill or be incinerated. After hearing this, it made me recognise that this is more severe than I thought, and it is getting out of hand.

Overall, after attending this lecture I understood that at the end of the day all the power is in our hand, it’s our responsibility to take the first step to change the system so the brands can follow in our footsteps because Brands needs us for them to survive and As a fashion student, I’m reminded and taught about sustainability and issues around it, however, I believe that the general public doesn’t know the level of seriousness of it.  

After receiving the Better Life unites brief and attending numerous lectures thought out the course of the 2 weeks. I understand why the Tutors decided to choose these key themes which are Diversity, Social Responsibility and Sustainability as our main focus for the Better Life, as it is more current than ever and is factors that everyone should pay attention to in our practices. Looking thought out each of the lecture’s summaries, I found myself always being attracted towards lectures which features Diversity as their main focus. This is because, as I’m able to relate on a personal level and share my thought and experiences on what it’s like to be a minority. However, this does mean that I think Social Responsibility and Sustainability is not just as important as Diversity.

One of the most, memorable lectures I attended was about Representation by Teleica Kirkland. Throughout the lecture, she touched on topics such as why Diversity and Representation are necessary and Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Appreciation. I’ve always been interested in these two topics because as someone who doesn’t fit into the general stereotypical Asian women, I’ve always interested in how to introduce and bordered people knowledge of different cultures and people in Asia through my work.

Kirkland mentioned Dr Diana Yeh, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Culture and the Creative Industries in the University of London, researched Model minority in British East and South-East Asian. After hearing a bit of her research in the lecture, I did further research on her studies and I agree with Doctor Yay because many people might not notice but there has anyways a Hierarchy in Asia and who is the most desirable Caste and whom people trends to gravitate towards. We can see an example of this in every practise not just fashion. I’ve seen numerous collections and editorial where only a certain type of Asian are being used- the stereotypical Oriental look and never the South or South-East Asian which makes me wonder do the creator think that people won’t be able to tell the difference or are they just choosing what looks normal in the eyes of the world or are they just using them to use the word “Diversity”.

Teleica Kirkland definition of Cultural Appropriation shares the same values and understanding of my point of view as well. “It is about who has the power and who has the privilege to be able to use that power and whatever they want from any culture at any time without recompense or acknowledgement” I believe that is fine to take inspiration from other cultures but as long as you understand and acknowledge the history and value behind it. There are hundreds of brands who forget this value wrong seasons after season. For instances, Marc Jacobs, Loewe, Prada, Gucci, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Chanel etc… You would think a respected high-profile brand as they are, would know the differences between Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Appreciation. 

Diversity and Representation are fundamental and essential now than ever as boundaries between cultures and races are becoming burry and soon enough that boundaries will become invisible. Which only makes sense to start featuring and showcasing the real look of realty.