Blog Post 2 – Creative Practice Reflection

After a wonderful series of informative lectures given by knowledgeable industry practitioners, I am greatly impacted by their words and the Better lives themes. These three pillars in which the London College of Fashion revolves around – social responsibility, diversity, and sustainability – all hold equal importance to the university and should greatly influence students continuing their degree. No matter what it is that I do now, I will always consider these themes with a high level of importance, understanding that these factors are what will reshape the industry.

The Better Lives themes of social responsibility and diversity will play large roles in the way I work going forward. These will mostly affect my research process and realization. I understand that I have an artistic voice, and with this voice it should be used responsibly. During my studies, I will always consider an a multitude audiences when choosing a research topic and producing an outcome.

We are currently in a state of climate emergency. We have entered the Age of the Anthropocene – a new geologic epoch dominated by humanity, which has been brought upon by our altering of Earth’s natural cycles due to the last 250 years of rapid industrialization. It is quite unnerving to sit with this heavy information and continue my studies where I will join an industry that has been a major contributor in entering this new epoch. However, I believe that being aware of these ramifications is where change can begin. In fact, it has already begun. For the past year, I have been challenging myself to create the least amount of waste as possible. After Kate Fletcher’s remarkable lecture on nature, my desire to produce less waste grew stronger. It has empowered me to focus both my long and short term goals on sustainability, one day hoping to land a job connected with this matter. As I will continue to consider sustainable viewpoints for any project I take on in the future, it remains a challenge to think outside the box and express creativity. It is no longer a time where editorial shoots can be shot in luxury locations or acquire massive budgets for set design and curation. It truly is wonderful that creatives can express themselves in this way, but it would be even more interesting to see them use activism to raise awareness. It is time for creatives to focus the spotlight on sustainability and express themselves in ways larger than ever before. No longer do we have the luxury of creating ego stories. We now have no other choice but to see the bigger image and remove ourselves from the center of the universe. This responsibility also rests on the shoulders of incoming creatives. Fashion and art enables us to shape our ethical landscape. It can create narratives, either personal or share, and the imagery can have a powerful affect on the audience if done right.

Furthermore, one thing I would like to explore is the concept of the block chain. Nick Almond discusses this idea, explaining how it can provide transparency. This could perhaps be useful for authenticity checking in order to better understand where our clothes are coming from and what exactly it is made from. By seeing how are our clothes are made, it provides a tangible experience that the consumer feels apart of. The consumer is made aware that their garment was produced ethically. Almond refers to this as a “trust architecture”.

References

Almond, N 2020, Emerging Technologies in Fashion, lecture notes, Better Lives Unit FU001708, London College of Fashion, delivered 14 February 2020.

Fletcher, K 2020, Nature, lecture notes, Better Lives Unit FU001708, London College of Fashion, delivered 13 February 2020.

Welcome to the Anthropocene (2012) Welcome to the Anthropocene. 2012. Available at: http://www.anthropocene.info/short-films.php (Accessed: 04 April 2020).

Fashion is a mess! 

In every aspect including, the three principles through sustainability, diversity and social responsibility. 

The state of sustainability is to have the ability to maintain an eco-friendly balance and avoid throwing items that you can restate. 

Studying a creative practice (styling and production) has explored the narrative on sustainability, with introducing the pros and cons in aspects of fashion. Non- equal pay, inequality, child labour, biodiversity, climate change and chemical miss-use. 

I have learnt and educated others in ways to be sustainable. I show family and friends what I have created, by Repurposing any materials, including industrial bags, (use them as plant bags) to selling items online (eBay, Amazon, Depop, Asos marketplace). Also keep clothes as trends tend to repeat, hand me downs, charity shops, thrift markets, car-boot sales, garage sales. These are just some ways of re-introducing being creative with sustainability. 

The representation of class, diversity, unconventional beauty, brand ethos and synergy are the negative representations that have been board-casted through society. 

Being involved in the better lives project, fashion activism, has identified some of the prime issues increased as a result of the acceptance of negative behaviour. When working in groups, we analysed the reinforced images that have been placed as social gratification, these include misrepresentations of cultures, racism and classism, through advertisement. 

The lack of diversity in fashion establishments is still a problem. Noted that distasteful behaviour is accepted and not challenged. If elements of fashion can continue to profit from the negative publicity, it is not considered an issue.

 How do you adapt in any setting? Present your social norms and values to others? Then make a new framework of ethical and social responsibility?

Every individual has their own sets of norms and values, that can influence others to change their perception on social inequalities. One of the main ways in changing your environment is by helping your local community, partake in volunteering, diversifying by expanding your group of friends. Ensuring that it is inclusive to all ages, those are just a few examples of how to revive, and keep state of an open mind.

The best way to develop as an individual is to stay current and informed, engage in new conversations. Be confident in knowing that your opinion counts, that your communication is clear, enlightening and being heard by your audience. Your participation will be noticed, and everyone has the potential to learn something new. 

We have a voice, a way in which we live and choose to live. I have been exposed to such realities and analytical situations. That’s what makes us acknowledge our values, principles, and our identities. In life, being surrounded by so many different personalities around you, you start to take note and become aware of what you like from what behaviours you cannot tolerate.  

Fashion styling and production, with better lives, has continued to open my eyes to the three principles and how they have integrated into my learning. As a result, by being more sustainable with all items I own. I have contributed by buying vintage or recycling items, understanding other responsibilities by broadening my horizons, building new friendships both professionally and personally. 

In regards to the theme of social responsibility I particularly found the lecture by Claire Swift on ‘Collaboration’ useful for my work in the near future.  She began by first explaining that to start each person must know their discipline and their role within the team and that collaborations can lead to great ideas and energy that lead to something called ‘group genius’ which she described as ‘sparks’.  Practising deep listening is important and as a team, we should build on each other’s ideas, and ask innovative questions. She spoke about the different roles in a team that NATURALLY form, you get people who are more action-orientated, people-orientated which I believe I may be and those who are thought orientated. Knowing this I now understand why some team members may work differently to me but together this difference is what creates success. Claire also spoke about the Tuckman’s theory that says each group will go through the stages of forming, storming    (where most conflicts occur) norming ( where everyone has come to an agreement) performing ( everyone creating great things) and adjourning. From this, I have learnt that it is normal to have conflicts at the beginning of a group and to not get worked up about it. Everyone in a team has needs and so it is important to celebrate great ideas so everyone has the confidence to speak, criticism is okay after the team is done generating ideas and its vital to accept criticism by listening to a point of view and not taking it personally.

In regards to sustainability, I found ‘Cultural sustainability’ by John Lau an interesting topic that has made me aware of how I can help in the future.  Cultural sustainability aims to keep cultures alive without misrepresentation and appropriating them. To do this we must understand culture, research and take the time to see the object, language, music, textile through the eyes of the ones who make it, wear it and use it. It requires respect. Without understanding a cultural garment it simply becomes a costume which takes away thousands of years of history and identity. Misrepresentation in film and fashion shows that take inspiration from inaccurate representations of cultures destroy their meanings and lead them to be used as trends. Appreciation of a culture IS NOT using cultural clothing and styles as a costume.  One way of appreciating is by working in collaboration with the people from the culture to create new designs and giving back to them and giving them credit for giving you the knowledge behind it. In fashion shows use models from the culture you’ve taken inspiration from, models who understand the significance of what they are wearing and clearly communicate with the audience letting them know the true meaning of what they are seeing. Cultural sustainability is something that I will look into before ever drawing inspiration from a cultures design. A future without culture is a future without individual identity, so I will play my part to sustain it.

There are a couple of aspects that need to be considered in the theme of “Better Lives” with diversity, sustainability and social responsibility. During I realized all the topics, I found sustainability is the most inspiring thing for me. Because my Better Lives elective course is Make-up Break Down, I will contact the course content to conceive my theme and design.

However, the research on cosmetics attracted me deeply. I found that in modern society, with people’s hobby of makeup, all kinds of skin care products and cosmetics are produced. However, the shelf life of many skin care products and cosmetics is actually not long, some may be stored for several years, but some products can only expire one week after opening. But as we buy more and more products, there will be more and more expired products that need to be abandoned, and we will throw them away. Because if you continue to use it, it is likely to damage the skin. This is actually not conducive to sustainable development.

In my opinion, for cosmetics, of course, I hope we could try to use more organic and long-term storage. But for me, I should do some makeup for connect with this topic, in my make-up break down lessons. In the course, I learned the basic makeup knowledge clearly, which is more brilliant and more experiment rather than in my major classes for performance makeup, especially the basic theory of skin colour for choosing foundation and the contour role. I think that helps a lot through those lessons. And then, we also learned about two topics, fashion mistake and imperfect. In the practice of the class, I also tried to make it for a limited two hours.

The first one is imperfect, I tried to present a perfect makeup, and used eyebrow pencil to spot a lot of spots in the middle of my face, which symbolizes a little lack of beauty. The makeup is perfect, but the spots on the face take away part of the beauty and make it imperfect.

The second one is fashion mistake. I have been thinking about the topic of fashion mistake for a long time, because in fact at the beginning, I did not particularly understand this topic. But the mentor said that this makeup is not necessarily classic makeup, you can use various materials to replace cosmetics, so I still did it according to my feelings. After I finished the foundation and tried to find materials to connect with this theme, I saw colorful tape on my desk, and my idea comes out: I drew one eyebrow and the other eyebrow was replaced with black tape; I drew blue eye shadow on the right eye, then cut a small piece of blue tape and attached it on the left eyelid; blush, I I drew the face on the left, and I put red tape on the right face; finally I applied lipstick on the upper lip, and then put another red tape on the lower lip to replace the lipstick.

I think this is an interesting theme, so I also plan to choose this theme, do more research and development, and finally make my final design. I will also consider the subject of sustainability. I think that after studying better lives this time, I will consider diversity, social responsibility, and sustainability more in my future works and strive to make better works in my better lives.

After watching the lectures there were two that stood out to me in terms of the criteria for the second blog post. These were the lectures by Cher potter discussing the theme of Perspective and the lecture by Teleica Kirkland on Representation. Thinking about different perspectives and not just my own and how they are relevant in the fashion industry gave me a really interesting insight to how interacting with those different perspectives, understanding them and using them to widen my own could benefit future pieces of my work. I really enjoyed how Potter questioned the possibilities of scenarios within the fashion industry and asked why these things are impossible whilst going on to explain it is due to our perspectives and their limitations. For example the fact that nobody being able to have a global perspective as we are all from only one place. I took from that the wider we can get our perspectives the more room that allows for creativity and diversity within our work. Everything is “biased and filtered” that has encouraged me to be more aware and in tune with my surrounding, socially, mentally and physically in order to broardern views on everything.

Furthermore, the lecture Teleica Kirkland did on Representation made me look closer into elements of the fashion industry and my own work. There was a part where Kirkland went on to discuss narrow ideologies, and how this means within the mass media there is one accepted look. One form of beauty as such. Due to me studying makeup design I found this part of the lecture incredibly insightful. The media has such power and control over our work. Especially living in the digital world we do today. I don’t ever want to feel as though my creations ever comply with these damaging and ignorant views of their only being one form of beauty amongst all people. This has driven me to not only push the boundaries when producing in the future but also challenging these narrow ideas and creating a new and inclusive representation. This lecture has encouraged me to delve deeper into the representation of my future work and I continue to keep evolving with my ideas. It has also taught me how significant the way in which you not only represent your work but the ideas and concept behind the finished product is. It is all part of the journey.

 In this blog post, I will talk about how the different themes introduced in the Better Lives unit influenced me and might influence my future works and projects. In my opinion, not all subjects can be linked to my future projects but can be to my personal life and personal choices. This is why I decided to include only one of the themes in the development and talk about the others less in details.

The importance of diversity in Hair and Makeup for Fashion

During my Hair and Makeup for Fashion lectures, we worked a lot on each other and so on different skin types, skin tones, eyes and face shapes,… Diversity is in my opinion one of the most important aspect in my subject of study. To touch as many people as possible, you need to have many different models so everyone can identify to at least one of them. It would permit me and what I do to have more visibility and more clients. And even in general, everyone should be able to find someone they can identify to, someone who is wearing makeup and being a model. From small sizes to bigger sizes, from black people to white people and all face shapes and bodies. Back a few years ago Fashion was very inclusive, still is now even though things are finally changing more and more over time. I feel like my future projects and works can help those changes to keep happening and everyone to feel confident about themselves. This power is in our hands and we are the ones who can make change happen. From now on, I decided I wouldn’t always use the same models for my projects like my friends,… and I would try to communicate about different subjects and cultures and that is where the choice of the model is the most important. For my last project, I choose to research about Pakistan and realise different looks about it : I couldn’t choose anyone else than my Pakistani friend as choosing a model with an other ethnicity might have been taken as culture appropriation and wouldn’t have make any sense to me.

To conclude, one of the other subjects that will influence my way of thinking and living but this time in my personal life is well – being and more especially the work conditions of clothes makers and so where the clothes I buy are coming from. Before, I used to buy anything that I liked without really caring about where the clothes were coming from. After the Better Lives lectures, I started to pay attention to what I was buying and try to find informations about the conditions in which the clothes were make. But most importantly, I started to ask myself if I really needed those clothes and if I couldn’t buy something else instead and break, as explained during the lectures, this cycle of fast Fashion where you are never truly satisfied and always need to buy new things. I hadn’t thought about this more psychological aspect and it made me realise it happened at least once to everyone.

Byrdie (2018) Available at : https://www.byrdie.com/diversity-in-beauty-summit (Accessed : 4.20.20). 

References : 

Pictures 1 , 2 and 3 : Byrdie (2018) Available at : https://www.byrdie.com/diversity-in-beauty-summit (Accessed : 4.20.20).

In the Better Lives project for Fashion Journalism, I had the opportunity to explore how data was used to report on the event of the Women’s March. Over the first two sessions, we got to analyse the data to understand its potential use, as well as to see what it reflects of the event.

We are surrounded with data in our everyday lives. Almost every piece of news or discussion has got data in it. Data does not lie, it is good evidence that makes any statement become more believable and convincing. But in our sessions, I also recognised how data could be used to direct its viewers towards specific topics, for better or worse. Data on the Women’s March, for example, can be encouraging, where we see many women took action in certain locations, nonetheless, when dissected, it can reveal how these many women represented only a certain demographic, such as middle class women, which could be off-putting. Having delved into further investigation, I discovered that the movement behind the Women’s March eventually fell apart. And the data implies the reason behind its downfall – the movement involved many different demographics. At first sight it may seem a celebration of diversity, but in reality, misalignment between these demographics lead to the movement’s downfall.

Despite being factual, when we put data in different perspectives, it conveys different stories. And I realised that it is important that data, or any other tool in any career, should be wielded responsibly, where they might hold impact on society.

Through this bit of the project, it becomes clear to me how the Better Lives themes are relevant in our future career, and even in wider life. I have realised how social responsibility is imperative in fashion practice, or any other, because it is what would drive the industry towards the better or the worse. Since realising from this project how there are many sides there can be to a topic, it drives me, as a Fashion Practices and Criticism student, to always be critical and expose the potentials behind any practice in the fashion industry.

Reference:

Frostenson, S., 2017. The Women’s Marches May Have Been The Largest Demonstration In US History. [online] Vox. Available at: <https://www.vox.com/2017/1/22/14350808/womens-marches-largest-demonstration-us-history-map> [Accessed 26 March 2020].

Since reflecting on the Better Lives lectures, I have been motivated and inspired by the ways in which we are each able to make small changes contributing towards a big development within fashion. In doing so, I have considered how I can do my part.

Within my Better Lives course, contemporary portrait photography, I have recognised ways in which I can be more ethical during my project. For example, educating myself on where garments originate from and the implications of me buying them has on the market and developing countries, which prior to attending Julia Crew’s lecture on power, I hadn’t given much thought about. Upon reflection, I have since explored different ways of consuming fashion through second-hand sites such as Vestiaire Collective and The RealReal. However, it almost seems as if an equal society is impossible. Although attempts to improve economic disadvantage in developing countries, such as the Made with Love Project, are progressive and positive, “the crisis-prone nature of capitalism means it would likely be plunged into deep recession by radical attempts to modify the degree of surplus value extracted from labour in a sector such as clothing.” (Brooks, 2015)

Moreover, the sensitivity required with regards to representation is a factor I intend on prioritising throughout. Especially when photographing very distinct cultures, I feel it is important to appreciate and respect their individual aesthetics not only from an ethical point of view, but to remain socially relevant and avoid an online ‘cancel culture’. This can be achieved by researching the history and connotations behind each decision I make with regards to styling, location, make-up and hair, and direction of the shoot. An example of such being US Vogue’s April 2008 cover staring Gisele Bundchen and Lebron James, whereby the image “provoked allegations of racial stereotyping, with some critics saying the image of James, his teeth bared in a mixture of a roar and a growl, is ‘ape-like’.” (Sherwell, 2008) Similar was found in the controversial 2018 H&M campaign. Evidently, a lack of knowledge and understanding of history and the connotations that can be implied from minor details, such as facial expressions and casting, has resulted in severe backlash. Although, it can be argued the lack of inclusion amongst high fashion luminary has caused such poor judgement; with little diversity at the top, there is limited perspective.

When completing my project for contemporary portrait photography and others in future, I intend on continuing to be inquisitive with all my decisions; considering different perspectives and outcomes. I feel it is imperative to encourage inclusivity to ensure my work is respectful and representative by working alongside creatives from different backgrounds, as well as ethical and sustainable by using second-hand garments, contributing towards a more circular industry.

Bibliography:

Brooks, A. (2015) Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-Hand Clothes (pg. 153) Zed Books. Available at: ProQuest Ebook Central (Accessed on: March 31 2020)

Sherwell, P. (2008) Race row over ‘King Kong’ Vogue cover. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1583333/Race-row-over-King-Kong-Vogue-cover.html (Accessed on: March 31 2020)

BLOG 2:

I chose to study Fashion Journalism for the duration of this Better Lives project, in which we are currently looking into the practice of Data Journalism. Within this unit, we are also required to keep in mind the three Better Lives themes of diversity, social responsibility and sustainability.

Throughout the lectures so far, we have analysed an article written for ‘VOX’, by Sarah Frostenson, about the Women’s Marches that took place in 2017, across the US. Within this article, Frostenson states that on one particular day, it was found to be the “largest day of demonstrations in American history.” (Frostenson, 2017), in which she backed up with statistics and data, collected by reliable sources. 

In addition, we assessed further, the data surrounding the idea of how many marches occurred across various states in America and thought about how and why these particular statistics were shown. In order to do this, we discussed as a group, a variety of questions that were raised, which would also work as good leads for further articles that could be written around the subject.

Whilst looking into this article and the statistics around it, it occurred to me, the importance of social responsibility, when working in the field of journalism, whatever form of journalism that may be. As a journalist, you have the social responsibility to deliver factual information to your audience. The concept of ‘fake news’ is a very common occurrence in the journalism industry and across the media, where stories will be twisted, false information will be shared, and this mainly bottles down to the fact that there was a lack of data or statistics in the article, to support the said information. In today’s society, as the use of media and technology has heightened, the concept of ‘fake news’ is a problem that seems to have increased hugely, especially amongst celebrity news. 

Conclusively, the past few weeks of these Data Journalism lectures have shown me the strength of which data obtains, when it comes to certifying an article or piece of writing. It’s opened my eyes to the social responsibility journalists have, when it comes to public delivery of their work. In the future, when it comes to my personal practice, in this discipline in particular, I will ensure that all information used and all statements made, are backed up with a reliable source. To do this, heavy research is required, but as a responsibility of ours, it is a role, which as journalists, we must deliver.

CITATIONS:

Frostenson, S., 2017. The Women’s Marches May Have Been The Largest Demonstration In US History. [online] Vox. Available at: <https://www.vox.com/2017/1/22/14350808/womens-marches-largest-demonstration-us-history-map> [Accessed 26 March 2020].