FUTURE FASHIONISTA

Contextual Essay

Across many weeks, I have been looking at a subject which discusses the future of fashion. For information on what I have done, click HERE and on my Website and Pinterest.

The aim of the Digital Artefact was to address the future in 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 years or more. The fashion industry needs a change in structure, due to the rising effects of climate change.

https://insights.globalspec.com/article/10114/british-lawmakers-calling-out-fashion-industry-for-environmental-impact

Progression

I received feedback from a student stating “perhaps you DA could have a more precise objective how you predict to see the future of fast fashion, you could suggest ways you would like to improve the over production of clothing and accessories.

From this feedback, I decided to emphasise on which brands are sustainable. I recommended a number of brands involving swimwear and different price ranges. It was important I also dive into what really differentiates a brand from other fast-fashion companies. It was great I learnt brands which I will be shopping from.

Lecture Resources

Solarpunk seeks to imagine and represent how the future might be if we overcome the challenges of sustainability, global warming and pollution without resorting to utopism. “The diegeses of alternate histories use moments on empirical history as building blocks to construct entirely new histories.” (Reina-Rozo, 2021)

It discusses how THE FUTURE IS NOW, so every small change that is made today, whether it’s just starting to research about sustainable brands, it all counts.

(Moore, 2022) states that “to realistically imagine the future of technological advancement and innovation, particularly in terms of Artificial Intelligence, means that we have to look at historical and current trends, but realise that innovation is not necessarily linear.” This interested me in observing historical and current trends, which ultimately lead me to make my Pinboard showcasing “micro-trends.” It was important to see how we can move past and acknowledge just how quickly that piece of clothing you’re about to buy, soon won’t matter or even last in a matter of weeks.

(McLuhan & Fiore, 1967) states “it is the medium that is the message.” Each photo on my moodboard tells a thousand words. Originally, the photos being pinned were only going to be fast-fashion micro-trends. However, I wanted to add sustainable fashion as well, inspired by Emma Watsons sustainable Instagram page.

The movie, “Don’t Look Up” portrays Jennifer Lawrence’s character as emotional and aggressive. This is how many female climate activists are portrayed, such as Greta Thunberg. Meanwhile, reporters would prioritise asking Leonardo DiCaprio’s character questions. This is a great example of how climate activists are discriminated against and not listened too. Instead some, e.g. women, are considered “crazy.” This has to stop to support the climate crisis.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11286314/

Anybody can start ways to shop sustainability and my blog shows just how.

The future in fashion is now!

References

McLuhan, M. and Fiore, Q., 1967. The medium is the message. New York, 123(1), pp.126-128. Available at: https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=I8dPhB88Sx4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA107&dq=medium+is+the+message&ots=CF0Bqy4FeT&sig=6YePflF0NNdRq1txxFv_HwHkXcc#v=onepage&q=medium%20is%20the%20message&f=false (Accessed May 20^th 2022).

Moore, C. (2020) ‘Artifical Intelligence – Predictions and Revolutions’ [Recorded lecture], BCM325: Future Cultures. University of Wollongong. 3rd February. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH3ddrSZ5bg&t=1272s (Accessed: 25^th May 2022).

Reina-Rozo, J. (2021). Art, energy, and technology: the Solarpunk movement. International Journal of Engineering, Social Justice and Peace, 8 (1), p. 47-60, Available at: https://doi.org/10.24908/ijesjp.v8i1.14292. (Accessed May 19^th 2022).

ELITE TWEETS

If you ever look up the hashtag: #BCM325, you’re probably met with hundreds of tweets regarding films, facts and discussion. In fact, if you’re a UOW student and utilise Twitter, I’m sure plenty of these tweets regularly come up on your feed. You may ask yourself, what on earth are they talking about?

Well, every week we watch a film that correlates to BCM325, particularly all things tech and anything futuristic. During this, we live-tweet. Now, here are some of my most prominent tweets and interactions

This tweet really addresses one of the core challenges of the screenings in BCM325, which is to find insights on how the cyber films in the past spark innovative ideas for the future. This tweet was also responsible for one of my most popular tweets. It’s clear that students prefer interesting and simple facts, something that also stands out from other tweets. It also showcases how I was able to conduct further research. I know I love these tweets, as they are both fascinating and easy to read, which is important when you are trying to watch a film and tweet at the same time.

This tweet I chose to reply with due to its attention-grabbing photo and question, belonging to Anthony Vorrias. It raised a lot of discussion, as a few people tweeted their opinions. I like discussion tweets as the answer is usually in the comment and I am always able to educate others and vice versa. Rahn was able to answer the question, stating the aesthetic is from Japanese cities, emphasising on the research he completed. I was able to recognise open-ended question tweets like this receive a lot of interaction.

This is my favourite tweet, because I was able to provide some laughs. I also copped a like from my tutor! This tweet was short, simple yet attention-grabbing.

I deliberately tweeted this quote, from the movie ‘Ghost In The Shell,’ to see people’s opinions on it. I was able to get two responses, from Boswell and Hannah. Hannah had a great response which started discussion. She was able to deliver to audiences a completely different perspective on the film.

I have been consistent on Twitter, favouriting and replying to many tweets as well as writing my own. The first 5 weeks have got me into a routine of live-tweeting, making me multitask quite well as I use to think it was difficult doing everything at once.

I want to aim to receive a higher interaction rate for the remainder of the semester. Source says to post with a photo or any visual element as “the more visible your Tweet is, the more likely it is to engage your audience,” (Zote, 2020).

(Sharma, 2021) states to ask more questions “more questions, more replies.” I am keen to apply this advice in my future live-tweeting. The more I tweet, the better I’ll get! I want to aim to tweet more articles, generate more discussion and continue to be consistent each week with my tweets.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter: @SDorigato

Listen to some of my favourite tweets here

References

Sharma, S 2021, How to Increase Your Twitter Engagement Easily (13 Expert Tips), Smash Balloon, viewed 29 March 2022, <https://smashballoon.com/how-to-increase-twitter-engagement-easy-tips/&gt;.

Zote, J 2018, Why Twitter Engagement Is Essential for Brands Today, Sprout Social, viewed 27 March 2022, <https://sproutsocial.com/insights/twitter-engagement/&gt;.

MAN IN THE MIRROR

Self-evaluation

This week, I was able to compare and investigate my own work, as well as other students work, providing constructive criticism. It definitely felt strange to be a ‘teacher,’ basically marking students work!

The three peers I was able to analyse and leave feedback on were:

Grace: Her DA looked at the future of gifting.

Caitlin: This DA looks at the future of work.

Emma: Emma addresses the long term for HER future.

I was surprised that every DA idea I’ve seen, is unique, innovative and fun. It is also relatable, as Grace developed this idea during lockdown!

When peer analysing, I noticed all of us made the same mistake and didn’t write a description in our YouTube video. I now understand how a description would have really enticed an audience more and educated about what the video was about, linking the contextual blog post.

I believe my feedback was positive and encouraged room for improvement. I tried hard to make sure my feedback wasn’t too nice or harsh, which was challenging. However, I tried my best and believe my feedback will be helpful to Emma, Caitlin and Monica.

Engaging in the process gave me a better understanding of how our work is marked and that we should really emphasize our focus on the subject outline. It also made me realise how much time and effort our amazing tutors put into marking! It wouldn’t be easy, especially having a lot to mark and furthermore made me more appreciative of the feedback I get given, across multiple subjects.

Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any comments on my Pitch (if I did, this blog post was posted a day before!). I was looking forward to improvements that I can make in my DA pitch and writing what I have learnt from these improvements furthermore what I have changed, however this makes me more excited to hear feedback in the future, maybe from my own audience. I was also able to analyse Chris’ suggestions for improvements and have a look at what my peers did better, which I didn’t, but will be able to learn from in the future.

Chris gave me great feedback and I learnt that my production schedule is not clear, which made me look at my peer’s schedules and learnt what I can do better, specifically going into more detail like Emma, Caitlin and Monica did.

I was able to recognise that a catchy title is important, something I didn’t quite achieve but have now fixed. Originally, it was ‘Fashionista,’ but now; ‘Fast Forwarding Fashion,’ which has a play on the long term effects of fashion, which I am examining for my Digital Artefact. I also learnt that whenever you mention an article, be sure to provide a link on it, in case others want to check out the same article.

Overall, I put myself in the teacher’s shoes and was able to learn what makes a blog post educational and engaging.

Listen to this blog post here