https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/pp87n7/lfw-all-saints-and-baby-hair

Reading group linked to essay

https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/EReader/Index?p=XERvY3NcNTc5ODNcRENTLTZmZmRhODg5LTEzMmYtNDBhMy1hYzZjLTgwNzcxZGU3MTQ0ZC5wZGY=&o=UERGRG93bmxvYWQ9VHJ1ZSZLb3J0ZXh0RG93bmxvYWQ9RmFsc2UmSXNXZWxzaD1GYWxzZQ==&id=df6d4bec-6f4a-e611-80bd-0cc47a6bddeb

https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/EReader/Index?p=XERvY3NcNTcxMDFcRENTLWFlNWNkN2M3LWIwMDMtNGY4My1iMGI5LWZjMGZhNzQ0ZGE5OS5wZGY=&o=UERGRG93bmxvYWQ9VHJ1ZSZLb3J0ZXh0RG93bmxvYWQ9RmFsc2UmSXNXZWxzaD1GYWxzZQ==&id=f8abb628-664a-e611-80bd-0cc47a6bddeb

https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/EReader/Index?p=XERvY3NcOTE1ODNcRENTLTNlZTFhMDY2LTgyODgtNDMyNC1hNDg2LTFiZTc3ZmRjODA5NS5wZGY=&o=UERGRG93bmxvYWQ9VHJ1ZSZLb3J0ZXh0RG93bmxvYWQ9RmFsc2UmSXNXZWxzaD1GYWxzZQ==&id=07366ab3-bc6e-e611-80c6-005056af4099

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.468.308&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Useful articles for essay

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/02/marcus-fairs-dutch-design-week-opinion-good-design-bad-world/

https://qz.com/520363/borrowing-from-other-cultures-is-not-inherently-racist/

https://www.vogue.com/article/dreadlocks-hair-debate-moment

http://www.telospress.com/the-value-of-cultural-hierarchy/

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-real-origins-of-2015s-hottest-hair-trend

xmas work

Blog Task: Critical Thinkers Lecture 'Angela McRobbie' Thursday 30 November (Dr Clare Johnson)

identify three things that you learnt about Angela McRobbie's work in the lecture and write a short paragraph on each to explain.

1. as she predominately researched into magazines at the begging of the development of her their, and looked at the different representation of women and men was interesting, as the theory has been developed a lot further; as there is both cultural backing as well as physiological backing. 

2. This leads on the ideas she put forward about sexual power portrayed in women, in the media , and the debate of how this is perhaps more powerful than the male representation i the media, or less. Furthermore there is a lot of real life examples and evidence to debate a long with this point- especially in the film and television. 

3. Furthermore, her theory about post modernism and popular culture is interesting, as old ideas and certainties about culture are undermined and questioned and instead she chooses to dissect identity as a cross cultural thing, with acknowledging the different influence from all cultures and the western influence (or lack of). 

Blog Task: Critical Thinkers Lecture 'Jean Baudrillard' Thursday 16 November (Alex Franklin)

Select an image from the mass media and discuss (in between 200-400 words) its relationship to the hyperreal.

I chose this photo as it represents the issue of manipulation of women in fashion but also is a rare example f showing the distance between was is real and what is ctaully presented in adverts and in fashion as a whole - This false sense of what we should look like is so boring and toxic for those on the quest for self acceptance. This particular photo is important as it illustrates the growing issue of the hyperreal Versus the honest truth ; the reality and what is presented. women and particularly young women are being shown twisted and manipulated images from the fashion industry that in turn create a morphed idealised perception of beauty and ‘standards’, although it is an subjective case of  “this is what i should look like”  an self-assessment of how much the individual wants to abide to these standards set out before them; however individuals ‘see’ things  based off of their experiences, such as cultural standards of “this is how you should look- this is beauty” and to warp and manipulate images sets out an unitanable goal for women. furthermore the development of technology to make things like photoshop and apps which are designed  to remove acne in photos or alter the persons figure in a photo, creates a further distance between the real and what is presented - but also blurs the lines between real and the hyperreal.

Critical Thinkers Lecture 'Edward Said' Thursday 9 November (Dr Clare Johnson)

humans, as social beings,  innately strive to be part of something and to ultimately ‘belong’, this leads to a dilemma of them and us. Differences divide people and create groups, wether this be religion or race or other social factors. In particular, throughout history, Race has been used as a tool to divide society snd create these differences, such as with racist depictions in cartoons and to perpetuate stereotypes the semeiotic signs.

While in fashion, the idea of tribes and belonging ties into the huge, ongoing issue of cultural approbation . Certain things can be a true indication of the individuals style or might have deeper meaning into the individuals identity. Such as Hoop earrings which were once seen as a indicators to the individuals clique if a “chav” whereas ow are commonplace with everyone regardless of style, and thus no longer hold the idea of us/them

However other styles have remained true to the Us/them idea - such as cornrows which have in the past few years of fashion, ahem almost been ‘stolen’ and sold as a new ‘trend’ which is wrong as it has been taken forms the minority and  rebounded away from the ordinal meaning.

Mediated Culture

Make your own top ten list of your favorite practitioners in your field and consider what it is about their practice that you value.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD - Punk and plotical and forward taking in her (their as a brands) attempt to go green 

MARC JACOBS- speaks highly of LGBT rights 

Talbot Runhof-With all of the lies, the fake news, and alternative facts, we wanted to do a collection about truth," co-founder Johnny Talbo

DIOR - shirts screen printed with "We Should All Be Feminists" and "Dio(R)evolution" were sold and proceeds went to Rihanna's Clara Lionel Foundation (which fights against injustice, inequality, and poverty and promotes access to education)

Missoni- femininity of our times, prepared to confront the conflicts and dilemmas of our contemporary society: the conditions, needs, and rights of all women and minorities."

Creatures of Comfort- message of unity and equality that should transcend partisanship: "We are all human beings."

Calvin Klein- I’m constantly thinking about what could I do on a bigger scale [about Donald Trump]," he said. "I’m watching a lot of the people who do speak up. Like the March and all these women ... I open the newspaper and I see that he’s ordering a wall. I’m like … It’s almost like the middle ages or something. I cannot believe it."

Hrabal Gurung- we will not be silenced," "yes, we should all be feminists," "girls just want to have fundamental rights," "the future is female," and all size models

Walled Off Hotel by Banksy-  Artist Banksy drew huge attention to the Israel-Palestine conflict with this "all-inclusive vandals resort", built beside the West Bank border wall.Billed as an "open-hearted community resource" that is not allied to any political party or pressure group, the hotel is decorated with an assortment of provocative artworks.

BALENCCIAGA - politcal message in most designs 

what is the difference between a historical fact and something that happened in the past? Why are some facts about the past recorded and remembered (eg. in exhibitions, archives and books) and others not considered worthy of committing to memory?

A historical fact is a documented objective source, while something that simply happened is an personal account and own experience.  one things are chosen to be valuable and physical ‘proof’ that somethings happened; an undeniable physical document. Certain things have shaped society as we know it and need to kept - to further understand and understand the events. Where as somethings are perhaps pre-events or post actions/ events to the significant change, they are not necessarily not ‘worthy’ but rather not a necessity to people to remember the events or understand. For example a physical artefact from the 2nd world war like a photograph or formal documents help people understand what went on and are a objective fact. where as a particular soldiers account of what happens , although will have great importance to that particular person or their family, does not have the same objective truth and therefore is not as undeniable truthful to that of a fact.

Although no expense or account of an event can be dismissed, it is a lot easier to rely on objective truths to that of singular subjective truth.

has there been a social and cultural shift to the visual, over against the verbal and textual in the past 50 years, and had it been accelerating in the past 10 or 20 years?

socially humans are constantly developing and changing; from the evolution from apes to the growth in language and the idea of speech . verbal and textual relates to the idea of news travelling by the physical; such as newspapers, as at the time that is the most efficient way to communicate news. However with the development of modern technology; the circulation of newspapers is depressing and not the most efficient way to communicate news. As humans are constantly developing new ways to communicate and share (such as social media) the increase of the visuals such as instagram or Facebook use of sharing photos all naturally outgrow the formal tool of the newspaper.

As technology develops so does the natural need for instant attention and gratification; visual communication such as sharing photos is perfect for this and has allowed for the arts to be seen as a larger source of information that wasn't previously there; such as fashion in which a photo of someone wearing a particular garment is far more effective way to communicate to an audience than the traditional use of a description , for instance majority of all clothing adds have n text apart from the brand logo or slogan themselves. this is because of the importance of visual queues.

These visual queues are also more accessible now than they were previously as more and more people have access to cameras and technology where as before this was just a power the news distributors and professionals had. 

As technology develops and images can be shared much faster; the need to communicate or explain these images is becoming less and less relevant.

19 oct - Roland Barthes on the dressed body

Roland Barthes furthers his argument by stating that there is not only a language of clothes but it is a very intimate relationship, by this he means thats the way in which we express ourselves with our clothes is incredibly personal and is a relationship we develop throughout our existence.

clothes can we used as signals and prompts; such as knights wore purple as a symbolic gesture of they're wealth and nobleness; throughout history there as been more and more items of clothing or jewellery in which hold no practical value to them but social importance and though arguably unnecessary- still hold truth to the modern world; such as eastern royals wearing large earring which made they're ears stretch or african tribes stretching both ears and lips; which can be seen in modern fashion today - such as plugs in ears which are extremely popular. Now due to the large aces of different types of fashion and influence from all over the world, Barthes asks why. Why do we choose Leather instead of Silk or Denim instead of Wool, he asks why we had all these chooses and whether or not they're really necessary and why we as a species feel the necessity to have such a large amount of all these different garments.

This prompts the idea of who it differs oneself from the rest of the pact, garments and clothes can be used to set boundaries between self and others. nothing can be used as a powerful distinguisher and most simple way of defining that ‘self’ and ones identity. This idea of identity is that there is an innate part in each person to want to develop and define they're identity and clothes is a powerful way of doing this and to allow development.

12 oct - Lars Svendson on the language of fashion

However, Lars Svendson seems to take on Barthes theory and delve into the idea that clothes are an unspoken language and a tool of social identity as fashion is a part of ones identity. Svendson is a philosopher and looks at the idea of clothes as a language in a more technical way and breaks down the ‘ unspoken language of fashion ’ is a technical way. He acknowledges that there is a obvious ambiguity to the idea of identity; As human identity doesn't really have any scientific truth but rather social and emotional truth. There is a theory to clothes; there is the garment (much like Barthes) and then there is the meaning to the clothes-  possibly a scientific/methodical meaning as there is an innate need in humans to conform socially (and basic psychological needs), but holds a much larger emotional meaning which has an almost philosophical meaning to clothes. Clothes give a meaning to someone in which is not uttered; it can prove your tribe, or political standing in less than a millisecond - such as corbyns tie is red and that small strip of red fabric shows his loyalty to his political party; this red strip of fabric would otherwise just be meaningless.

overall,Svendson  is a philosopher and will to seek to break down every little thing to find the true ‘meaning’ . He rejects Lurve’s ideas  as they are too superficial but accepts Barthes ideas of the language of clothes- the unspoken language.

5th Oct - Roland Barthes

Roland Bathes speaks of fashion in a very scientific manner, almost like we, as the reader, are supposed to over analyse it and get confused. The main focus is on the different ‘types’ of garment; the visual, technical and the actual meaning the picture, the description and the garment in its physical self. This seems to be a difference in technical and subjective- where the subjective is mainly just opinion.

Roland Barthes is known to be a post structuralist and speaks as if images  have their own dialect and hold their own language and thus clothes constitute a language (either part of this dialect or a language on its own). However Barthes speaks of a contrast between fashion and clothes, in which fashion is an art from and clearly used for self expression, whereas Clothing is merely functional. Fashion is  seen as part of the system of the modern world; it is always changing and everyone is always aware of this change. Where as the clothes themselves - without adverts or being described in an artistic manner- are just pieces of cloth.

Barthes prompts the thought of evolution; We were once the naked ape and now flaunt in the language of clothes. Barthes also speaks of shifters in language; of a code and a message. The image captures the beauty of the garment which is the pre-spoken language where as the garment itself is the un-augmented reality- the third language is the description of the garment. Each description is important in different ways and expresses a slightly different view- despite being the same thing objectively. Fashion is needed in modern society; fashion is an art and society judges art - naturally as an a society we judge others for how they dress ; and wether we are perhaps from the same ‘tribe’ as them; very similar to animals in pacs, we identify with others fro  the way they dress- starting as early as school where there is clearly different groups of people only distinguishable by the bags they buy or who they do their hair - yet all in the exact same school, uniform but not all the same.

Fashion is an intrinsic part of someones identity and a part of their social identity; no matter your view on fashion or how important or irrelevant it is; it effects everyone- think that devil wears Prada scene.

28 SEP - Hooks B

One thing of note, is that the author (Hooks), has a strong theme of reflection, as they recall their time at  all - black segregated school; in which was a positive experience as their teachers, also black and thus has the same disadvantaged and troubles as Hooks face in the 1950s in south americas ‘bible belt’, which pushed hooks to still achieve and become successful despite her social disadvantage and prejudice faced everyday.

Although Hooks speaks of her  high-school experience in a positive light, and the teachers as a source of inspiration despite the very apparent social disadvantage; “ to give us knowledge and prepare us for a vocation, but it was also an education that would encourage an ongoing commitment to social justice”  this particular line suggests Hooks influence and perhaps passion for social justice and equal rights is guided and deep rooted in her life and personal experiences, and a priority from the outset and early in their life. Furthermore, the contrast of this acceptance (despite the segregation) to the experiences Hooks has in contrast to their experience at collage- the author speaks of the surprise at the difference n how their treated at collage compared to their all loving school. In particular Hooks uses emotive language like “we hold the possible future in our hands” and “education was the surest route to freedom” holds weight and is feasible to see how a young oppressed woman could holds these words close to heart and almost use them as a rose- tint view at what a ‘better world could be’, which is in contrast to the “derive their primary pleasure in the classroom by exercising their authoritarian power over my fellow students, crushing out spirits”  in which the harsh word are almost spat out like ‘authoritarian’ which holds great similarities to a cold institution, in particular the phrase “crushed our spirits” related to the idea of hope and how the brutality and negligence of , what was assured as a intellectual pace beyond the world of hatred, intolerance is even more rife.

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