#uswcreate

[emilieelleneliza]

Image Making

Hey guys, so tomorrow at uni we’re having a little image making workshop to give us ideas for our zines! This should be so fun, I actually can’t wait! So I thought I’d collect a couple images to use as inspiration over here, just so I have all my thoughts and ideas in one place. It might even help to set the tone of the zine? Who knows? Anyway, I hope you like them and that they inspire you too! I’ll definitely upload the images I create tomorrow as well so you can have a little nose and hopefully get excited for what’s to come!! 

[charlottehaines16-blog]

Playing around in the tv studio with the lighting in preparation for our shoot next week

[charlottehaines16-blog]

VLOG TIME!

So I have mentioned in the past that I have dyslexia.

I know many people worry that they won’t get into university because of their dyslexia and I had that thought many times before I applied. No one is ‘stupid’ and I’ve learnt that now I’m at university studying a course where I don’t have to do any exams and its more based on practical learning and showing you can do something instead of testing the knowledge you have.

Like many universities USW have their own support put in place to help students with dyslexia and you can find out more about USW’s DDS here: http://dds.southwales.ac.uk

Any questions do ask me, I was scared when applying for university but I received offers from all 5 universities I applied to and managed to get through all of my A-levels before the severity of my dyslexia was picked up after I had finished my exams.

[emilieelleneliza]

Conscious Consumers as a Subculture?

From the very start of University last year, my interests and passions within this industry have always directed me towards ethics and sustainability. For our first ever project we were given a denim company at random and had to research and create a pitch for a lookbook around that brand. I’m soooo glad that fate handed me Nudie! For anyone who doesn’t know, Nudie is a really cool, Scandinavian, guys denim brand and they’re super focused on sustainability through the philosophy of repairing and reusing their denim, as well as being completely open and conscious about their factory practices and who makes their clothing. You should definitely look them up!

Well, it was through the research for that project that I realised just how much of an impact the fashion industry has on our environment and how much waste is generated from the repercussions of our living in a Western capitalist society. Throughout the rest of the year, wherever I could fit ethics and sustainability into my projects, I would. It was an area that I really wanted to learn more of and its developed into something I’m really passionate about. I feel as though it’s given me a direction and purpose within this massive industry, and it’s always going to be a subject that really interests and excites me! It’s a practice that is continually developing and that’s always thinking about how to create good, and how to make this world a better place. Isn’t that what everyone wants to do?

This interest even led me towards my summer internship at Visible Clothing! I was incredibly lucky to assist with the company’s re-brand as an intern art director during the holidays and even to do some freelance stuff for them too! I’ve even written a blog post, (my first ever one) for one of their partner brands, Eternal Creation. You can read that here if you like - https://www.eternalcreation.com/blogs/news!

Since thinking through this zine project I’ve realised that people who consume consciously are kind of like a subculture too! Their garments express their beliefs, wearing clothes that are either made of natural and organic fibres or that have been up or recycled. There are some environmentally conscious who only have ten items in their entire wardrobe each season and find ways to creatively re-wear their clothing as a way to minimise their personal waste and global footprint! These kinds of wardrobes are called capsule wardrobes and are becoming more and more popular! Some of my favourite blogs that focus on this are Lee Vosburgh over at http://www.stylebee.ca and Sophie Davies at http://www.theprivatelifeofagirl.com. These are great inspiration for anyone wanting to start adding more consciously to their wardrobe!

There has been such a rise in conscious fashion recently. Brands like Everlane, Fillipa K and Elizabeth Suzann are just a few of my favourites. There’s even this online fashion house called Reve-En-Vert, which sells clothing from loads of different sustainable designers for you to choose from, and they also write some really interesting content on their blog!

A subculture extends the realm of image, because the clothing they wear actually means something and expresses that cultures interests. Conscious living extends the realms of fashion, it’s a part of everything they consume from the products they clean their house with, to the food they eat, the products they put on their skin and places they choose to buy from. It’s a lifestyle, and it’s one that is controversial to that of our social mainstream, so then can’t this defined as a subculture?

Again, I’m passionate about this niche in the fashion industry and always want to discover and learn more about it, so it’s definitely something I’m considering for the subject of my zine. My lecturer did say that the more excited and passionate we are about the subject, the more that’s going to come across in our zine’s?

[emilieelleneliza]

An Exciting New Project

I’m so happy to share the beginning of a very exciting new project with you guys! For my first University assignment of the year we’ve been tasked with creating a zine that’s focused on a specific subculture or fashion group of our own choosing.

We’ve got six weeks to complete the project, and this may sound like the longest time in the world, but trust me, when you’ve got three other modules to produce work for, a two-hour commute, a fitness regime and commitments to your loved ones, time can quickly slip away from you. I couldn’t even begin to imagine fitting in a part time job on top of all that and I have so much respect for my friends that do! 

I’ll be documenting the entire creative process behind the making of the zine here, from content research to design ideas, photography and illustration. Hopefully you’ll get a really good feel for what goes into creating a zine and it might even inspire you to make your own!

So what is a zine? I swear for ages I pronounced it like “zign”, but it’s actually pronounced as “zeen” (as in like magazine (duh)). It’s short for fanzine, which are like mini magazines, usually self-published, with content on anything that the author is passionate about and wants to share. There are zines out there dedicated to the love of movies, feminism, politics, television, sports, photography, illustration and cats - literally anything that the author of the zine feels inspired to share! Most of them are printed in small batches and can be bought quite cheaply (some are even free!).

Zines are a niche form of publishing and they can be kind of tricky to get your hands on - it’s not like they’re sold in every single newsstand or bookshop you walk into. Instead they have entire stores and fairs dedicated to zine’s! There are quite a few zine stores scattered around England, like Magalleria in Bath, Ideas on Paper in Nottingham, and Magculture, which is in London. So if you’re visiting these places any time soon, why don’t you pop in and check them out? I know I want to! Another great place to find zine’s is on Etsy! Loads of artists and illustrators sell them alongside their prints and things, but people also have accounts dedicated to zines. You can even buy zines in packs on there and receive a bunch of different ones from various authors. This might be a great way to introduce yourself to this kind of media! You might even find something that you love, you never know?!

I’ll post a few of my favourite zine picks for you if you want to get more of a feel for what a zine is. Most of them are by illustrators, but I think they’re just the most beautiful way of showcasing artist work and they become more of a collector item than a generic magazine! You can get all of these on Etsy, apart from the Alexa Chung for Madewell one.

Being back in University feels so good! I’m really looking forward to being creative again and furthering my skills and knowledge about this industry. This might sound corny but the more I’m getting to know about the world of fashion the more I’m falling in love with it. I promise it’s not as basic and superficial as it’s made out to be in the movies! There are some very talented innovators and visionaries working behind the scenes that are changing the face of this industry and the way it works.

Within the past five years there’s been a huge progression in the realms of ethics and sustainability, body positivity, feminism and fashion identity that it makes me excited to be a part of an ever evolving, diverse industry. Hey, maybe these are some of the topics I could look into for my zine subject, who knows?