Week Twelve: Finishing up and Presentations

Videos of my SketchUp model I've been working on over the weekend:

• SketchUp model film trial 1
• Final SketchUp model video

Below is the final story to be read over the top of the video playing:

80% off all designer brands! Opens at 9am!

8:15 am: There’s a mad rush to the small pop-up store downtown. Queues are backed up to the corner of the street. The line of people is buzzing, with excitement in the air. A tall, well-put-together woman, stands at the front of the line, eye-balling anyone who dares step in front of her. Behind her, is her spoilt son aged 8. The mother is a hard-working lady, with a full-time job, she often doesn't have much time for her child, but makes up for this with gifts of expensive designer clothing and spending money for the weekends. However, this will affect him in the future more than she realises.

9:01am: She's impatiently waiting for the store to open, when a woman on the inside steps forward to unlock the doors. As soon as they open, the mother strides forward with her son in tow. She reaches the nearest rack of clothes and starts filing through them. 

"No. No. No... Ah yes this would be great for me."

She keeps going, pulling t-shirts, shorts, skirts, dresses off the rack and throwing them at the hands of her child. 

"Right, go try on those while I try on these then we will meet back at the next rack."

She walks promptly to the changing rooms and shuts the door. As she turns, she notices something scrawled across the changing room mirror, 

"Clothes for $4 are too expensive for me” (RT Documentary, 2016)

"Clothes for $4 are too expensive for me.”

She thinks that this seems a bit odd, but continues to try on clothes, ignoring the price tags completely. As she walks out to take the chosen garments to the counter to hold, she notices a young boy behind the counter sewing fast at a machine. As she reaches into her bag to find her purse she hears the salesman whisper harshly to the boy,

"Hurry up with those, will you? We need another 30 shirts done by the end of the day. So no breaks for you!" 

"Hey! He's only a child! He shouldn't even be working let only not getting breaks, how dare you speak to him like that?" the mother shouted. 

The salesman smiles then passes the woman a booklet, that explains that this isn't a real pop-up store, but really it is an educational exhibition that is showing people the importance of buying sustainable and ethical clothing. She is shocked that she didn’t realise. She looks down at the tags on the clothes. They all have quotes from factory workers on them describing their day to day lives and how they wish they could be treated fairly. He then points in the direction of a curtain to the left. This room provides chairs to sit on so people can watch a short film that explains the importance of buying ethically and sustainably. It then invites watchers to fill out a survey on how they found the experience so it can be used to further improve any future exhibitions around the city.  

Week Eleven: Thinking fast and writing quick

This week I've been focusing on getting my ideas together and writing more of my research proposal.

I have decided I want my exhibition to be more of a performance experience where people don't realise they are participating in the performance until they are in the middle of it. To explain this more, I began to write a creative piece from the perspective of a fictional character that may walk through my final exhibition.

80% off all designer brands! Opens at 9am!

8:15 am: There’s a mad rush to the small pop-up store downtown. Queues are backed up to a popular burger restaurant on the corner of the street. The line of people is buzzing, excitement in the air similar to Black Friday in America. A tall, well-put-together woman, stands at the front of the line, eye-balling anyone who dares step in front of her. Behind her, are her three spoilt-rotten children, ages 14, 10 and 6. The mother is a hard working lady, with a full time job, she often doesn't have much time for her children, but makes up for this with gifts of designer clothes and spending money for the weekends. 

9:01am: She's impatiently waiting for the store to open, when a woman on the inside steps forward to unlock the doors. As soon as they open, the mother strides forward with her children in tow. She reaches the nearest rack of clothes and starts filing through them. 
"No. No. No... Ah yes this would be great for you 10."
She keeps going, pulling t-shirts, shorts, skirts, dresses off the rack and throwing them at the hands of her children. 
"Right, go try on those while I try on these then we'll meet back at the next rack."
She walks promptly to the changing rooms and shuts the door. As she turns, she notices something scrawled across the changing room mirror, 

"Clothes for $4 are too expensive for me”

"Clothes for $4 are too expensive for me”

She thinks that this seems a bit odd, but continues to try on clothes, ignoring the price tags completely. As she walks out to take the chosen garments to the counter to hold, she notices a young boy behind the counter sewing fast at a machine. As she reaches into her bag to find her purse she hears the salesman whisper harshly to the boy,

"Hurry up with those will you? We need another 30 shirts done by the end of the day. No lunch break for you!" 
"Hey! He's only a child! He shouldn't even be working let only not getting breaks, how dare you speak to him like that?" the mother shouted. 
The salesman passes the woman a booklet, explaining that this isn't a real pop-up store, but an educational exhibition to show people the importance of buying sustainable and ethical clothing. He then points in the direction of a curtain to the left. This room provides chairs to sit on and watch a short film that explains the importance of buying ethically and sustainably. It then invites watchers to fill out a survey on how they found the experience so it can be used to further improve exhibitions such as this one.  

I also continued to work on a mini mock up for presentations:

Week Eight, Nine and Ten: Struggling

These three weeks were a bit slow for me as I was focusing more on my other two courses to try and get them finished early and find some inspiration for this one.

I read more articles and books based on sustainability in design as well as interactive exhibitions to try and find some inspiration. I used these readings to write a bit more on my research proposal.

Week Seven: Making Something for Sharing

On Monday, we were asked to create something that we could take to the sharing session on Friday that was for all 4th year design students. This is a great way to meet other students who are researching similar ideas to me and opens up opportunities for collaboration.
I started by thinking about the different interactive settings I could have in my exhibition and started to create a box that would require people to put their whole head inside to discover what was in it. This is an interactive way of displaying as it requires people to use not just seeing, to process information.

The box idea didn't work out and I got stuck coming up with an idea. Regardless, I went along to the sharing session and chatted to Genevieve, Maggie and Yulan about their ideas on sustainability in design. Genevieve also gave me an idea to show both sides of the garment manufacturing process at the same time. For example, at the construction stage, show how often there is a lot of fabric waste, but also show there are alternatives, such as zero waste techniques which are better for the environment.

This can be something to consider with the layout of the exhibition. Do I want to show the negative impacts of the manufacturing process throughout then show positive impacts at the end? Or show the both of them throughout the whole experience.

Week Six: Shut up and Write session (Part 1)

Mikayla, Johanna and myself have put together a survey and will distribute it on social media this week to gather some data to help with our projects.
This survey received 861 responses, some of which were double up so we have removed them. You can see the responses here:
Survey
(It will open in a new window)



I started to think about the reasons why people want to make a change in their life and decided to ask a friend about her change to becoming vegan. 

What was it that made you want to be vegan?

• My sister became vegetarian 1 year before I did.
• I didn't have a love of animals so for me it was more of an environmental direction. 

• If I knew that an animal had suffered for me to eat this food then I would not agree with that.  

• I went vegan after watching videos about how calves were treated so it's also an ethical reason too
• People ask me "If you don't eat this and that, what do you eat?" This could probably translate easily into fashion. 
• I watched a movie called Cowspiracy and it made me ask, "How have I not known about this?"

What do you know about fast fashion?

• Fast fashion is made badly, in terms of the people who make it. 
• I feel bad if I buy something and I know the person who made it was treated unfairly.
• Financially easier - but I know it is better to have smaller number of garments that are sustainable than it is to have a wardrobe full of badly made clothing that falls apart.

What would make you look at more ethical and sustainable fashion rather than fast fashion?

• I think you need to tell people why they should change, and show them how to make the change.
• It's such a large area to cover and looks daunting to people so show them how to do so they are more likely to change their ways. 

• You need to show people the different angles of why they need to change. Show them the environmental impacts, the human rights impacts and the social impacts. Most people care about people so have a focus on the human rights impacts.
• People ask vegans what they do eat? This helps them to understand. This can work the same way for people wearing ethical and sustainable clothing. People ask, "If you don't wear clothing made from this or that, what clothing can you wear?" They are curious, it's our job to teach them so they can understand.

These answers are similar to what I think would be of those interested in sustainable fashion. They want to protect the environment, but need to be shown how. They already know the why.

Easter Break: Working on developing ideas and writing

I decided I wanted to show the layout of the exhibition once I had all my ideas sorted, so I started to design an exhibition space in Sketchup so I could learn the basics. I think this will be a really valuable tool for when I am ready to present my fashion display layout.

I have also done a decent amount of writing and visited the Centre for Teaching and Learning on campus to go over what I had written.

Week Six: Presentation (Part 2)

Feedback from Presentation

• Students could write down the cost of each process for each garment and have a place in the exhibition.
• Use students as a case study within the exhibition for them to sell their garments to the public walking through. 
• Could be a lot of crossover with other students in the class who are looking into sustainability for their projects. 
• As well as showing the costs through each process, maybe also think about the cost on the environment. E.g. travel costs, dyeing of textiles, throwing away waste, etc. 
• Looking at the Fashion Revolution 2013 vending machine idea, it shows a vending machine in a very public place that offers $2 tshirts. What the public don't know is that once you pay, it displays a short video on how those tshirts were made by people that don't get treated fairly. It then asks the payer whether they still want that tshirt or if they'd rather donate the $2. Most people chose to donate. It was so successful because it was in a public place that captured everyone's attention, but gave them the shock factor that they weren't expecting. 
• Should look at converting the unconverted by using a public place for the display. May need to get permission from the council, or use a space like 19 Tory St. Not many people would come to Massey just to pass through, needs to be more public, that people would just stumble upon. 
• There are enough students researching sustainability to be able to all work together on this. 
• In Fashion design you make things as real as possible, contrast to Spacial design. Could potentially look into how spacial design students speculate what might happen. You could mock up an experience for this semester rather than creating the whole thing. Propose what may happen for next semester. A tiny mock up. 
• Just showing people the impacts of fast fashion may shock them and change their attitudes, but you really need to show them how they can make a difference. When they care, how do you capture them to change. 
• Perhaps other students can offer their garments as the better alternative?
• Student can sell their garments straight from the show into the display and into people's wardrobes. They will need to think about the different sizes needed as well as any matching accessories that could be ideal. 

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Over the Easter break I will be reflecting on this feedback and making a start on my proposal writing. 

Week Five: Planning the research proposal

Fast Idea Generator:

Inversion: The normal rule is that people usually buy clothes from stores. Breaking that rule would mean that stores buy from people. This is already being done through some 2nd hand stores. 

Integration: People usually buy from stores and go to repair shops to get their clothes altered or repaired. This is also already done through custom made clothing boutiques. 

Extension: People buy clothes from stores, but what if people had the opportunity to attend a workshop to create their own personalised clothing. In the earlier days, it was the norm to make your own clothes anyway. With technology came fast fashion and now not many people do this anymore.

Differentiation: People can buy everything they want from one department store. Buy things from different stores. This is already being done. 

Addition: Stores offer delivery to people's houses. They could also offer a return courier bag for people to return an old item of clothing back to them so they can create something from that instead of it going to waste. 

Subtraction: What if there were no brands and people had to design their own clothes and collect from the factories. People would then hopefully be more selective of which factory they chose to make their clothes. 

Translation: Vegetarianism and Veganism are becoming more socially acceptable constructs now because of many reasons. E.g. animal rights, health factors, environmental impact, etc. Why can't sustainable fashion become more socially acceptable. It includes all of the above as well as human rights. 

Grafting: What if people could buy second hand goods from online. We could gain a lot more access to awesome clothing. Plus it would be better for the environment. 

Exaggeration: What if people had the knowledge to understand what sustainable and ethical fashion is while they are shopping, so they begin to care about these issues, and create a change in the world. 

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Monday's class involved another "Shut up and Write" lesson where we looked at writing paragraphs for our proposal.

High order concerns to consider:

• Does the paper have a central thesis?
• So you have an appropriate audience in mind?
• Does the paper progress in a logical way?
• Are the ideas developed sufficiently?

Low order concerns to consider:

• Punctuality
• Spelling
• Sentence structure

Paragraph Structure:

• Main point - the topic sentence, which describes the focus of the paragraph
• Support - Explanations, evidence, and examples that reinforce the main point
• Transitions - Connections between this paragraph and the thesis statement/focus, as well as any nearby paragraphs. 

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Practice Paragraph:

Paragraph Topic: Why do people get attached to clothing so easily?

Topic sentence: Here I am looking at why society finds it so difficult to move on from certain items of clothing and how they get so attached to them in the first place.

Support 1: Reduce consumption, increasing durability of relationships between people and objects. Weaning people off the desire of buying new things. We have never owned, wanted and wasted so much. Why does all this stuff turn into meaningless trash so quickly? We all want a material world, a faster car, a softer sofa or larger TV.

Support 2:

Support 3:

Conclusion: We need to look at how this happens and apply it to new products so that people are less likely to buy so much stuff.

Tips: 

• Ensure everything relates to the topic sentence
• It is easier for readers to understand new info when they can link it to info that you have already told them.
• When you bring in a new theorist, introduce them, explain why they are knowledgeable, publication, qualification.
• Consider clarity and flow. Does each piece of new info build on info that you have already introduced to your reader> Are your sentences complete?
• Is your pronoun use clear?

Think about the SWOT details when prototyping.

SWOT

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Opportunities:

Threats:

Look at writing some reviews of exhibitions or read some reviews by other peoples about exhibitions. Then expand on this and think about what methods you will use. Walking, making, drawing, etc. Look at the type of people who buy online vs people who buy in store.

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I have been reading this book this week and found some great information in it.

Exhibition Design - Pam Locker

"Exhibitions may be permanent or temporary, with a shelf life of 5 years or 5 days. They may vary in scale, from small table-top displays to the size of a small city in the case of world expositions.

However, whether commercial or cultural in nature, it's the idea of communicating a short story in 3D space that acts as the link between these very different environments." page 10

"The exhibition designer needs to have an understanding of the physical, emotional and intellectual needs of a range of very different audiences in order to deliver environments that are accessible, educational and enjoyable. In order to understand how to communicate with an audience, the designer must have an understanding of how audiences learn and ways in which to facilitate this learning." pg 34

"The exhibition design process… Analysis, idea, develop, proposal, detail, installation" pg 36

"Who is the audience? Is the exhibition expected to attract predominantly individuals, couples, families" etc. "Will there need to be special consideration of visitor's age, gender, race or physical and emotional ability? Will the exhibition aim to appeal to a wide audience, or will it focus on a specific group?"

pg 47

"Can visitors pass comfortably? Are there clear safe routes to fire exits?" 48

"Wait times within exhibitions need consideration and audio-visual presentations should not be longer than 3-5mins or visitors either at worst, get bored or at best, cause a bottleneck.

An effective designer will consider as part of their design strategy how visitors will be entertained while they wait, in order to evoke a sense of anticipation that is fulfilled on their arrival." pg 48

"Designer needs to consider visitors with mobility, hearing and visual impairments as well as those with learning disabilities who may experience intellectual barriers." pg 50

"At every stage, make reference to the brief and its aims and objectives: What are the most important parts of the story that the storyteller wants the audience to remember? What is the story about and who is it for?

What are the limitations of the space and budget? What is the clearest and most appropriate way to communicate messages?" Pg57

"For the exhibition designer, the implication of this is that each design decision brings with it subliminal narratives, which communicate to visitors. Whether this is through form, space, surface, materialit, light or sound, the space will develop an atmosphere that evokes feeling.

Some exhibition spaces may offer visitors a passive experience, where information is delivered trough images, text and objects. In contrast, exhibitions designed to be interactive will immerse the visitor in a different kind of experience, where they may take on the role of 'performer' as well as audience." Pg 86

" The spatial arrangements and positioning of exhibition content will influence how visitors move through spaces, picking up messages and information along the way." Pg 89

"Interactive exhibits provide a valuable mechanism for explaining a range of often difficult information. The act of physically and intellectually engaging with an exhibit, rather than passively receiving information, creates an interaction between the exhibit and audience that aims to facilitate learning." Pg 99

Week Four: Interactive Display Research (Part Two)

What makes an exhibition interactive?

• Lighting
• Sound
• Taste
• Touch
• Smell
• Sight

Initial Ideas for an Interactive Installation:

• Collect scrap fabric from waste bins and join them all together to create the lining of a room that holds the installation. 
• Take all scrap materials you can find and dump them in the middle of a large room.
• Lasercut a puzzle to show an image that makes people think. Could be lasercut out of scrap fabrics?

<Images for analysis>

1. https://www.behance.net/gallery/4419469/WHAT-MADE-ME-Interactive-Public-Installation

From <https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3684240482928681069#editor/target=post;postID=5054357344583673098;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname> 

This interactive display asks people to think about what made them 'think,' 'change,' 'happy, 'create,' or 'happy.' It asks people to use different coloured string and loop it around the different words that relate to them. This is a fun way of finding out about how people think and how this affects who they are. It doesn't use a lot of space either, just wall space. I could use something similar in my project where people can loop string around the different values they have while shopping. This could be positioned near the start of the exhibition before they find out about sustainable clothing.

2. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/93/8c/4a/938c4a4d19f77547a073c108ce738251.jpg

This image shows a child interacting with a puzzle on the wall. Puzzles are a relaxing activity and excites the brain when it is completed and the final image is clear. It could be magnetic pieces to help it stick vertically. If I were to use this in my project, I could create my own by designing an image in illustrator then using the lasercutter to etch the design in and cut the pieces out. I could then add colour if I wanted to. If it was put in my exhibition it could be something that people could participate in but not necessarily complete on their own. I would display the final image too so that it was easier for people to put together and also see it when it was not yet complete.

3. http://divewondersblog.com/en/?p=1230

This is part of an exhibition in Moscow. It shows photographs of sea life pinned to the background netting. The netting looks similar to what fishermen use to catch fish. This exhibition shows how precious the sea life is and how it is disappearing quickly due to fishermen catching so much of it in nets and selling it. I could do something similar to this in the way of fashion, by showing images of fashion on runways but use thrown out scraps of fabric as the background. 

4. http://www.boredpanda.com/interactive-art-exhibition-put-your-head-into-gallery-tezi-gabunia/

This image shows a man who has his head inside a miniature Tate Modern exhibition. These are portable so that anyone can put their head inside and become an exhibit themselves. I could do something similar to this where people can put their heads into a box, and inside would be a miniature mock up of a fashion workroom where the workers are not treated well or paid well. This could be very effective, as when people look at the box it may appear to be one thing, but when they actually put their head inside to look, it will shock them as to how different it really is. 

5. https://www.questacon.edu.au/visiting/galleries/h2o/exhibits/hiddenwater

These images show an exhibition that encouraged the audience to interact to find out more information about the hidden water in products. I want to use this idea in my exhibition by giving people an interactive option to learn more about how much water is used in making one item of clothing. 

We have also started putting together a survey to send out to find out about people's clothing and how they buy, use and dispose of them. 

Week Four: Thinking about Writing (Part 1)

This research aims to raise awareness of sustainable and ethical clothing through a new and exciting fashion display. It is intended to be an interactive design so that  people can truly understand how their clothing is being made and make an informed choice.

What assumptions do I make: 

Do people care?

Costs are high. 

What makes people engage in an exhibition.

How you experience something, gives you a certain assumption about things. 

1. How will I engage people in the space? Make it relatable, use objects and ideas that people identify with.
2. How do I get people to care enough to change? They really need to see how it is directly affecting them.
3. What is my target market? Anyone who buys clothing for themselves or others.
4. How does it make the opposite system less desirable? Direct calling out.

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When paraphrasing, use phrases such as "It defines... it explains... it is an example of... it links with... it highlights..."
The following are 5 sections of text from readings that I found very useful, followed by my own paraphrasing of them:

 One.

Chapman has found that so many landfills worldwide, are being filled with fully functional household appliances, simply because they fail to connect emotionally with the user (23).

Two.

He highlights an example of using IKEA furniture as objects that people use as self-improvement and it explains the reasoning behind why our society buys so much stuff. 

Three.

The definition of society's attitude around comfort and positive change is highlighted here, suggesting that we must choose between them, choosing comfort sacrifices positive change. It gives an example by relating this to going to the dentist. We are well aware that with each day passing, the issue is worsened, and an eventual visit to the dentist will be greeted with a much more painful experience. 

Four.

This text shows the reasoning behind why people hold onto certain objects. The personalised, emotional meanings/experiences attached to them cause some objects to be irreplaceable. 

Five.

This piece explains the details of the manufacturing processes of fashion design. It defines the individual processes and how it affects the industry workers and the environmental impact it has on the planet. 

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Writing notes:

-Make sure the evidence you use, is relevant and you understand everything that is being said.

 -Highlight key points and ideas in a passage.

 -List the key ideas, concepts and phrases.

 -Note down alternative phrases or synonyms for these ideas.

 -Rewrite using your alternative phrases.

 -Simplify

 -Insert the name of the author and reference correctly. 

Week Three: Collecting research to analyse

Key Words:
Customer experience
Fashion Displays
Ethical Design

With these key words/phrases, I found the following readings to analyse:

1. http://www.tedresearch.net/media/files/The_New_Designers_2007.pdf
2. http://www.tandfebooks.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/doi/view/10.4324/9781315738802
3. http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/view/1613/696

1. This reading involves discussion around eco-fashion and how future designers of fashion and textiles will need to be pro-active in how they design. The key environmental problems facing the industry are the chemical pollution, the demand for faster and cheaper fashion, and transportation. The author tells of many projects they have worked on that is a positive impact on the industry. Within the Designers' Exhibition at London Fashion Week, designer Orsola de Castro curated an event in February 2007 called Esthetica. This was a new space dedicated to sustainable fashion.
2. This reading hold a lot of great information around durable design relating to fashion. Key points include, fully-functional landfill waste, self improvement through purchasing new items, material consumption, society's attitude on positive change, emotional attachments to objects plus many others.
3. This reading is based on research done around reasons why people stop wearing particular clothing items, or throw them away. It looks into how can clothing be made to last and the impact that will have on the environment.

In Monday's class, we visited the Cindy Sherman exhibition at the City Gallery. The following is an image I drew of the exhibition layout, in response to seeing her work. I felt that what I want to do in my project is unrelated to Sherman's work and while drawing the exhibition, I found it looked quite boring and had no structure to it. This made me realise that I want to create an interactive exhibition rather than one that you just walk around and look at.

Thoughts of moving forward:
I had a think about what makes catwalk shows ethical and sustainable. Most shows will give away goodie bags, programmes, vouchers, etc and a lot of it isn't used after the show, and therefore is thrown away. This is unsustainable and unnecessary for the environment and the consumers. Fashion show go-ers want an experience while seeing a show, and there are plenty of ways to do this other than giving them bits of paper and unwanted vouchers.

I also need to think about the following:

• Who is my audience?
• Anyone who is buying clothing.
• What is the best way to get information across? (If there is too much information, people stop engaging).
• Be engaging and interactive. Let the audience touch, smell, taste, see and hear. 
• SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). In terms of my previous work.
• Look into exhibitions that involve static and movement. 
• Budgets
• Performance writing/arcade
• What do people like in an exhibition. 
• Create a survey. Fill out an ethics form.
• Letting spaces around Wellington?
• London 2005 crafts council. Esthetica Sustainable fashion exhibitions.
• Visit as many exhibitions as possible, for analysis. 

What makes an exhibition interactive?
I went along to the Bug Exhibition at Te Papa, to see how it got people interacting with information and learning about the life of bugs. The following are some images and videos I personally took while participating in the exhibition.

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Research Proposals explain to your reader what you want to investigate, why you want to investigate, and how you will investigate.
What: Map the areas you want to research. Create a narrative about your topic and focus in on that.
Why: Provide a rational for choosing these areas. Review the literature of what has been thought and researched before. Do these other researchers care?
How: Explain the process that will allow you to find what you want to find. Detail how you will conduct the research.

Structure:
- Title Page
- Intro/Background (What)
- Research aims/questions (What)
- Literature Review (Why)
- Method (How)
- Ethics (How)
- Timeline

The narrative of your proposal can be:
- Personal: Appealing to others
- Ethical: Appealing to ethos or sense of right and wrong
- Academic: Appealing to logos or scientific development

Week Two: Additional Research

Week Two, I found some really great videos that brought around some inspiration, as follows...

Director: Jim Demuth

Producer: Posy Dixon

Alexa Chung Uncovers Fashion Industry Secrets | Full Series One | Future of Fashion | British Vogue

Willie Walter's student: Chris Cowan

"You have autumn, winter, spring summer collection. You also have resort and prefall. And that means these smaller labels, you don’t have enough money for presentations and shows together. You have 4 labels every single year. There's kind of a move to doing presentations, like Molly Goddard. Less people, less pressure, less money involved. People can come and go."

So why even bother having catwalk shows?

That's the question, how important nowadays are catwalk shows?

"Really really important for the ego." Alexa Chung says. 

Paul Smith:

When I walk around the building with students, I tell them "you all might want to be designers, but in a way, get that out of your head because, as we walk around the building, I'm going to show you lots of lovely jobs you can get with that skill" There's buying, there's press, there's social media. There's shop design, styling, management. There's so many great jobs you can get, if you go through that fashion system. And they're still very creative. 

Olivier Rousteing:

Social media is one of the most important parts to the revolution of fashion. People are asking, what's going to happen to magazines? What's going to happen to the business. Instagram is a new way to advertise your brand and communicate, so literally two years ago people were scared, asking "omg is it luxury to go on social media?"

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Director and Producer: Posy Dixon

The Future of Fashion with Alexa Chung in New York | Full Series Two | British Vogue

Lyndsey Butler - Veda CEO

"A lot of our comments were about how to parley your degree into a job in the fashion industry. People are concerned, if they study law or science that it wont be relevant to the industry.

It definitely is, I think a lot of arts degrees in general are just about teaching yourself how to diligent doing work and how to think, work with other people and how to relate to the world and I feel that that's a lot of what I learnt at school as well, just how to be in the world on your own. Work real hard and pick things up along the way.

How important is having a retail space? You have an iPad in your shop so you can corporate the ecommerce thing into it. So do you think it's still relevant to have a retail space?

"I do. I went back and forth maybe like 3 years after I started the brand. I opened a store on Ludlow and I had that for about a year and a half coz I wanted to have that touchstone with the customer and I think that reason alone its really important. I hear such awesome feedback from the store like "Oh, that buckle on that jacket makes a lot of noise and people keep not buying it because the buckle it too jingly." Like is the music not loud enough in the store? Why does it keep happening. It's not something I've heard happening in a wholesale account, but that's great, we've got a new buckle so it wont happen again. It would've taken a lot longer to get that information.

Customer engagement is important!

Leandra Medine - Founder of Man Repeller

You think I'm confident?

Well you're taking a risk, which I think some people are intimidated by the idea of putting themselves out there. I definitely trust my instinct.  I trust my gut, and I think I have good ideas, even though sometimes they're not good ideas. 

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After watching the above videos, I began to wonder. What is it that makes my project important?

I believe that it's important to continuously build new ways that can fashion be displayed, that entertains an audience and gives them an experience of a lifetime. This also needs to be ethical and sustainable. People nowadays are questioning brands about where the clothes are made. This is important to people and we must be more transparent with how we market clothing to consumers. E.g. Emma Watson is now promoting ethical clothing by only wearing clothes that are ethical and sustainable when promoting her new film. http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-fashion/emma-watson-promotes-ethical-sustainable-fashion-new-instagram-account.html 

Key Words:

Customer Experience

Fashion display

Ethical design

Week One - Initial Research

212.453 Fashion Research and Development 

In week one, we were introduced to the brief for this class, Whakatinana.

This brief gives the opportunity to challenge an aspect of the fashion industry that frustrates me and offers the chance to take responsibility for a project and consider the future impact of it. You can design in many areas including, pre-consumption (garment manufacturing, packaging and delivering) Shop (selling and point of purchase) and Post-consumption (use and waste).

To start with, I looked at a range of possible careers in the industry and highlighted the ones that I would like to associate myself with. From here I realized I relate more to the managerial side of the industry, rather than the production side of it.

I then began to look at what motivates me as a person and what frustrates me.
What frustrates me:

• Why do we have to follow trends?
• Why do we need to keep to a set timeline/deadline?
• Why should we always stick to the rules?
• Why are people not paid enough for the work they do?

What motivates me:

• Instigating sustainability
• Hosting parties/hospitality for guests
• Running events
• The satisfaction of making people happy

Think about: 
What is the purpose of your fashion project? What do you want it to do?
I want it to make people aware that their spending habits are directly affecting the environment and other people's lives. I want to show people that fashion (whether it's buying or wearing) can be an experience. I want it to be a part of social change. 

Who says fashion even needs to be displayed on a runway/in a store/online/etc?
Fashion design is always changing and getting better, why can't the display of fashion do the same?
I want to work with experience design and possibly performance design. 

I went to the Weta Christmas party 2016, and it blew my mind! The amount of work that went into it to show off what they do, was incredible. 

Thoughts from in class 03/03/17

• What is fashion?
• How do people engage with fashion? Does it need to be on a body?
• What is my own experience with fashion.
• Unpack what this means.
• Analyse conventional ways of displaying fashion. E.g. Shops, exhibitions, online, etc
• Is fashion dead while in an exhibition?
• Garments locked away - historical.
• What is an exhibition?
• What else can fashion be?
• Is cuba st a fashion show?
• Photograph, ways of fashion
• What is different?
• What is important to get across in fashion, to feel and understand in fashion?
• Look at other shows, channel, gucci, etc. Money, exclusive, what do they want to express, luxery? Models? Place, train station.
• Own garments, or others?
• Abstract - netflix. Show productions, musicians.
• How an audience reads a show. Engagement?
• Physical stores are more for the experience of shopping.

I want to think about how to display fashion in a way that makes you think about the bigger issues in the industry. The Environment. Don't need to advertise through posters or anything that requires paper to be wasted! Dig deep into critical thinking and make informed decisions. Research and question everything!