Final Summary 

Task 1/2 was a bit challenging in my opinion as it was the first task and I think that I was a bit frightened to work on it as I left it a bit so that I had a bit more understanding. And I was very confused at first. I believe that further understanding will help me along the way as I was a bit lost in the first task. Also, I was a bit cautious about what theme to talk about, I believe that I went to the whole library and I was going a bit insane choosing but I ended up wondering in the section where traditional fashion, which was a pretty okay theme as I thought I can write about two different countries and talk about them. 

 Task 3/4 academic integrity was really hard as finding issues that people haven’t yet discussed is hard as I didn’t want the similar topics people are doing so I choose on from the past that blew up within social media. Well to my understanding it was a big issue and made a huge impact to the brand that I looked at and how people view this brand  

 Task 5/6 I found this task the easiest one because of the analysis of the images, I like that it was forward, and I didn’t actually take a long time to write essay, but what I found hard was finding what designer I wanted to write about, I didn’t want to choose the typical brands that are well known such as Chanel, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana; I already know so much of their collection, so I think my motive was to challenge myself into finding a designer which I haven’t come across with.  

Task 7/8 reflective writing was the hardest task I have handled throughout this project as it was due to all those reading my mind was shut to what the words was implying and this was a struggle as I have not fully understood the text that Bernard has produced but in the end, I choose a topic that I can make my writing relevant to what the text is within his bibliography. 

 Task 9/10 I believe that this was the second easiest essay I wrote as was comfortable about what the task was as I understood it so much in class and I already done a similar topic in my previous studies, so I knew some part of the ethical issues, I think that due to this information I was able to find a decent amount of references such as movies, music etc… 

 Overall, I have learnt a lot in this project as it was a journey for me, I have never done this much fashion communication in my studies, as far I dissected the text within the authors thoughts, I believe I went into what they were saying as far as I can remember. The challenging part of this essay was the blog itself as I cannot figure out what to do, but It was okay as it was definitely an experience, I think that whenever I handle a task like this I will be more aware of my chosen topics.   

The image of Duncan Quinn who is a luxury tailor is controversial topic as the add shows provocative for some people as it shows a woman being dominated by a man with her barely wearing nothing on, The image shows that the guy seems to be dressed well and that he seems posh and decent in the picture. this topic will definitely spark up the feminist into thinking that men should be powering woman and that they should be more submissive and that they should be seen more weak than men. Which is not mostly the case as theres has been countless of examples that women can be as equal as men, such as The Suffragettes, Coco Chanel, Malala Yousafzai etc… these women proved that all humans should be as equal and that society shouldn’t categories gender norms, I believe that the world is more accepting and more equal but theres still division in us and that some topics haven’t yet accepted in the society eyes.

Social media definitely has an effect that people take in everyday and doing this change their perspective in whats right and wrong, knowing that we live our lives through screens everyday, specially the younger generation they are believe that this is right and manipulated into thinking this is okay, however these movements and brave people who speaks out against these controversial topics changes this and will open minds. But this is not certain as there are people that are close minded and that wont believe this into this.

Knowing that we live in the technology age, we are expose to many things as social media, blogs, movies, music poetry etc.. these are considered to be a normal thing and that woman are either over sexualised or be seen weaker than men, for example 50 shades of grey, we get that this is only a movie and that people wont take affect on it, however we are fed that this is okay, that there are some disturbing things shown on the movie, specially for young adults seeing this they are believe and manipulated into thinking that okay, I get that this is a in every platform somehow sex is more published such as ads, movies and music, and do get that sex should be celebrated as it is a form of love, passion and compassion, however how many times do we have to see that women should be only submissive and sexualise in the media, it is not okay as we all have a sister, niece, kids, mother, friend and wife. And this is how the world should view women. This will cause that men should believe this and that leads to certain cases as sexual harasstment and so on.

Overall I don’t see the relevance in this as it doesn’t really focus on whats really been advertised which is the tailored suit, I think that the over sexualised image is over shadowed by the main focal point and it doesn’t really link, this is mainly to spark conversation and have people talk about this, however, this will make people believe that this is what the brand is about.

This task has enticed me in knowledge and understanding of etymology of the word ‘Fashion’ by ready part of ‘The etymology and the definition of fashion and clothing’ in the book fashion as communication. after reading a section of the first chapter I understood that it was explaining what ‘fashion’ originate from which is the Latin word for ‘factio’. This first chapter has gain me understanding of what this course was about and how fashion can be interpret by other people. 

Through analyzing the chapter, I came across a section that goes in detail of ‘fashion and anti-fashion’ which discussed that fashion makes a huge impact on cultural statuses and social environment, I believe with this statement as we live in an age of technology and that most of the stuff that people of the high caliber such as designer make a commotion into the way fashion is normally perceive, which is reflected in the way people view fashion as a statement piece; people are all about making a statement into the way they clothe themselves to express themselves, for example people who bend and exploit other people’s cultural appropriation, such as people who are uneducated into these matters are mocking other people’s culture, by dressing inappropriately with the essence of still clothing themselves in the same clothing in other cultures. Anti-Fashion is defined as any fashion that intentionally contrary to the mainstream. There are many styles and personalities that people reflected to the way express their individualities in fashion. But these styles may provoke those with low understanding such as people in the older generation into thinking what’s perceive in fashion specially with the young kids dressing with very little clothing these days.  

An example of people who provoke fashion and gender norms are David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Ruby Rose broke gender norms and was accepted by public, although battle some criticism but due to time they were approved by society eyes and that made people be open to more of fashion being more forward than backwards. I believe that fashion has left some part of the traditions in order to move forward and do better thing in the future, this has always been the route of fashion as it’s a place to be innovative.  

Looking at anti fashion made me realize that fashion is evolving as years go by and I think that we should be open to people’s art and it shouldn’t be shunned in society as it should be celebrated, however I do get the consequence’s into dipping into these kind of themes as there are sometimes considered provocative in society’s eyes and it shouldn’t be because due to all the fashion advertising  have always moved forward in fashion and that we should keep moving forward to open our horizon’s, I believe that most fashion these days are considered an art form that wearable art we see in event shows such as met gala and other platforms such as stages, award shows, music videos etc… 

Bibliography  

Bernard, M (2002) Fashion as Communications, London  

Vogue- Vfiles Spring18 RTW

I choose to analyse Vfiles because of their modern feel and urban aesthetics, I like that it’s a statement piece but still have an artistic feel to it, the collection itself has wide range of variety so its preferably to the target audience they are looking for and are selling to. I like that the brand collaborates with young designers and that it gives the brand a lot of personalities in each collection. The brand it’s the first fashion social media platform, it’s a place where the global fashion community creates, collects, shares and discover.

it influences that younger platform as the brand work with musicians which is something I’ve been seeing in fashion specially with underground designs that do events in shops to showcase their work and within that event they organise parties that also involves people to come create and design garments, I believe that events like this helps the brand to further their knowledge and really get to know people and their target audience.

Similar brands such as Philipp Plein recently has a fashion show in NYFW SS18, consist of a range of artist in different platform specially in music where Plein organised a concert which was also a fashion show, I think that this is very innovative specially in fashion as its merging different artist to give back to fans and connects to the fans.

I’ve looked at different ways that the brand was influence by different platforms such as what’s shown in the mood board bellow, within the further analysis I came across a graffiti artist which name himself Hush. His work consists of bold colours and different shapes, I can sense that his work is inspired by the vibrant heritage of Asian cultures such as japan, with making a silhouette of a woman and using the body as a base to make the artist use it as a statement pieces. The artist uses bold strokes which is reflected in the collection. Knowing that the collection is base in streetwear I believe that it was successful as I can see other designers get influence by the shapes and silhouette with this collection.

graffiti artist Hush- https://www.riseart.com/art/seductress-by-hush

moodboard

Vfiles collection (top)- vogue https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2018-ready-to-wear/vfiles/slideshow/collection#9

Academic integrity defined as honesty in acknowledging the work of other people and giving credit where you have taken other people ideas.  

Within looking in this task I came across the topic of conversation of clothing brands using the famous logos such as Disney for their clothing branch, like jumpers and tea-shirts I believe that his topic itself is kind of sensitive as people obviously know Disney franchise as it has been established long before, 0ctober 1923, which makes the franchise 94 years old. I find it odd within using these kind clothing as I am not the type of person to wear such logos in my everyday clothing. However, I do believe it’s a matter of taste within people. 

Disney t-shirt Topshop 2016

A similar situation with famous popstar singer as she battles with Topshop (brand) over t-shirt using her image, I believe that this matter is unexpectable issue as she didn’t give consent to brand, I do get that with her status she is very known and very successful to what she made herself into but she is human after all to not accept this matter. The source also implies that Rihanna sued that brand too in 2013, this means that Topshop has been feeding off people craft and bending the rules in terms of the law and trademarks, this such a big issue as people had been sold illegal items, for several years and keeps feeding off other people success. Where is the originality? 

Blog- Harpers Bazaar     

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/news/a9740/rihanna-wins-legal-fight-with-topshop-over-t-shirts-using-her-image/  

The first book that I looked at was by Alan Kennedy and it was published in 1990, its interesting as it shows the culture and understanding traditional aspect of Japanese’s fashion back in the days, the book focused more on the women but kimonos was worn by all genders. I was captivated by the patterns and history by the garments. I love the gold appliqué by one of the textile artist, it was very simple yet affective. Woman in the 18^th century was not about showing a specific silhouette to look sexy but showing the humility and pureness of the colours and patterns in the garment, as they were about class and status back then.

There is an exhibition about Japanese kimonos in Victoria and Albert museum, the museum showcase illustrations and garments created in the ages. The museum definitely has a variety of Japanese’s heritage of different people with different stories and meaning. Such as social backgrounds whether they work for the royal family or in the royal family. It is exciting to see that these garments have been through as it teaches us about how far we have come after centuries of modernising the world.

The second book I choose was about Mexican costume by Chloe Sayer and published in 1985 was about the Mexican cultures and traditions. I chose this because of the vibrant colours and different weave pattern produced throughout the history of their ‘Sarape’ which is a traditional poncho worn by men and ‘Huipil’ which is a traditional dress worn by women, the women in Mexico had some of the most awesome and lively dress styles back then. I was attracted to the colour and simple designs and it was a very outstanding way of Mexican heritage.

There’s an exhibition in The Royal Ontario museum in Toronto about Mexican culture. The museum offers a range of textile design produced traditionally by people using traditional equipment’s back in the days and from today. They first draw their inspiration by their Aztec ancestors by incorporating loose fitting and colourful garments; from time to time their clothing has become refined and more elegant. Especially we used the technique that they use to create their ponchos such as weaving. It is what we used on our clothing these days. The Mexican people showcase vibrant and exiting ways of how people incorporate and draw inspirations by their surrounding such as the colours and different landscapes.

Overall I choose to dip into the culture and tradition by two different countries, because they both offer exciting colours and silhouette back in the days and with limited resources like fabric and colours both countries have showed how to still work with what they’ve got. With both they are different in some ways as the Japanese’s fabric are finer and more elegant to show their status back in the days, whilst Mexican fashion offers and cater to all the people, they draw in consideration of the people.

book 1 – Kennedy, Alan (1990), Japanese Costume: History and Tradition

book 2 – Sayer, Chloe (1984), Costume of Mexico

website –

https://www.vam.ac.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvLSb0o341wIVhpPtCh2EPADDEAAYASAAEgLbCfD_BwE

http://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/viva-mexico-clothing-and-culture