Blog Post 3 – Project Outcome Reflection

Minji Kawck

Finally, I finished making my final project. My better lives course is 3D Mask Making about politics. It’s based on social responsibility such as president or nation. So I searched for the big political issues in my country. In 2016-2017 there were big issues in Korea. One is about residential impeachment and the other one is the sinking of a ship. At this time, all the people started the movement with the mask. The mask color based on the yellow color that means the sinking of a shipping issue. Also, they wrote down some words on the mask by using red, black, and blue colors. Red and Blue mean Korea. Black means the warning to the government. Thus, I decided to make the mask by customizing it based on the meaning of colors.

In the third semester, there are lots of projects to do. I needed time management. But, I failed it. So I replan the project timetable only 2weeks. I stopped the hang out with my friends and started the research and bought some materials for the mask customizing. And I collected the mask from my friends and my family. I tried to make the mask the other design several times. I wrote down the reason of fail on the note and tried and tried.

Finally, I made the make based on the research and the big issues in Korea. I used the color pens and real masks. Because I wanted to show the mask in reality. Even though I’m not a costume course student, I don’t have material for the 3D mask. That’s why I selected using the real mask and customizing it. I think to make the 3D mask in my home alone, that’s so difficult for me. There’s no person to help me, and no person let me know how to sculpt the 3D mask. This method was the best way for me in this course. But I like my final project. Because there is so a lot of meaning in my mask.

If I have more time and more material in the future, I want to try it again perfectly. And I will make a perfect plan for this project.

This course let me know the power and lot’s of things in life and to me.

Yinhua Chen 18007246

Blog3 – How the better lives themes have influenced your project outcomes and your personal development?

Having finished my Better lives project, I did the 500-word feature and moving image with my group. This project offers a good chance for me to communicate with others by sharing different ideas. Also, fashion activism is a perfect unit because group work offers me many inspirations in our group work and holden my horizon.

In our group, we choose the theme of “TRAID,” which is a cloth brand in London. During the first group discussion, we talked about overall aspects of TRAID, like designing style, casting, set design, and mood. Then, we summarized the positioning of this brand by searching for the information on the official website and related articles. In the middle of the unit, we need to analyze the core of this brand and design images for TRAID to express our understanding of it. For instance, we allow the models to wear white cloth to show the kindness and sympathy for the people with lower-income because TRAID made large contribution in charity stuff by opening charity stores in London.

Also, fashion cannot live with creativity. Second-hand styling clothes gives the garments a new life, but this is not London’s fashion problem. In Greenwich, 32% of people throw clothes in the bin, and in Ealing, 80% have never heard about the UN sustainable development goals. However, London have many charity shop of TRAID. Although the charity shops are sufficiently more affordable than shops such as “Top shop” and” River island,” there is a significant value in style, not cost, we can make your old cloth fashionable. It is out duty to raise awareness of second- hand fabric to the whole community by let people know wearing clothes that have been worn before does not make them less valuable. From learning unit of better lives, I deem that trading in second-hand clothes will help improve the environment and social conditions within the textile industry with converting burning of cloths into toxic waste, and trade them into local charity shop, such as ”TRAID.”

Due to my group’s research, we knew the core meaning of the brand of TRAID and the charity shop. A lot of clothes brand exists in this world, charity shops often live in a low-key manner, but they have great significance.In this project, the results are influenced by way of thinking Evaluating your own opinions and letothers have their views, whether you agree or disagree. As a group that allows us to trust each other, we need to listen, explore and get new inspirations to complete our group work

Have you ever seen a makeup face without makeup? As my topic choice is Fashion Mistake, I did more research.

I found that there are over 15 million results if you searched for “fashion mistakes” on Google, so we might find the real shock: most of these articles are wrong. Maria Denardo supports 5 fashion mistakes that really count on the fashion spot. of everything, participating or forgiving cultural appropriation. Second, by following the rules of the body type of judgment. We should throw away those rigid “rules” that make the body ashamed and focus on what fits and feels good for you. Four, ignoring how your clothes and accessories are made. It is an easy guide if you are interested in making your wardrobe more sustainable and ethical. Finally, refuse to shop when your weight fluctuates. Spend money to buy some new pieces that fit your body, even if you try to change your body. It doesn’t mean you’re “giving up”. It just means that you appreciate yourself, regardless of size.

In addition to dressing, makeup also has a lot of “Fashion Mistakes”. But in the final analysis, I think in fact this theme means dressing yourself up in a way that doesn’t suit you.

Regarding the previous topic when it comes to the unsustainability of cosmetics, I decided not to use cosmetics to present my final. The last time I used color tape was actually very limited in terms of color. When I was reading my magazine, I suddenly thought that this time I can use another way which is magazine cutting. In order to present the theme, this time I didn’t even apply the foundation, but cut out the colors and shapes I needed, and applied false eyelash glue to the face.

First of all, I found a black and gray eyebrow shape cut from the magazine and attached it to my face. Then because I found that color mascara is very popular recently, I found out the purple plate from the magazine and cut out different lengths and shapes to replace our long eyelashes. Eyeliner is also indispensable. I found a black block from the magazine and cut a small triangle to stick to the end of my eye. Because of the influence of the anime character Maruko, I think I cut out two oval pink pieces and put them on my cheeks as my blush. As for the lipstick, I think that in addition to red tone lipsticks, because we can find out various colors from magazines, we actually have a lot of choices. Finally, I chose to cut out a yellow block with text. It proved that it was not painted, but from a magazine. Finally, I also used a three-color sealing clip that catered to my “makeup” to clip on my hair to highlight the theme of fashion mistakes. I think my work seems to describe a person who can’t make up but she is trying to give her face a sense of color.

In the end, I think this outcome may not be as perfect as I imagined, but after this round of better life study, I think I have the confidence to create better works because I find that I can consider more aspects , And hope that as the topic says, we can create better lives for people!

Reference:

For our creative direction project, we had the theme of fashion activism and had to create a moving image campaign for the brand Nubian Skin. At first within our group, we had planned to do a short advert-style film using models and a voiceover, similar to videos they had done before. Initially we struggled, as this original idea didn’t include all of our skill sets and would’ve been quite difficult and time confusing to organise. In addition, all our group agreed that while their product and concept was very interesting and successfully done (nude underwear for all skin tones) their branding was quite stale, outdated and perhaps lacking in imagination. We decided as a group to rethink how we wanted to present the brand, and try to figure out a way to modernise the brand while keeping their signature style. 

Through doing experiments with the images on the brand’s instagram, we found a way to create a really interesting moving image campaign that utilized all of the group’s skills. We decided to use the skills of both the two illustrators and myself as a photographer to create animated gifs that would be fun, playful and colourful while still keeping within the colour scheme and natural toned aesthetic of the brand.

In this way we managed to get over the dilemma of including the group skills by having everyone involved in the editing as well as suggestions for how things could look, as well as caption writing and instagram layouts. We agreed as a group that we would create all of the content of the moving image ourselves, to be able to have work we can still include in our portfolio as well as post freely on social media. Some aspects were quite difficult, due to the lockdown our original plan of using a model was adapted to the situation, and we discussed as a group whether to continue with the idea or not. Ultimately we modified the concept to still work without a model, and this ended up being much more time efficient and gave the gifs a more playful and unique vibe. 

Through this project, not only did I face challenges such as trying to photograph in a location I usually wouldn’t (my house) but communicating over long distances as our group was across the world in many different time zones. Though it was difficult for us to coordinate due to this, I feel our project really benefited from us staying in a group and producing the final moving image together. Not only did it allow us to bounce ideas off each other rather than working without having any feedback most of the time, but also meant we could combine our skills to create a piece of work even better than if we had done so individually. Through discussion, we not only included a racial aspect of diversity but also body size and hair types, which I feel really showcase the theme of diversity really successfully. 

Moving image link:

https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/9ae54b6e-fb0f-404e-9e59-fd7891cf6741

During our Fashion activism classes we were assigned a brand and worked in groups to produce a moving image that could be a campaign for this specific brand, a video to post on their website,… Emily Bode is the brand that was assigned to us. To start with, Emily Bode is a New York based brand for men. Their clothes are linked to the past due to their modern shapes made with old fabrics. In other words, Bode uses antic fabrics to produce older patterns styles but with a touch of modernity. We started our project with these informations to build our concept. Here is the process.

Project outcome

After looking for some informations about the brand we started to brainstorm to look for some ideas for the concept and project we wanted to realise. We first agreed that Bode was a sustainable brand and so linked to one of the Better lives themes and that it would be the main point of the video. We also noticed that the models on the website were very diverse and that we would use that as well. Due to the older aspect of the brand, we first wanted to shoot a short movie in the streets of London to show the city aspect as a reference to New York and put an “old TV” effect on the video, inspired by the sixties. The video would’ve taken place in the sixties and would’ve been about protests and people fighting for their rights and more specifically black community to link to the diversity of the brand. Models would’ve worn clothes inspired from Bode. Due to the coronavirus outbreak and online classes we had to modify our concept. We decided to forget about the protest part and to focus on the sustainable aspect of the brand and realised it was even better as it represented the brand completely. Our final video ended up being a campaign that would be played in Bode stores and on their website and that would introduce a completely new sustainable collection by using existing footages of the brand and videos about clothes making ,…

 Personal development 

To finish with, on a more personal note, I mostly enjoyed working in a group. During my hair and makeup lectures our teachers kept telling us how important collaboration was. I need to admit, I didn’t really collaborate with other people for my first projects as it was the beginning of the year and everything was new to me. But these Fashion activism lectures showed me how important it was to have other people’s opinions. Everyone can contribute and give his own touch to the project which helps to have a more developed concept. Having every member of the group’s specialism helped me developing mine and think of details I might have not think of before. 

On the other hand, communication is what is, in my opinion, the most difficult. We didn’t always agree on everything and sometimes it became complicated to find an agreement especially when we had to work online. 

Overall, it was a great experience that will certainly help me for my future projects and I’ll never hesitate again before asking for someone’s help or opinion.

Link to the video : https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/349aaf94-6301-45bb-9f3a-4d0ee9fe51dc?list=studio

References : 

Image 1 : Courtesy of Bode (2020) Available at : https://www.wmagazine.com/story/bode-nyc-clothing-brand-designer-style-notes/ (Accessed : 4.30.20).

Image 2 : Bode (2019) Available at : https://www.ignant.com/2018/09/04/bode-a-fashion-reliquary-for-rare-fabrics/ (Accessed : 4.30.20).

The Better Lives project for Fashion Journalism shed light to me on a very interesting and influential element in journalistic writing – statistics. After having the opportunity to experiment with manipulating and using numbers for writing articles, I realised how they play importantly to the interpretation of the writing. We had the chance to explore how statistics led the narrative on the Women Marches, in which raw numbers can be extracted, refined, and placed strategically to persuade readers.  

This opens up to me the potential of statistics in journalistic writing, as well as other forms of writing. Whilst statistics acts as factual evidence that can be very convincing, this project also helped me realised its dangers. Although numbers do not lie, they can indeed be used to mislead the readers, detracting them into unintended topics. Such potential power leads to the responsibility that has to come with the use of statistics. I find the Better Lives theme of Social Responsibility to have a big role in fashion journalism practise, as how writers and publishers choose to narrate would have different results, and if taken lightly, can have societal repercussions. When I was writing the news feature for this project, just by quoting statistics I gained good persuasion for my writing. Also, I realised that by imposing a certain tone to my writing, any quote can persuade the readers into different thing. Within the age of information excess, where anyone can publish writings on the internet to be seen, it can be issue when a writing has a negative tone.  

The assessment of statistics is another important aspect in journalistic reporting that I found. When looking at raw data, it can seem quite cumbersome, but when dissected, it can reveal many interesting things. In the case of reporting on the Women Marches, the analysed raw data shed light on the demographics took part in this movement, where in a fight for diversity and equality, I found the lack of diversity and equality – the majority of the people took part were wealthier, white women. Such a discovery was implied in the original raw data, and I had to be critical in order to reveal the fact.  

Although I followed the Fashion Journalism pathway for the Better Lives project, it has nonetheless helped me gain better understanding to my future career practice through the themes. The theme of Social Responsibility especially interested me in the course of this project, which has reminded me to always be critical, as well as to be considerate of the implications and potential of my action in my work. As I go back to being a Fashion Practices and Criticism student, I now take with me the skills to responsibly inform with good awareness.  

Before starting my Better Lives project, In and Outside of Fashion, I tried not to have any preconceptions of what we might be learning about; starting with an open mind was important to me. While learning about sportswear brands who in the past were seen as popular, how sportswear had been used as fashion in the past and the different types of people who wore said clothing, my understanding for this niche aspect of fashion, its history and what I knew of it in today’s age grew. It was nice and interesting to see how much fashion when it came to sports changed  from football hooligans idolising their teams proudly through a t-shirt to it being incorporated into rave culture in the 90s and to today where brands such as Fila and Reebok seemed to have lost their elite title after being replaced by the likes of Nike and Adidas.

During the lectures and workshops, we were given the opportunity to research further into the sportswear niche and how it had been incorporated through the ages. Finding out that Burberry had once been seen as a brand not worthy for the middle class or those with money was shocking. It was hard to understand how a brand with such heavy price tags now was once seen as accessible to the working class but it was intriguing to learn about nevertheless. One thing I really took a liking to researching was how sportswear were the go-to garments when it came to underground raves in the 90s. In a way I already knew about the secrecy the raves had and perhaps what would be worn but when I compare that to festivals and even the raves documented on VICE due to the discretion that came with them, the inspiration taken from at least 30 years ago is undeniable. It was fun to also learn about the drug culture back then and the use of the smiley as it made making the connection between today, teens raving at festivals, intoxicated, wearing those vintage sports brands to the times of the past that much more clear.

When it came to using our research and creating a look based on what we learnt whether it be mixing different eras and the use of sportswear or sticking to one vintage brand in order to pay homage to it, it was fun working in a team and letting the creativity flow. We had learnt at the start that with being a stylist comes making a brand for yourself to make it clear what clients you take on and that a good assistant is necessary. Although fascinating to consider for the future, it wasn’t something my group had considered when creating a look. We chose to each have an angle for the look whether it be thinking of the era, the brands, actual sports or the social economic side of things. This allowed our look to be even more creative as opposed to being so strict as if it had been an actual client. It made it more fun and in general made us appreciate the past more as wearing sportswear whether it be casually, for high fashion or actual sports is definitely something still done today by all the ages.

Navigating Through Clothing

The character I choose to design for the story ‘Hansel and Gretel’ is Gretel. In my imagination Gretel should at least change two costumes, I want to design the second scene. 

The first costume is during the time she with her family members, they are poor and her step-mother don’t like Gretel and her brother to stay with them any longer. So during this time, Gretel may look haggard and pale, wearing shabbily or raggedly costume. 

The second costume should be when Gretel and Hansel walk into the witch’s house, the witch gives them a new bed and fancy things to make Gretel and Hansel stay, it may be not necessary but I think if Gretel in this scene can change her costume into beautiful dress given by the witch but Hansel didn’t change, in a performance way this can show the difference between Gretel and Hansel that one is naive, one is more cautious. On the other hand, it is better to change her costume because the second costume can prove her characteristic more through costume because she doesn’t have as many lines to speak as Hansel. Also when Gretel courage herself to kill the witch, the changes inside herself compare with the outfit on her could show her growth, she is not a little girl that only knows how to cry. 

Why I choose Gretel & What character I want to show on her costume:

I choose Gretel because I think she has more potential than Hansel as a character. During the story, I can see Gretel from a helpless girl who needs her bother to settle everything, to a smart girl that brave enough using her weakness overcome dangerously. 

I want to design her costume in Pantomime Dame. On the costume, I want to add desserts and sweets to show the dress is come from the witch, with European style dressing. The whole will be inspired by the Lolita culture (not sure yet). The rabbit pattern will also on the dress as her ideal animal.

What I have learned from this Better Lives:

My style of arranging any works, I like to add a narrative or an imagined story. During this better lives section, although we lost lots of classes but still during my research I learned how to make a character living inside with the story, and how to understand a character. I believe these help me to be more comfortable with any of my future work because I can make my character more realistic that my audience would involve more empathy into.