FASHION REVOLUTION DAY

In my first module, we performed a debate on whether fashion does more damage than good. A few days ago, the annual Fashion Revolution Day was held, which helps raise awareness of the real cost of fashion and promote change within the industry. 

Carry Somers, founded the organisation 2 years ago, shortly after the Rana Plaza disaster occurred on the 24th of April 2013. Carry described how everywhere she looked there was people complaining about the ethical issues within the industry and yet no one acted upon it. She decided it was time someone did this, and contacted a close friend for some help. Although we may think we have little connection to the factory that collapsed that day, we in fact stimulate this production by purchasing items from brands which use environments like the Rana Plaza. 

This year there were over 70 countries involved all over the world and the question people were being asked was "Who made your clothes?", to which over 70% people couldn't answer. If companies aren't publicising where their items are made, then they probably have something to hide. In the centre of Berlin, the Fashion Revolution team placed a vending machine selling €2 t-shirts. When someone went to purchase a t-shirt they were shown a video of a young girl, working in poor conditions on very little wage, the customer was then asked if they wish to continue purchasing or whether they want to donate that €2 to a charity supporting this issue. As you could guess, most donated. 

A simple action like this contributes to changing the industry. Continue your curiosity about this subject and mark the Fashion Revolution date in your diary, so you can help raise awareness of it each year. 

SURVIVING FIRST YEAR

I know it may be too soon to speak but the final yet shortest term has arrived and I'm still here, alive and well. As we delve into the last term, a lot of work has to be done to ensure I get a grade I'm happy with. From the start of this course, our tutors have repeatedly said it's not necessarily about your grade for the next two years, its about experimenting and improving to find your best qualities so you can use these in your final year where your grade is accounted for.

I've got into a fairly good routine of blogging now, it's sort of comes naturally, when it reaches a certain time on a certain day I know its time to blog. However, reading on the other hand hasn't had as much attention, this is something I definitely need to improve over the next few weeks to up my knowledge which I can hopefully incorporate into my work. Our portfolio has also been building up from last term, a lot consists of work regarding the fragrance project, I've found myself a lot more into this term as it's more project based. After feedback from first year, I've tried to focus a lot more on the design recipe of my portfolio, making sure it all connects together. Although it's felt much longer I feel like I've had more time to spend on improving my work, which is something I did with the fragrance trend booklet. My workbook has been fairly inconsistent if I'm honest. With the first term at uni, I had a lot to put in there because I was learning so much particularly evidence of my skills on adobe creative suite, this term, due to it being more of a project I've felt like it was more of a notepad rather than a workbook. This is definitely something which needs a lot of work at the moment.

Finally when considering actually being a student, and combining cooking, cleaning, a social life AND uni, I think I've done fairly well... The kitchen is usually kept tidy, my bedroom is always tidy, I seem to get 3 decent meals a day and I usually am under budget. Does this mean I'm a boring student?!

It's quite surreal that first year is nearly over but I will definitely be making sure the last few weeks as a fresher count before I go travelling around South East Asia.

DAMN GOOD ADVICE

After reading Hegarty on Creativity: There are no rules, which a thouroughly recommend by the way, I decided to look for books which are similar concepts to this book and that have a similar layout and tone of voice because it was so easy and enjoyable to read Hegarty's.

I came across a selection of books, the first one I brought was Damn Good Advice by George Lois, an art director and designer. Lois published this book in 2012 to give advice to people on how to reach their creative potential. Much like Hegarty's, Lois writes in a manner which is both entertaining yet insightful. From picking up the book once, I'm reached near the half way page. My favourites points so far have included...

• You can be cautious or creative (but there's no such thing as a cautious creative.) He urges that a creative thinker must be fearless with little care about what people's thoughts are.
• Reject analysis paralysis. Once you've got 'the big idea' and thought it through, if it works, accept it. Trust your gut. Trust your instincts. This is definitely my weak point, or was... Since being at uni I've become more decisive and trustworthy of myself. I've started to not analyse things as much.
• Even a brilliant idea won't sell itself. From one of the few kings of advertising, Lois speaks from experience when he says "you need to sell it". He's tried every page in the book to sell his ideas, from persuading to manipulating. 

So far I'm impressed with the advice given. It's funny to think when reading through these books that a lot of the points made, you can relate to. This makes the book much more intriguing to read!