Reading through everyone’s unique experience during the Better Lives project, one blog post that stood out was Bianca Alexander’s third post. What I love about it is the fact that it seems real, not even a bit sugarcoated, and truly according to these difficult times we live in.
She chose Mask Masking as her individual project which, ironically, corresponded with the Covid-19 pandemic. Her initial plan was to design a mask in times of need for desperate people unable to purchase one – but a useful mask. Bianca’s idea to encourage social distancing by making a mask similar to the ones plague doctors used to wear in the past sounds brilliant. Her ‘dead bloated face masks’ were supposed to scare people away and warn those around that the person is infected.
The mask she wanted to design was not only just a fashion item, it also had a medical purpose – to contain Vitamin C and herbs in some areas, which was helpful in fighting against the virus.
However, due to the lockdown, she could not carry on with her mask project but somehow managed to change her perspective with the help of the Better Lives lectures. Instead of creating a mask from plastic, she turned to more sustainable materials.
I think she had a brilliant idea and the fact that she could not finish her project because of the pandemic was a pity. The fact that she has managed to learn and take sustainability into consideration before designing something is proof that this unit made us more responsible and much more aware.
My experience throughout the Illustration project has been very unexpected and beneficial at the same time. When we started I was a bit anxious because everyone in my group was good at drawing so I had to keep up. Our coordinator was making me feel a lot better because she was giving us the freedom to explore and create. I managed to draw clothes of mannequin figures, then we were told to paint all over them, we talked about illustrators and I have come to admire Bill Donovan. He is working with Dior Beauty and his illustrations are surreal. We also had to research sustainable designer and Stella McCartney is still my favourite.
In the end, we learnt how to draw a nude silhouette and also how to draw faces. Drawing at home was challenging for me as the lockdown restrictions in my country are very harsh. I had no acrylic paint so I had to improvise. I thought using my makeup palettes could work so I started using those colours in my illustrations and an eyeliner for the lines and contour, all on recyclable paper. The drawing I am most proud of is a sketch of Kendall Jenner’s nude silhouette. I may not be very good at drawing and I am most definitely not going to be an illustrator but it was a fun experience that made me more social responsible and much more appreciative of this field of work.
To close off my experience within better lives I wanted to peer review a post that resonated with me and so chose Daisy’s reflection on Julia Crew’s lecture about Power.
BLOG 1: POWER (Diversity & Social Responsibility) by Daisy Easterby-Sands⋅
As I was also influenced by this lecture it felt the obvious choice and I was intrigued to gain an insight into how it affected somebody else, as well as to see how the information that we were all given may be utilized differently.
I was affected by the use of statistics included in the lecture to illuminate the writers opinion and insert undeniable facts into the reflection providing a coherent reality to the inequality of the fashion industry with every point fully supported and analyzed. The reflection is factual, further emphasizing the importance of questions that we should all be asking ourselves as consumers; such as “who holds the power?”
It can be difficult to consider such fundamental questions concerning something as all-encompassing as consumerism, but the use of quotes and figures to break down the hierarchies into something digestible and obvious really puts into perspective the inequalities that are very much rife within our culture, and highlight the real issues caused by an unjust system . The reflection is clear and concise, making excellent use of the information provided to make a jarring point on the inequality that has become standard. I am reminded of what compelled me first listening to Julia Crew’s lecture, her straightforward approach to the statistics that inform the power roles is translated through concise communication and the inclusion of cited sources. This reflection is a vivid and empathetic portrayal of an industry on the cusp of destroying itself, efficiently channeling Crew’s knowledge alongside a personal interest.
Daisy’s reflection draws an accurate summation of the information to inform a personal opinion. The reflection is as informative as the lecture and compacted to create a lasting impression.
Moving forward, Daisy reasserts the theme of power with the individual. The importance of aligning your morals with your actions is prominent, and the position of privilege that we often forget we hold as consumers is underlined. This demonstrates both a deeper impact of the lecture and a lasting understanding of the importance of responsibility; both within the industry and as individual consumers. It feels an empowering end to the series of lectures, and a suitable reaction to the information we were lucky enough to receive. Everybody will be informed independently and in different ways by the knowledge we have acquired, and this understanding of our separate roles and the consequences of our actions is a positive progression.
in this peer review section of this better lives unit I have chosen Elanka Jiangs second blog post to get an understanding of her topics spoken about review them. The blog post focuses on Diversity during a pandemic and talks about some really interesting points throughout the post, for example Elanka is a Canadian Chinese studying in London who has always been proud of her roots as she mentions but through growing up in Canada which a country that prides itself on being “diversity and views its multinationalism as one of its greatest strengths”. Elanka and her being part of a minority she states she hardly saw people that looked like herself in mainstream media and it made her realize the importance of representation in an individual’s cultural identity. She speaks about how though there has been a rise of diversity included into fashion media however she says that she has faced her own cultural shocks more so in recent times and asked herself what she can do. Something which particularly resonates with me in this blog post is how she speaks about how it’s difficult to keep fighting these feelings of insignificance as our front-line responders are out there facing the real battle and though we have moved our studies online there’s something which seems to be really missing within the what has become the everyday at this point in the pandemic. As she continues, she addresses how all this time we all have on our hands is going to impact of she is going to combat this issue of diversity through her future work by addressing these collective issues and concerns often overlooked in mainstream media. She goes on further to say she wants her audience to feel represented and understood. Issues regarding racism, cultural appropriation, and segregation can be sensitive subjects but through the use of social media and other forms of communication, she wants to let others know that they’re not alone. I think this a really positive blog post and I feel that she has really taken the better lives themes and used them to better herself and hopefully make a change in the future of her work. Though she does not talk about the likes of sustainability the other better lives theme’s the way which she has written this blog I don’t feel like there would be much relevance in including this as the topic of diversity is much of a personal one.
The better lives themes which I have engaged with in this term have defiantly had an impact on my way of thinking when it comes to looking at future projects in and outside of university. I felt a real immersive feeling to a range of lectures and the themes they spoke about but one of the themes that resonated with me in particularly was Lorraine Gamman Empathy lecture.
The main aspects of this talk were the idea of when starting a project about a particular theme or idea, being able to step into the position and understand this we must have an idea of the two components of empathy. The first half of empathy is emotional response, feelings and identifying with, and the other is understanding, perspective taking and imagining the other. This small aspect of the lecture gave me a greater understanding of the concept of empathy as it gave me this template to consider when taking empathy into consideration in the future of my own work. Gamman drew examples from her own experiences of this way of working and mentioned here work with prison inmates for her design against crime research. She shared the emotional connection that having empathy and working with inmates had on herself and finds that whenever using empathy physically to help and get an idea of being in someone else’s shoes makes the outcome a lot more rewarding and enjoyable. With this lecture in mind I have already started trying to be more empathetic not only in my work but a little more than usual in my everyday life to become more understanding of how people react to certain situations as I personally feel that there’s a future project in something related to that. In the end section of this lecture we came to 3 key elements to remember when designing for empathy which were, creating experiences for another but what types of experiences created are important, the second is was being able to recognise other perspectives of the experiences you have created and finally affective empathy which usually only takes place when there’s direct contact between people. All these points and ideas shown throughout this lecture has provided some really interesting ways of developing my work and approaching future projects, it has also given me some motivation to revisit old projects which now with the idea of using empathy for design it can now give my work that extra bit of depth.
Throughout this fashion journalist part of the unit we have been introduced to the range of ways to find and secure data. In the first few sessions we focus on data taken from the women’s marches in America and how that data was taken and used in an article to support a point. We had ago a trying to make a graph which shows the data retrieved from these march’s in America and then continued to write a small article which talks about the feature of these marches. I focused on how social media would have a huge impact on another march as more and more people have jumped onto the social media band wagon which will have positives effects on documenting things such as how many people attended an event like this. The second aspect of this unit was writing a feature which focusing on the better life’s themes. I came up with the idea of looking at how Gucci is a sustainable after my mum asked about the topic. I began to look into what Gucci are doing to help against this issue and this is what I found. On my first google search the first link to pop up says Gucci has its finger right on the pulse of the fashion industry, as its latest initiative, Gucci Equilibrium, solidifies its position as a sustainable , responsible as well as highly desirable luxury fashion houses quoted by Vivian Hendriksz to fashion united. This was quite a surprise to me, so I continued to see what specifically they are doing differently to other high-end designers to help this underlining problem. In Hendriksz article from 2018 he talks about the resent announcement of Gucci’s launch their new programme and wider 10-year plan to embed a comprehensive sustainability strategy into its brand, one which will be governed by a Culture of Purpose. In turn, this Culture of Purpose dictates Gucci’s operations on a daily basis, which are held in place by three pillars that include the environment, people and new models of sustainable innovation. Under the first pillar, Environment Gucci highlights its commitment to reduce its environmental impacts by setting targets to develop a new standard in luxury. For example, on the new platform readers can learn more about Gucci’s aim to guarantee the traceability of 100 percent of its raw materials by 2025. However, looking at the most sustainably fashion brands when searching online Gucci aren’t in any of the top 5 brands. Instead brands such as DÔEN and Stella McCartney who are constantly on these lists are the biggest for helping to resolve the issue of be sustainable, showing that Gucci still has a long way to go in trying to succeed in there 10-year plan for being a sustainable equilibrium. Finding all this information out about how brands such as Gucci are really making a difference when it comes to being sustainable.
The lecture I have found that has resonated the most with me throughout the better lives lecture period has been the Laura Salisbury talk about Inclusivity. This lecture started by providing a sort definition for how the word is effective in the fashion industry. So, in my case, it was being able to not just see my work or idea from one prospective but also being able to see it from another, considering both the positives and negatives.
Laura then continued to provide the class with a range of examples where inclusivity has been accomplished and prosecuted in the fashion industry. One of the main ideas she showed which I was particularly interested in was the nearable strength wearable pods. These pods were initially designed for the elderly but due to their inclusive design were found to be very useful also to people with disabilities such as people who had have strokes or had a muscle impairment. However this is where the argument of being truthy inclusive comes into play , as though very useful for these different minority’s they are possibly have some elements of question for example they might be very comfy for some of these people or maybe they are difficult to put on so for old people this could be a big deal breaker when considering buying them.
Laura also provided the class with few different methods when It comes to working with your idea so it’s able to develop and also move into this concept of inclusiveness. the main tool which I found really enlighten and was something I wanted to use in the feature of my research was the double diamond method. This double diamond method works by starting the centre of where the two diamonds meet which in context would be your idea and then working backwards to then develop your idea and gain a greater understanding of what you are working on. The diamond includes discovering your idea, defining it, developing and then delivering it. I think this is a really good and useful visual tool to use in throughout not only university but also in my own personal projects to create more depth and also more character to my ideas.
As an aspiring fashion journalist, the themes incorporated in the Better Lives Unit were not of much interest for me at first. These past few weeks have taught me that my ignorant and shallow attitude towards sustainability, social responsibility and diversity was the exact toxic mindset we should all fight against. Anyone can contribute and make a change.
I chose Illustration as my Better Lives project which was an absolute challenge because my drawing skills were non-existent. I thought exiting my comfort zone and trying something completely new alongside people from other courses would be a beneficial learning experience. Also, ditching the digital world I work in because of the journalism course for the material one in illustration seemed almost adventurous. Not only did I finally understand how hard being an illustrator in the fashion industry is, but during each course I managed to gain a sense of awareness and responsibility when working with materials. We were working only with recyclable paper, we were using our own magazines to cut and use bits for various patterns and we were researching designers supporting sustainability.
One of the lessons that impressed me the most was the one when we were asked to bring some magazines with us. We were given a white piece of paper, a scissor and freedom to create whatever we wanted. It was not only fun having Irina Shayk’s head on top of Bella Hadid’s torso and Kendall Jenner’s legs, but also inspiring and powerful. The thing I loved most during lectures was the freedom we were given and the assurance I was personally feeling that nothing I was doing could be wrong. It felt like a dress-up game from childhood.
The initial idea that the values of the Better Lives course will never be a problem in my field of work has completely changed. I have learnt that the way in which I can help may not be writing on recyclable paper, but I can use my voice to raise awareness about these issues and I can persuade people who, just like I did, think that they will not be able to make a difference. I feel like this unit was vital for how my perspective over the industry and the world itself will be for the rest of my career in fashion.
Out of so many lectures, Julia Crew’s presentation about Power was by far the one with the most profound impact on me. Her lecture managed to put an important question up to debate: in whose hands lies the power in the fashion industry?
As a future fashion journalist, I thought media would be the obvious answer but her lecture changed my perspective. It is true that the propaganda today’s media manages to produce is an important game changer, as we were all able to see especially during this pandemic. Media can shape the truth some people may want the population to believe – this way masses can be manipulated as we believe what we are being told. Our lives are so influenced by the media and all its tools that more and more people have begun to suffer from different diseases such as anxiety and depression, trying to match the edited lives of some Instagram influencers.
Another source of power is money and this part made me think how irresponsible we usually are when shopping. I thought it was unfair and heartbreaking that some people are growing billion-dollar empires while others work for them and barely manage to afford a decent life. I finally understood how this industry supports the economy and how we, as buyers, encourage exploitation of employees if we do not begin to ask the right questions and act.
However, after this lecture I began to think that the true power lies in the hands of the consumer. We have the money, we decide what to buy, therefore we are the ones influencing trends, prices and even the whole industry. With the right education, we are the dictators of the way this whole industry is heading to.
Going into this pathway oblivious played to my advantage of absorbing new information. My knowledge was at a basic level, stylist tends to have an obsession with clothes whereas my course, Creative Direction briefly touches on that area. I didn’t know to the full extent of what being a stylist entailed. I needed to achieve two experimental and contemporary looks that responded to sportswear fashion and represented another subculture and the workshops helped break down how I could approach this.
Figure 1. Subculture Brainstorm (2020)
Brainstorm workshops were beneficial, they helped me to share ideas and learn new concepts from my peers from all different courses like Fashion PR and Hair and Makeup. One thing I found interesting was breaking down looks, through a hair and makeup student I learnt how they focus on building a character in the face however through a creative direction student like myself that isn’t always the central focus however it was important to understand that we all play a part in the execution of a vision.
Figure 2. Subculture Collage (2020)
Previously, I would’ve always considered myself an independent worker, I find it hard to pass and share responsibility however through these workshops I was able to see the advantages of collaboration and construct looks within a team.
Operating as a stylist I needed to understand contextual knowledge and skills and values such as sustainability and culture, these were central topics in our lectures. These masterclasses encouraged me to become a cultural translator. Social responsibility and sustainability were themes that were a central topic in our lectures. Through these lectures, I gathered the importance and awareness of the impact we as consumers have on the environment. These themes translated into my looks and informed work outside the unit such as my fashion histories essay.
This unit taught me how to be resourceful and create alternatives looks in our current situation. Curating a look that could represent my vision, I took to digital tools to design and shape. It was interesting to see how clothes took the backseat in terms of corona and lockdown as everything, but clothes became a priority and due to restrictions, it has made us become more resourceful.
Figure 3. Pose and Body Language (2020)
Both looks created were an interpretation of sportswear and ‘old grime’. The subculture came from the interest of the UK music scene and channelling how these artists represent themselves through clothes. Old grime being the subculture I chose when it was an underground sound was very discreet emerged from London.
Putting emphasis on the silhouette created in both looks, layering was essential to embody the puffy shapes that were worn throughout supposedly for comfort and versatility.
Grime before it became mainstream. Recognising a running theme in the clothes that people wore to represent grime culture, for instance, baggy jeans, boot cut jeans, raincoats, shades, layers and incorporated that into my look. In means to create a grime interpretation to display on the runway to tribute to the iconic genre.
Figure 4. Sportswear and Grime Culture Look 1 (2020).
Figure 5. Sportswear and Grime Culture Look 2 (2020)
