Seminar with Gill on Feminism, Sustainability and Greenwashing

Feminism and Sustainability

-   Obsolescence

-   Expectation of the shopping trip will bring

-   The desire to shop. We don’t need to but we feel we do

-   85% of clothing worldwide ends up in landfill sites instead of utilising it, as that costs more money

Feminism	Sustainability	Green washing
-   Fetishism      -   Everywoman    -   Critique    -   Butch    -   Femme    -   Domesticated    -   Passive    -   Repressed    -   Masculine    -   Roles    -   Dependency    -   Gender    -   Stereotypes    -   Discrimination    -   ‘Barbie’    -   Equality    -   Male gaze    -   Slutwalk- Amber   Rose    -   Object/Subject     -   Active – Lara Croft    -   Suppression    -   Subordination	-   Consumerism   -   Change   -   Environment   -   Ethics   -   Save   -   Commission   -   Manufacturing   -   Growth   -   Increase   -   Society   -   Climate   -   Recycling   -   Strategy   -   Innovation   -   Culture   -   Obsolete/Obsolescence   -   Modernity   -   Mass production   -   Desire   -   Reusing   -	-   MacDonalds   -   Charities   -   5p Carrier Bags   -

-   H&M Conscious Exclusive 2016 range

-   Equate the ethics behind the consumerism

-   Innovation – people creating more innovative ways to make things more sustainable.

-   Technology – can we live without it?

-   Water soluble clothing – paper bag scenario – no one wants to have to walk in the rain with clothes dripping off them, however it will mean less clothes in the landfills

-   Cotton, wool, silk, linen – natural fabrics - all breathe. Polyester, acrylic viscos, PVC doesn’t.. and will help you sweat – not overly nice in public.

-   Gym wear is synthetic, but is woven in such a way in order to make it breathe

-   Environment – Environmental damage (Emissions) down to transportation

-   Emissions from fuel – Factories, ships etc.

-   Emissions in a textile view can come from dying fabrics

-   As a country we take water for granted – when dying fabric we use water in the dye, water to wet the fabric, water to rinse the fabric, water in the steam iron. All that’s wasted goes down the drain to a treatment centre. However in places such as Bangladesh (one of the biggest countries for fashion manufacturing) don’t have treatment centres, or the facilities for water and recycling that we do. Worst case scenario, the chemicals in the water could flow into the river, into the environment, the fish and the people.

-   The cheaper you buy, the less fixed it is – Dyes, ie. Jeans, black jeans, blue jeans that rub off on you.

-   Walter Benjamin – The Art of Mechanical Evolution (ESSAY)

-   Homogeneous – the same

-   Comme de Garcons – Made a machine irregularly to make holes in a garment to make a point that machines shouldn’t be there to make human errors for us

-   Cotton – using so many chemicals and pesticides that effects the environment and people around it

-   Silk – Spray them so they don’t get a disease

-   Stella McCartney – Vegetarian/maybe vegan. Doesn’t use leather, fur etc. Her philosophy and design is her.

-   Blowfish, vegan. Shoes with no leather, all synthetics.

-   Electric cars – works on electricity, it cuts down fuel emissions. In terms of desire, there is none. None with a  desirable design.

-   Recycling

-   Global warming in terms of fashion – Making seasons irrelevant.. Its warmer, less demand for scarves, hats, gloves – knock on effect on the climate outside

-   Green washing – MacDonald’s, cynical as they physically started to go green to make the public think they’re ethical and environmentally friendly.

-   We are designing and making clothing for other people, so they feel good and confident in themselves.

-   We don’t always have the freedom to act like men act and don’t get penalised for it

-   “I am your worst fear. I am your best fantasy”

-   Guerilla Girls – predominate in terms of trying to get people in the field of art to recognise female artists

-   Sunday Times – ‘Torment of the model who was ordered to shrink’

-   BODY IMAGE

-   Alexandra Schulman posted recently that she doesn’t think eating disorders such as anorexia is because of the runways, that the celebrities are responsible for the wanting to be smaller.

-   14-18 year olds are impressed by celebrities

-   Laura Maulvey

-   Floyd

Sustainability, Greenwashing and Globalisation lecture by Gill

-   Consuming Christmas, where does the waste go?

-   Societies needs and wants are changing, there is an effect on our planet – Global warming

-   As future artists and designers should we take precautions to save the environment? Or do we not care?

-   Private/public transport – did private share cars? To reduce co2 emissions

-   80 billion pounds to poorer countries to help gauge emissions

-   It has to be a personal choice

-   Threats of climate hell

-   Build a visual and compelling vision of desirable lower commissions

-   Sustainability – some problems have grown from manufacturing

-   CONSUMERISM

-   Seeking constant growth in the products increases …

-   MacDonald’s 2013 Festive advert – Targeted at all audiences

-   Colour of the MacDonald’s buildings have gone to red to green (green washing) associating it to be more environmentally friendly than previously.

-   ‘Fireblasted’ glass – windows for the community

-   Using British beef, however it is still promoting fast food

-   Channelled more than £400 million of its British revenues through Luxembourg since 2009 joining apple, amazon and starbucks who all stand accused of favourable tax deals with EU states – NAUGHTY

-   SAVE FOOD FROM THE FRIDGE PROJECT

-   Fridges are energy consuming monsters

-   Carrots can be preserved in damp sand instead of fridge

-   Apples and potatoes.. something about stopping sprouting

-   Learning thermostat for the 21^st century – automatically switches off/on dependant on your life style

-   Seymourpowell worked with fuel-cell manufacturers Intelligent Energy (IE) to create, design and prototype the ENV, the worlds first fuel-cell powered motocycle

-   Up to 95% f the substance in household cleaning products is water and disposing of the packaging when the bottle is empty is wasteful

-   ‘Design can change lives’

-   Garment that offers a 10 piece wardrobe for 365 days including a 4-in-1 coat/dress/jacket/skirt

-   Seymourpowell’s Bimbo design for bread packaging identified and emergent behaviour in consumers who would misplace the wire-tie around the top of the bread packaging and end up tying the packaging themselves – Bread is the highest food which is wasted. With the ‘tying yourself’ technique it will help preserve the bread for a longer period of time

-   Sustainable design – Levi’s jeans that encourage cycling

-   It is about collecting it and putting it in the right place – Recycling i.e. water bottles

-   Stella McCartney – waterless t-shirt

-   People will only change their lifestyle in hope of a better one

-   Cycling and changing the way that we eat can help the environment – creating a sustainable lifestyle

-   We focus on the environmental boundaries rather than the social side

-   Higher brands have an impact on high street brands, as ideas trickle down from the runway

-   A t-shirt requires 20L of dye from the dying process – the company have saved over a million litres of water

-   H&M and WWF have worked together and set to conserve a water strategy to improve responsible water use

-   They have collaborated with Musee des Arts Decoratifs

-   Mink shoes are custom designed and hand crafted from only the finest quality non-animal products – ethics are considered

-   Natural or scientifically engineered alternatives such as cork and other animal friendly substitutes are employed.

-   Strict policy of animal preservation, protection, and safeguarding in its designs. Each shoe is unique and limited production

-   Consider – are you willing to pay more to save the environment and increase sustainability or spend less money but add to the consumerism? Do you get bored and want the new products? Or do you want something that will last longer?

-   Vivienne Westwood “Buy less choose well” – If you spend more on your clothing it should last longer rather than buying cheap clothes and adding to consumerism

-   People get easily bored and want the new products – ie. People will buy the newest iphone (6) rather than an iphone 4 because of its social status and newness

-   Patagonia ‘Build the best product, cause no necessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis’ – Patagonia’s mission statement

-   Whether an item is made in a dark squashed factory in Bangladesh for very little, is not a factor when part of society purchase their clothing

-   While people prefer a higher brand, they are not willing to pay the extra price for it. However when the word ‘tailoring’ is thrown in there, the percentage of people paying more was increased by 25%

-   All things appear and disappear because of the current cautions. Everything is in relationship to everything else – Buddist saying

-   Fashion is very selfish and ego centred. The basis of traditional fashion is that it is designed and created on a concept – usually based on actions which has no limitation

-   True as 85% of all garments produce around the world ends up in a landfill

-   Primark 22% rise believe there is nothing broken to be fixed

-   Climate change will start impact production

-   Companies are happy to use ethical and environmental gestures, but nothing to steer away from potential business

-   5p carrier bag charge – Where does it go? Not all to charity.. Cut their prices but make more profit for the company. It is good for the environment but theres the knock on effect – green washing – we think its going to charity so that’s okay.. but it is not all going there

-   Victor Papanek – Godfather of sustainable design

-   ‘What lies beneath the green wash?’

-   Barbie – sends messages to young girls that they need to be plastic too

-   We need art and design to elaborate and help improve the worlds needs

This lecture really struck my interests as I do care about how the world is treated and frustrates me to how ignorant some of society in this era are to it. Not everyone is aware of the affects of the industries and what they are doing to the environment and as a planet as a whole. I think that this lecture will be extremely influential to my philosophy and essay. 

Immaterial labour and de-skilling, or, what is the work of the work of art and when does the work of the work of art work? (Matt Bowman)

• Fordism: the term is widely used to describe a system of mass production which was originated in the early 20th century by the Ford Motor Company.
• One of the effects that Fordism causes is de-skilling due to the heavy reliance on machines, leaving skilled workers redundant.
• One of the reasons behind it was to create more leisure time for people.
• "[Society] is now bound to the technical and economic conditions of machine production which today determine the lives of all the individuals who are born into this mechanism, not only those directly concerned with economic acquisition, with irresistible force. Perhaps it will so determine them until the last ton of fossilised coal is burnt." - Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1905.
• "If we group services as personal (retail stores, laundries, garages, beauty shops); business (banking and finance, real estate, insurance); transportation, communication, and utilities; and health, education, research, and government; then it is the growth of the last category which is decisive for post industrial society." - Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, 1973.

Fordism:

• Material labour
• Sir Henry Ford assembled Ford cars all the same, machine made in the same colour, efficiently making them in mass as it was cost effective
• Machine work won't deteriorate
• More leisure time for people
• Workers were de-skilled and cheap labour 

Post-fordism:

• Immaterial labour
• Intellectual work
• Cognitive capitalism
• Knowledge economy
• Semiocapitalism
• Communication industries - always in constant communication through computers and phones
• Creativity is more highly accepted
• Indivuality - its trendy to be individual 
• Networking
• Flexible work
• Mass consumerism creating more work and jobs
• Social critique - using your work to make a statement, poverty, society etc.

Two 'modes' of critique:

• Social critique (which focuses on inequality, poverty, egoism, and exploitation)
• Artistic critique (which focuses on market domination and discipline of the factories)

"[Artistic critique] criticizes oppression in the capitalist world (the domination of the market, the discipline of the factory), the uniformity of mass society and the commodification of everything, and it valorises an ideal of liberation and individual autonomy, of uniqueness and authenticity." - Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello, The New Spirit of Capitalism, 1999.

Allan Sekula (1951-2013)
Welder's booth in BankruptTodd Shipyard,
Two Years after Closing, Los Angeles Harbor,
California (1991)
From Fish Story, 1988-1995

"My argument here runs against the commonly held view that the computer and telecommunications are the sole engines of the third industrial revolution. In effect, I am arguing for the continued importance of maritime space in order to counter the exaggerated importance attached to that largely metaphysical construct, 'cyberspace,' and the corollary myth of 'instantaneous' contact between distant spaces... In the imagination, e-mail and airmail come to bracket the totality of global movement, with the airplane taking care of everything that is heavy. Thus the proliferation of air-courier companies and mail-order catalogs serving the professional, domestic, and leisure needs of the managerial and intellectual classes does nothing to bring consciousness down to earth, or to turn it in the direction of the sea, the forgotten space." - Allan Sekula, Dismal Science: Part 1, 1995.

The lecture by Matt Bowman and following seminar with Gill Morgan presented interesting issues and debates, all which are potential contributing factors to the development of my own personal philosophy. As designers we are faced with the dilemma of contributing to the mass production in the fashion industry by doing what we love, or create ways of using our work to protest against it?

Initial designing with Laura for our support module

Cocoon shape toile
In this lesson we looked at four toiles, all extremely different in shape. We were put into pairs and were asked to choose one of the toiles to use as a starting point for a garment which would need to contain both mine and my partner's initials.

We chose the Cocoon shaped dress toile.

I was paired with Laura, so the letters we had to work with were 'L', 'R', 'E' and 'M'.





Inverted triangle shape toile












Dome shape t-shirt toile

This was our final design for the task given. Using the Cocoon shaped toile we also incorporated the Circle shaped sleeves to create the 'M'. Using a side panel instead of a seam we created a 'L' shape which continued around the front and back hem. We created a keyhole in the back of the dress where the shoulders meet to create a 'R' shape which then goes down into a 'E' using seams to create the initials.

We continued on to create the first draft of the garment. Although this was a fun and innovative task I found the task quite challenging in terms of incorporating initials and letters into garments.
Circle shape t-shirt toile

Personal Philosophy

Someone's personal philosophy is their personal belief, theory or attitude which acts as a guiding foundation for their behaviour. These are the principles that evolves your personality and determines or explains how you as a person want to live your life. It could be anything from a response to religion, politics, your environment etc. A philosophy is forever changing and being developed further.

This year our developmental research module is to understand, form and develop our own personal philosophy. We've had various lectures (which I have blogged about previously and most likely in the future) about subjects that may be relevant to our philosophy. 

Things I could discuss in my essay/ what interest me:

• What inspires me?
• How my personality and interests are reflected in my work - does it affect the outcome? How?
• What is a theme that continuously runs through my work?
• Why do I prefer fashion and construction over textiles and printing?
• Where do I plan to be in the industry in terms of future work? - industrial, design, high fashion, branding, independently?
• Consumerism in the 21st century
• Fashion consumerism over the past 5 centuries - how has it changed? What has changed?
• 'Fast Fashion' and how it has changed the industry - more than 2 season/fashion weeks in a year
• What is our desire to buy fashion? - could refer to Maslow's want/need theory and Earnest Elmo Balkin's consumptionism theories
• How is the fashion industry affecting the world culturally, socially and environmentally - unsustainable
• Does the fashion industry work?
• Greenwashing in the fashion industry
• The equality and treatment of workers in the fashion industry in less fortunate places - i.e. factory workers in areas such as Bangladesh
• What could I do to help?
• Will people/the fashion industry support my philosophy and ideas?

The above are all subjects that excite me in response to our task and pdp module as well as strong interests of mine. I now aim to investigate various designers that can support the development of my philosophy as well as ways I can expand the bullet points above in my essay.