For my remix, I decided to work with my DIAC essay “Beyond the Bias: Dissecting Discrimination in Fashion and Female Dominated Industries.” The majority of the paper discusses the effects of stereotypes of women in the fashion industry. My research introduced me to the concept of the glass ceiling, which is the disadvantage received by marginalized workers in any industry. The fashion industry is very diverse and I want to illuminate on underappreciated designers. Even in a highly-female dominated career, white male designers are glorified more often and are given better opportunities.
The genre I chose is to develop a lookbook inspired by marginalized designers who are emphasizing sustainability. The name of the lookbook is “The Silenced Artist of the Fashion Industry.” One of the pressing issues that has plagued the industry for centuries is the underrepresentation of minority designers. This has affected their chances for various opportunities and to excel like their white male counterparts. I am aiming for an audience of fashion-lovers and marginalized communities. I want to shed light on their overlooked hard work and inspire new designers to follow their goals. I aim to show the fashion industry these designer’s talents, despite them not fitting society’s “fashion designer” cliche.
Within the industry, there is a major problem with sustainability. Cotton and polyester are the main materials used to produce clothing. While cotton is biodegradable, modern landfills restrict the flow of air and water, causing the material to not decompose. Polyester is not biodegradable what so ever allowing both materials to pollute the environment. With this remix, I would like to highlight designers that use biodegradable or sustainable materials in their clothing. I want to make the knowledge of alternatives more accessible to fashion-lovers and people within the industry. I think by touching on this topic, it also opens my audience to sustainably conscious individuals.
A main constraint I faced while building my genre remix is my lack of understanding what it is like to be a person of color within such a white dominated industry. As a white woman, I have never and will never experience the horrible effects of racism. This restricted my understanding on what to specifically highlight throughout my lookbook. I asked both friends and conducted more social media based research to try and encapsulate this issue. Furthermore, in a technical aspect, I was restricted by my design skills. Although I have a love for graphic design, I am not educated on the specifics of creating an aesthetically pleasing and educative spread. While beginning the lookbook, I have struggled with the balance between representing the art and the artist. A page can only fit so many pictures and words without making it look jumbled, so I had to complete additional research behind the development of these kinds of spreads.
My genre, a lookbook dedicated to marginalized designers with sustainable ethics, has a cover page consisting of the materials inside the book. The second page introduces the concept of marginalized designers and the restrictions they face. It also includes the importance of sustainability in fashion. The book as a whole consists of 5 designers and their brands. Each page highlights a designer and will be accompanied by photos of themselves and their art. The short paragraphs on the pages are about the brand, what it stands for, and their sustainable methods used. There are main paragraphs on the pages that are dedicated to the designer, discussing their story and their mission. The book finishes with a page criticizing the fashion industry as a whole and their views on equality and sustainability.
When exploring this genre, I noticed a heavy focus on the designers’ misfortunes instead of the positive side of their experiences. I wanted to make it as if it was a regular lookbook, not focusing on their ethnicities but their art. Although it is titled “The Silenced Artists of the Fashion Industry,” I want the main theme to be the items and brands they have created.
Additionally, I have to conduct further research on new designers and examine their sustainability. This involved sourcing through vogue and other major media outlets to discover the artist. This was very difficult, there were little articles and insight on new designers. Luckily, I was able to find 5 designers who produce beautiful clothing and sustainable ethics. I wanted to be able to fully capture their missions, so I included both information on their brand and themselves.
I believe the strongest aspect of my project is the design of the lookbook. I am very proud of the colorways, formats, and photos chosen and believe they bring the book all together. Although, I do feel there could be improvements to the tone of the writing throughout. I tried to capture a light-hearted and enticing tone that would entertain the reader and not be seen as “academic writing.” However, I believe it caused the lookbook to sound childish and not as educational as I preferred.
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