BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion & BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Technology
L5 / Placement – L6 Summer Brief 2021
FASHION CULTURES 3 FASHION ENTERPRISE
• Please select ONE of the following briefs as your summer project • This should be the L6 option unit that you have pre-selected (FC3/FE)* • Deadline: Term1 2021-22 begins on 13th September 2021 • You must complete this work prior to commencing L6 • This summer brief leads directly into your first unit and will form the basis of your first L6 summative assessment • You will be fully briefed on your summative assessment upon the commencement of the unit (you already have an overview from the options presentations previously provided) • You will be required to present / discuss your summer project as part of your onward work within the unit • You may wish to refer to all the resources provided irrespective of which unit option you have selected as they may be relevant to your overall chosen theme(s)
* You may ONLY change your pre-selection before teaching starts, so induction week at the very latest. If you are considering this, we suggest you complete both briefs and attend both induction sessions so you do not set yourself at a disadvantage. Please note any options changes will result in changes to your student records and timetable which may not update immediately.
Content Page
Fashion Cultures 3 2 – 8
Fashion Enterprise 9 – 13
1 L5 / Placement – L6 Summer Brief: FASHION CULTURES 3
This brief asks you to start the research process, working towards the learning outcomes for your FC3 assignment. You will develop your own ideas for the final FC3 submission, an illustrated contextual essay. As a starting point, you will focus on one theme from various fashion related themes listed below.
Please complete the following three tasks:
Develop your ideas • Select ONE research theme from the provided list • Select and read from the recommended text sources* – take notes • List your key interests and/or use a mind map processes to identify the specific issues that most interest you about your selected theme
Individual exploration • Using the MMU library search tools, identify and read at least two more texts that pick up on your specific interests – take notes • https://www.library.mmu.ac.uk/ • Summarise all your notes and collate / group into 3-5 key themes
Visual response • Source 3-5 fashion images that communicate your key themes • Combine your images to create a research board that communicates your initial research ideas • Your visual research will be presented and will form the basis of discussion for your onward assignment • You will use this board to present your initial research ideas in small groups in the first week of term.
*Each research theme is supported by recommended text sources: 1. Fashion Sustainability 2. Fashion Futures 3. Fashion, diversity and equality 4. Fashion and society 5. Fashion post Covid 6. Fashion and subculture post Covid lockdown
Phoebe Apeagyei (Fashion Cultures 3 – Unit Leader)
2 FC3 Fashion research theme 1. Fashion Sustainability: https://wke.lt/w/s/yX8-96 Climate scientists predict we only have 5 years before climate warming makes the damage to the living world irreversible. As a fashion professional, what can you do to help address this? How we might change our clothing behaviours to be more pro-environmental? Why and how does it impact your own individual fashion practice?
(BBC accessed 21:07:20) https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate
3 FC3 Fashion research theme 2. Fashion Futures: https://wke.lt/w/s/rs-HwL What is the future of fashion? What is on the future horizon that could bring in change for better or for worse? Why and how do these potential changes impact your own individual fashion practice?
FDT student, Sophie Parnaby’s 3D print dress. Image accessed 18:06:21 from MMU News and Events. https://www.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/13659/
4 FC3 Fashion research theme 3. Fashion, diversity and equality: https://wke.lt/w/s/60E69p Grass roots movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter have become mainstream and demand attention. Could fashion respond to problems of racism in society? Has fashion responded to the narrow confines of binary gender roles? Why? How does this relate to fashion? Why and how does this impact your own individual fashion practice?
Image from The Guardian article ‘Everyone passes the buck’ despite #MeToo, fashion has a way to go (2019) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/15/everyone-passes-the-buck-despite-metoo-fashion-has-a-way-to-go
5 FC3 Fashion research theme 4. Fashion and society: https://wke.lt/w/s/GnuWN9 Would fashion even exist if our society were different? What societal issues have an impact on fashion and why? Why and how do these societal issues impact your own individual fashion practice?
Image from Capitalism and the Fashion Industry a promotional film about Stitched-Up Anti-capitalist book of fashion Tansy Hoskins (2014). Accessed 21:07:20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoD94DiCZD8
6 FC3 Fashion research theme 5. Fashion post Covid: https://wke.lt/w/s/_Ei-oY What is the new fashion normal? Is fashion relevant during a global pandemic? How and why will this impact our world? Can fashion brands and their products be sources for good in a public health crisis? Why and how could these questions impact your own individual fashion practice?
Image from Business of Fashion (2020) accessed 21:07:20
7 FC3 Fashion research theme 6. Fashion and subculture post Covid lockdown: https://wke.lt/w/s/6noa42 Subcultures are usually identifiable by the fashions they adopt. Why is this relationship so strong? Coming out of the trauma of Britain’s experience during WWII and the subsequent period of austerity and rationing into the 1950s, a number of working-class youth cultures emerged to challenge the old societal hierarchies and forge a new youth- centred culture. Do you see new youth subcultures emerging out of this global public health crisis and what is the role of fashion in them? Why and how could these questions impact your own individual fashion practice?
Image from BlackLivesMatter.com (2020) https://blacklivesmatter.com
8 L5 / Placement – L6 Summer Brief: FASHION ENTERPRISE
The summer brief requires you to carry out individual research to help you identify a business start-up idea. Your business proposition could be product and/or service based but should be focussed around one of the following contemporary themes:
• Sustainability / Circular economies
• Technology: For example* wearable tech, AR/VR/AI, Apps...
• 50+ consumers / Sizing and fit
• Global fashion trends / Emerging trends: For example* modest fashion, artisans, athleisure, bleisure...
Please complete the following task:
• Investigate the themes by reading from the recommended texts* – take notes • Evaluate and select the one theme you most identify with • Clearly highlight which theme you have selected • Summarise your ideas in a 300 word (maximum) proposal • To be credible, the proposal must contain references to demonstrate that you have undertaken analysis of the market and trends
*Examples and resources provided are indicative, not exhaustive. You should use these as starting points but should investigate, identify and define your own.
9 Team Working in the FE unit
• Using this project, tutors will facilitate groupings and group discussions for your FE assessment • You will immediately be paired with one other person • You may have previously worked with someone who you wish to negotiate ‘pairing’ with in advance of the academic year. You should undertake your research independently, but may wish to select the same theme for your summer project • Your pair will then be matched to form a team with students from the other course(s), who's proposals are complimentary • Therefore teams will be made up of approximately 4-6 students (Fashion Design and Technology, Fashion Promotion, Fashion Top-Up, depending on overall student numbers) • Staff will support students to ensure all are paired / in teams at the beginning of the unit, poor engagement may mean allocation without consultation – this will be non-negotiable • Team working policy will apply to all group submissions and penalties on summative assessment may be applied
For your own purposes:
• You may wish to support your written proposal with a research board that visually communicates your initial research ideas. This may facilitate you in communicating, negotiation, discussing your ideas during team working
Nathalie Evans (Fashion Enterprise – Unit Leader)
10 List of indicative FE resources:
Brownbridge, K., Gill, S., Grogan, S., Kilgariff, S. & Whalley, A. 2018, "Fashion misfit: women’s dissatisfaction and its implications", Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 438-452
D'Alessandro, J., Lewis, R. & M.H. de Young Memorial Museum 2018, Contemporary Muslim fashions, DelMonico Books·Prestel, San Francisco;Munich;New York;.
Ellis, D. 2019, "BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: Your work is important--but so is your leisure time. As we all strive for greater work-life balance, demand for bleisure travel is growing", Business traveller Middle East, pp. 14.
Fletcher, K. & Grose, L. 2012, Fashion & sustainability: design for change, Laurence King Publishing, London.
Fletcher, K. & Tham, M. 2014, Routledge handbook of sustainability and fashion, Taylor and Francis, Hoboken.
Global Plus Size Women's Clothing Market Size, Trends, Industry Analysis, Leading Players & Future Forecast by 2020 2020, , Normans Media Ltd.
Gorea, A., Baytar, F. & Sanders, E.A. 2020, "Experimental design and evaluation of a moisture responsive sports bra", Fashion and textiles, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-21.
Grogan, S., Storey, E., Brownbridge, K., Gill, S., Templeton, C., Gill, J., Persson, S. & Armitage, C.J. 2019;2020;, "Whole body scanning as a tool for clothing sizing: effects on women’s body satisfaction", Journal of the Textile Institute (2004), vol. 111, no. 6, pp. 1-7.
Grose, L. 2019, "Lynda Grose Keynote - Fashion and Sustainability: Where We Are and Where We Need To Be", Fashion Practice: Fashion, Design, and Sustainability, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 291-301.
Henninger, C.E., Alevizou, P., Goworek, H. & Ryding, D. 2017, Sustainability in fashion: a cradle to upcycle approach, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland. Jacometti, V. 2019, "Circular Economy and Waste in the Fashion Industry", Laws, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 27.
Joy, A., Sherry, J.F., Venkatesh, A., Wang, J. & Chan, R. 2012, "Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands", Fashion Theory, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 273-295.
Kishore, R.A., Nozariasbmarz, A., Poudel, B., Sanghadasa, M., Priya, S., National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States), Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States) & Pennsylvania State
11 Univ., University Park, PA (United States) 2019, "Ultra-high performance wearable thermoelectric coolers with less materials", Nature communications, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1765-13.
Lipson, S.M., Stewart, S. & Griffiths, S. 2020, "Athleisure: A qualitative investigation of a multi-billion-dollar clothing trend", Body Image, vol. 32, pp. 5-13.
New Nano Tech Fashion Brand, Hotsuit, Hosted Sweat & Sparkle Day on August 16, 2019 2019, , Normans Media Ltd, Coventry.
"Research and Markets Adds Report: Global Athleisure Market", 2019, Entertainment Close-up.
Rollender, N. 2020, "The Intersection of Innovation", Impressions, [Online], vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 14-23.
Rollender, N. 2019, "The Evolution of Athleisure", Impressions, [Online], vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 24-27.
Salahuddin, M. & Romeo, L. 2020, "Wearable technology: are product developers meeting consumer's needs?", International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 58-67.
"Soaring clothing returns blamed on inconsistent sizing", 2018, just-style.com. Stern, R. 2019, "Portable and Wearable Tech Expected to Upend Global Health Care", Research technology management, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 7
Townsend, K., Kent, A. & Sadkowska, A. 2019, "Fashioning clothing with and for mature women: a small-scale sustainable design business model", Management decision, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 3-20.
Twigg, J. 2018, "Fashion, the media and age: How women’s magazines use fashion to negotiate age identities", European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 334-348.
Vignali, G. 2020, Technology-driven sustainability: innovation in the fashion supply chain, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland.
Wendt, R. 2019, "Transformational Tech: How wearable technology is transforming law enforcement", Law Enforcement Technology, [Online], vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 12.
Williams, D. 2019, "What's Going On? A Discourse in Fashion, Design, and Sustainability", Fashion Practice: Fashion, Design, and Sustainability, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 283-290.
12 Other resources available - Journal database at the library or online https://www.library.mmu.ac.uk/
• Mintel: UK market reports • Passport: International market reports • AT Kearney • Just-Style • Business Source: industry and market research and country reports • Business Insider • Drapers Online: analysis and business intelligence on the fashion industry in the UK and Irish Republic • Global Data - Research, trend analysis and news for the retail industry. • Common Objectives • McKinsey • The Business of Fashion (BoF)
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