Blog Post 4 – Peer Review

Seeing an article that included a reference about Christianity and consumer culture immediately caught my eye. Jude wrote a reflection on the Culture lecture and explained being overall inspired. I found Jude to be periodically asking questions which gave the essay a more philosophical approach. It was interesting to see the use of research from law professors containing fashion being characterized by “differentiation” and “flocking” which is quite the paradox. I was hoping that eventually these questions would lead to a conversation, but I found that was not the case and the essay did not try and answer the questions asked. I was also unable to locate where the actual reference from “Why Christianity Could Be Killing Your Faith” was. It would have been great to hear more of her opinion on the subject of how she personally projects sustainability into her life since she spoke of how she has previously based projects off the issue. I appreciated the direct evidence from the Culture lecture and Jude’s bravery to speak of how she was ignorant to some of the holes in the fashion industry. Hearing Jude’s voice protrude through the screen was another reason why I chose to review the piece. I enjoyed seeing the self-analyzation that Jude gave herself whilst writing the piece which contributed to her voice being present. I decided that I would read her reference and see the correlation for myself. I found the author of the article also used questions in his work similar to Jude’s. I found the message of us having the right to choose everything quite humbling. The self-analyzation in Jude’s work was so strong that now I began to do the same with this review as I realized how grateful I was to be able to choose everything. Although Jude’s piece had its flaws as every essay does, it was a great piece to read and included a captivating figure which was incorporated very well. Seeing how religion and the fashion industry are included in a majority of people in the world, it restored my faith that Jude would write a piece including this information and I would love to know Jude’s personal take on faith and consumerism because it is a very interesting topic that I have found only brought up less than a handful of times. 

For my peer review, I have chosen to reflect on Jiyong Lee’s 2^nd blog post, ‘Reflections on how the Better Lives themes might change how you work in the future’. My reasoning for this choice is due to their clear understanding of social responsibilities and their ability to apply the aim to their work in Emerging Technologies.

In particular, Jiyong was able to exercise an understanding in social responsibility through their research into patterns between fake fur and leather jackets from 2004 to 2020. I found the graph to be useful in understanding Jiyong’s findings and the multiple viewpoints discussed show the complexity of the subject – especially the mention of the impact of advertising. Jiyong’s explanation of social responsibility with regards to media exposure is insightful when questioning the extent of agency consumers occupy. Having used H&M as an example, I was surprised at how Jiyong was unable to find any advertising for H&M’s sustainable collection and encouraged me to question why. 

However, I think Jiyong could have discussed sustainability and diversity more within her reflections post. Perhaps Jiyong could have expanded upon the H&M sustainability collection in more depth and refer to the role Emerging Technologies played in the creation of that collection. Moreover, H&M has became under fire recently for their modelling choices with regards to a children’s jumper, having cast a young black boy to wear a ‘cheeky monkey’ hoodie. It may have been interesting for Jiyong to look at the insensitivity behind the choice and the possibilities as to why; for example, it may have been intentional in order to gain more attention for their new children’s line.

Overall, I think Jiyong was able to successfully discuss social responsibility with regards to Emerging Technologies and I found her research to be insightful. However, when looking at the other themes of the Better Lives unit: diversity and sustainability, I think Jiyong could have expanded slightly more. 

Jiyong’s post can be found at: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/04/blog-2-reflections-on-how-the-better-lives-themes-might-change-how-you-work-in-the-future-2/

I think you explored the theme of sustainability within your practise really well, in particular how you’ve pointed out some of the major pollutants within the make-up industry (such as plastics and disposable products) and came up with solutions on how to be more sustainable through using microfiber towels instead. It really shows a conscious effort to take what you’ve learnt from the lectures and use it to grow and improve, as well as that you’ve researched eco-friendly alternatives once you’ve discovered what you currently use is sustainable. 

In addition to this, you’ve mentioned how although the make-up industry is not as polluting as fashion clothing that the waste from this industry still negatively affects the planet and needs to be addressed as well. It has also made me consider the ways in which the make-up industry can improve, and for feedback I would say that it would be good to elaborate more on what eco-friendly alternatives there are for make-up products, or maybe go into more depth on how damaging the make-up industry is on the environment. 

One thing that I think you could improve on was that you mentioned well-being briefly but I think it would’ve been good to mention this aspect of better lives more in this post, as I think it not only relates to sustainability very well due to its links to capitalism and consumerism, but also how the perception of beauty in society affects well-being. You could’ve talked about how make-up and well-being are related, what kind of impact the beauty industry has on the well-being of those who take part in it and the relation of constant spending to improve well-being on the environment as a whole. 

Overall I think this was a really good look into how you can improve or update your practise through learning more about sustainability, and it’s great you’ve decided to take a conscious effort to change how you work to improve the environment because of this theme. 

After reading through lots of exciting posts from everyone else over the past few weeks, I would love to write about ‘Bronwynnn Ready’s post 3, Project Outcomes and Personal Development Reflection’. Bronwynnn said, “Due to the unpredictable circumstances in which we have landed in, I have since realised the fragility of the planet and the ways in which societies are inter-relate.”. I would say this is my favourite sentence, I immediately relate to COVID-19. As a vast, global chaotic virus starts from a few countries to a large group of publication. The virus crosses no matter what gender, what age, what’s your skin colour, even wealth or poor. It strictly affecting every human on this planet. And this is the time when we should realize how useless when humanity facing the natural that we used to thought we are ruling them, standing on the top of the pyramid. As the same time, I realize how important to understand social responsibility to each of us. As an artist (sometime I would assume myself as artists), I thought sustainability and social responsibility was something that I don’t have to consider deeply. However, during and after this virus I believe I have changed my thought deeply.

Back to the peer review, Bronwynnn’s outcome was a mask design consider to the “sustainability, diversity and social responsibly”(Bronwynnn,2020), she follows the newest and the most emergent situation, trying to make changes aesthetically and material of the masks. Although Bronwynnn was doing this design in a group way, however, they end to think and design individually. She being difficult due to those unfamiliar materials she has to choose, which during her research going deeper, she realizes been unknown to something is not always a bad thing, it can also improve yourself to desire more knowledge. After the research she chooses to design her mask digitally, this is also a new potential she discovers during this experience.

What I love about is Bronwynnn’s design aesthetically and what she has shown on her outcome combine her selfie (not sure) and her digital design. Bronwynnn design her mask like a fishhook mask, however, she left the space for eye and mouth so it won’t fully hide someone’s face. On the other hand, the curve of the fish looks very fluent which makes me interested in what material would be used for this. Secondly, she combined digital (her design) and reality (selfie) so that the customer would understand the look on wearing this mask, the size, the colour under the light and it would be the bast if Bronwynnn maybe can but the material sample on the side so that this final outcome image would be much more clear and interesting.
However, if I must give some advice I would recommend Bronwynnn to combine with AR (Augmented Reality) such as make a face filter or 3D real-life visual outcome. And also I would consider more about the practicality use as a mask for the situation right now. Base on the design, maybe we can add something to protect the face from the outside, or maybe this mask can give out a special gas to clean the air around us so that we don’t have to wear any protection but we still can go out safely with this fantastic mask.

Review: BRONWYNN READY https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/02/project-outcomes-and-personal-development-reflection-post-3/

I instantly really liked how you mentioned that you are sustainable in everyday life by sourcing clothing items through second hand means. This would mean that you already have an understanding of the importance of being resourceful and not wasteful especially in today’s age. Seeing how you also source said clothing items for your styling practice in a sustainable manner is really inspirational as I think there can sometimes be a misconception that when it comes to styling we need to use designer items fresh out the store but that shouldn’t be the case. I also liked how you defined the theme sustainability within a fashion context as not letting fast fashion take over. This is so significant especially with the likes of brands such as Boohoo or Pretty Little Thing who are so influential across social media platforms when it comes to promoting cheap clothes that have not been made ethically. This is inspiring as it makes people want to be different and source elsewhere.

Mentioning how you plan on actively looking to change who you cast to be a model for your styling shoots shows the want to be open minded which would make many happy as they have a chance to have the light shun on them if that has never been an option.  Working in a team where everyone is different is also inspiring as it again shows open mindedness and should be a reflection of how all our generation aim to work as too in order to be the change that is needed in not only the fashion industry but the media and others too.

 It was gripping to read about how you planned to engage more with social issues in order to fulfill the theme of social responsibility. This in the context of the world and its situations is bright as it means people facing said issues feel protected and looked after as someone out there cares and wants to bring their situation and those of others to light in order to encourage change. This is an angle I had not considered when reflecting on the themes in my own blog as I mainly focused on how it would be my social responsibility to shed light on ethnic minorities and those who are discriminated against as opposed to relevant social topics. This definitely opened my eyes too.

Overall, I felt you had a great understanding of the themes and their importance.

I have chosen to review the third blog post from Vittoria Del Balzo titled, ‘Blog 3 Projects Reflection’.  Vittoria, like myself was on the Make Up Breakdown project and I was curious to find out another student’s reflections on the project.

From the start of the blog post I was reassured that Vittoria also found it difficult at first to find the link of our project to the Better Lives themes.

As Vittoria explains during the process of the classes, we were switched to learning online, ‘during these difficult times’. This made the process of learning slightly more difficult and we were forced to choose resources available to us at home.  Everyone, she tells us adapted to the change very well and produced some outstanding work.  This, she describes, led her to thinking of the sustainable theme. Students were able to produce very powerful work. This was completed by being resourceful with what was available to them in their home environments and they responded extremely well to the challenge specified.

Our writer explains to us, the reader, how she developed her look by using feathers, black marker and tape. This took me back to a programme I used to watch on television when I was younger called, ‘Blue Peter’!  By just using three simple materials she was able to create a very effective look and she learnt so much from this process.  This, she felt, was being sustainable.

Vittoria also feels that a strong theme that became clear in our classes was diversity. The students work was intriguing and beautiful and the writer goes on to describe one student’s work who captured her look by using balloons and gift wrap ribbon attached to her body and face.

My only criticism of Vittoria’s reflection is that she hasn’t quite realised the link between our topic and the Better Lives theme of being socially responsible.  I myself, found this difficult to link.  I think the only way I could link being socially responsible to the topic is to go back to our first lesson in make-up breakdown and think about what we were told about using ethical products, for example, the ‘Weleda’ and ‘Dr Paw paw’ brands.  This was only a small point made in one of our lessons. I am also slightly disappointed that she didn’t add some photographs of her work as I know from seeing her project outcome that it was a delicate but powerful piece of work.

In conclusion, I feel that Vittoria’s reflections on our class is a true descriptive report of what occurred during our topic.  Vittoria has drawn the reader in with her depiction and I found myself agreeing strongly with what was being explained. I am also in agreement with her that having a chance to put the Better Lives themes into action has increased our awareness and made us realise the diversity amongst the London College of Fashion community.

The link to Vittoria’s Blog is:

Your post was a good read.  you can tell that you have touched on all the themes, sustainability, diversity and social responsibility. 

By attending and engaging in lessons, it seems that it has opened your views based on your practice and better lives, by gathering information from a journalist’s point of view, expressing specific insights on facts, numbers and source of information. Understanding that others obtain different amounts of knowledge from all fields. Being that you’re a public relations student, you know about target consumers, brand ethos, and brand aesthetic to where some brands like to falsify information. 

I agree with parts of statements made in your second paragraph, as it shows the relation on sustainability and some social responsibility. As an individual studying fashion styling and production, I am always engaged with opinions on matters like these. Brands choose to exploit on things that are trending, like  sustainability, diversity, and people of different shapes and sizes, to continue to engage with their target audiences, Which isn’t a positive outlook to have, especially if it’s for aesthetic purposes only, as they will continue to promote these examples, as they’re underrated. 

Diversity in the fashion industry has increased slightly, but they still have a way to go if they want more consumers. Looking into diversity is not just about colour, it’s about representation of where you come from.  from the darkest to lightest, there are so many shades in between that haven’t been recognised. People from the younger generations, they need to see a representation of their own so that they’re comfortable with themselves to know that they’re a version of beauty (not standard beauty, what-ever that is) regardless of sexuality, gender, disability, size or colour. And your example of the British Fashion council making their show gender- neutral speaks to my point. 

The fact that you have knowledge like this, enables you to be open with others, their own interpretation and what you deem to be right or wrong, and I believe that is the attribute to social responsibility.  

The point on sustainability has changed people views on what that actually means. I believe that covid-19 has taught others on how to be sustainable, especially with home items that can be reused, upcycled into something new, or create your own project, using their own creativity. I do believe it will make a permanent change for the better. 

I can see that better lives have impacted you on your thought process, understanding others and how you can change your ways of doing things with sustainability, diversity and social responsibility. Thinking about innovative ways on future projects, even collaborations with your peers which is giving you a healthy outlook on ways to work around this pandemic.