Blog #10 Banksy

    As someone who has a lot of art appreciation, I want to take a break away from fashion and explore a type of medium that caught my attention recently. I personally never had much of a care for graffiti art. I mean, I always thought it was pretty but it never grabbed my attention until recently. Banksy is an anonymous street artist with many famous works of art. Even if you don't recognize his name, you might know some of his art such as Balloon Girl. 

Balloon Girl image source: Wikipedia

    Balloon Girl is probably his most recognizable work of art. I feel like I have always heard about Banksy but never cared too much about his work. maybe I was just too young to appreciate it but what sparked my curiosity was his most recent art piece he did in March of this year. I think what made me curious about him is that I haven't heard of him in a while. The last time I heard of him was in 2018 when he did his "Love is in the Bin" stunt. if you haven't seen it I will link the YouTube video to it. But, to sum up the stunt, he shredded his art piece after it sold at auction for over a million dollars. 

Love is in the Bin image source: Wikipedia

    Anyway, I was seeing a lot of new articles and hearing about his new art piece on social media and I still didn't get all the hype around Banksy. it wasn't until a YouTube video popped up on my feed giving a breakdown of Banksy's artwork and why people should care. if I am being completely honest, I don't remember much of what that video talked about, but it mentions a documentary that Banksy did called "Exit Through the Gift Shop". I decided to watch that documentary and let me just tell you, life-changing. I 100% get the hype behind Banksy.

Exit Through the Gift Shop image source: Amazon

    The documentary is about Thierry Gruetta, who tried making a documentary about street art. He would follow a Bunch of street artists such as Banksy basically recording the entire process. he would record them for months and when he finally presented the project, no one liked it. that's when Banksy asked for all the footage and made a documentary about Thierry and his life.

Thierry Gruetta image source: Art net

    The way this documentary is set up is so engaging for the watcher. I feel like what changed my opinion on Banksy is that this documentary made him feel human. Banksy is an anonymous artist and I think that makes it so much easier to limit him to just his art. His documentary makes the watcher feel like they are there with Banksy doing these types of stunts. I think he is a really interesting artist who makes thought-provoking art pieces. Now that I know more about Banksy, I have had a complete shift in my opinions about him and I am glad that I did.

Blog #9 TV Shows Influencing Fashion

    Since the start of this essay about media, I have noticed that a lot of things influence mainstream fashion trends. In my essay, I focus mainly on how music influences the fashion industry but, in this blog, I want to explore how TV shows influence mainstream fashion trends. More specifically how shows like Euphoria have such a big impact on young adults and teens.

Image source: The Blonde Salad

     To give a little background on the show, season two of Euphoria premiered in January of 2022. This show was pulling in millions of views worldwide and was extremely popular with young adults. According to IMDB, Euphoria is a show about teens going through the complexities of self-identity. The show speaks on issues such as trauma, drug addiction, sexuality, and much more. Euphoria's fashion was creative and diverse.  Something that the producers did was connect the fashion of the characters with their personalities. This caused a wide variety of differing fashion trends. 

    To begin, characters such as Rue, someone who has a self-destructive personality and selfish tendencies, commonly wear more comfortable clothes. The choice of her comfortable wardrobe pairs well with her more casual personality. She struggles with things such as drug use and has some mental health issues. Needless to say, she has a lot more on her mind than what she wears on a day-to-day basis. In the show, her attire consists of muted colors, baggy clothes, and messy hair. She is very low maintenance and chill unlike some of the other characters on the show.

Image source: Ethically dressed

    Next, a different character that has a contrasting different fashion style to Rue is Maddy. In the show, the character Maddy is usually wearing audacious and attention-grabbing clothing. This pairs well with her confident and extroverted personality. Maddy's fashion sense is what trended most among young adults and teenagers. Her makeup style is what trended most on social media because of her bold choice of using rhinestones to embellish her eyes. According to an article from Pop Sugar, they claim that Maddy's signature makeup looks include cat eyes, vivid colors, and over-the-top lashes. It was like the plague with how quickly social media influencers recreated the look.

Image source: Pop sugar

    To conclude, Euphoria gave the fashion industry a run for its money. At the time of its release, many of the mainstream trends at the time came from this show. The diverse range of characters with contrasting personalities in Euphoria made the show relatable to its audience of young adults and teens.

Blog #8 Coperni: A Factory of Innovation

     Fashion is always evolving. Always new trends. Always new ideas. Always new techniques. Something I always love to see is how creative some designers can be. As the fashion industry progresses, I think it is interesting to see how some people use new technologies to their advantage. I want to address a designer who I think is really looking outside of the box and continuing to push new ideas.

    To begin, I could not talk about innovative fashion designers without mentioning Sébastien Meyer and  Arnaud Vaillant (the founders of the brand Coperni’s). In their Summer-Spring 2023 runway, they had a breathtaking moment that revolutionized the fashion scene. At the end of the SS23 fashion show, Bella Hadid walked onto a platform in nude underwear while a team of assistants sprayed layers of a web-like substance on her to create the garment on the runway. The video is insane because it happens so quickly. The end result was a beautiful asymmetrical, off-shoulder, piece that was very form-fitting.

Image sources: ELLE

    This isn't the first time Coperni has done something insanely fashion-forward. In the fall of 2022, Coperni and Heaven did a collaboration that elevated handbags to a different level. The bag took the form of Coperni's iconic swipe bag but it had a little bit of a twist. Hevan by Marc Jacobs is an innovative brand that experiments with unconventional materials such as glass. These two brands together made a gorgeous glass handbag that took the Internet by storm. According to Highsnobiety as soon as Kylie Jenner posted with the bag, people could not get enough. 

Image sources: Highsnobiety

    The swipe bag has been experiencing many types of transformations. For its most recent collaboration in FW24, Coperni partnered with NASA to innovate the swipe bag, rather than another designer brand. That's right y'all, the NASA. According to Designboom, Coperni borrowed some silica aerogel to create a bag that only weighed 33 grams. To put that into perspective, there are 453.59 grams in 1 pound. Considering that the bag is made up of 99% air and the remaining 1% is glass, it is a stunning never-before-seen bag. The handbag literally looks like people are holding a piece of the clouds above.

Image source: Designboom

    Needless to say, Coperni is definitely one of the most creative brands on the market right now. they have showcased stunning silhouettes and innovative ideas. Their techno-chic styling mixed with a gorgeous choice of textiles will always continue to inspire me.

Blog 7 The Hashtag

   

image source: UNDP

 Hi y'all! clocking back in! I think that in my generation, we mainly saw the hashtag used on social media. Yes, we know it is a pound sign and it is used for phone numbers so chill old heads! Anyway, I think that our generation repurposed the use of the hashtag symbol and made it more fun for young people to use.

    Honestly, I have been loving hashtags recently. I think it is a really quick and easy to get your ideas across. That's not just my opinion either because an article from Medium agrees. It states that it is a big part of communicating efficiently on social media. Although I like hashtags, I don't really use them outside of commenting on people's Instagram or TikTok posts. For example, I don't want to comment something basic like a heart-eye emoji and a bunch of people already commented "gorgeous" and "pretty". So instead I will comment something like "#gorgeousgirl" or "#prettyprincess".  It is so much fun to do this and it feels like you put more time and effort into commenting.

    I also like hashtags because they help curate a perfect feed for you. As someone who enjoys fashion, I like looking at clothing and getting inspired to make things. It's fun to doom scroll on #fashion, #sewing, or even #clothing. It makes me feel productive even though I am lazy scrolling on my phone. The same article from Medium states that using hashtags is a great way to personalize your feed and also to connect better with similar communities. 

    Although the hashtag isn't a "new invention", the way we like to use it in the 21st century is to hype our friends up in comment sections and to personalize our social feeds. This modernized look of the pound sign makes me wonder how people in the future will use it.

Entry #4 Depop Resellers

Image Source: Fashion round table

Depop is a popular second hand online shopping app that has changed the way people buy and sell clothing. Depop provides an easy way for its users to sell their clothing items that they didn't want anymore. Because of this, the platform was able to curate a thriving community of resellers who buy discounted items and sell them for profit on Depop. Although I think that Depop is a great app that promotes Sustainability, I think it faces criticisms due to the legitimacy of resellers.

    To start, I want to talk about the pros of Depop. Depop is an app that promotes sustainability by giving used clothing a second life. This has a beneficial impact on the environment because it is combating fast fashion. According to an article from Pixelcut, Depop provides a wider range of items people can sell compared to other platforms unlike other online retailers, they also provide direct messages between buyers and sellers. This feature provides a more user friendly experience so they can effectively communicate. depop also provides a platform for small businesses across the globe.

    Next, I would like to discuss some of the cons Depop has. One of the biggest concerns most people have is with people overpricing their clothing items. According to an Article from Medium, it claims that Depop resellers price gouge and inflate the prices of the items beyond their actual value. This causes buyers to not trust the sellers and makes the app less accessible and not affordable as intended. There are also concerns about the authenticity of the items being sold on the app. The app provides no way to show the authenticity or quality of the products which is a problem for both the buyers and sellers. According to Pixelcut, There is a limit on how many photos a seller can list so it is hard for them to fully capture everything they want to on their listing.

    To conclude, Depop resellers provide both advantages and disadvantages to buying second hand clothing. When shopping second hand, you need to find a balance between these pros and cons. Although Depop is a great app for secondhand shopping, it still has to improve itself to make it a more positive fashion marketplace for both the buyer and seller.

Entry #6 The Evolution of Denim

    As a fashion enjoyer, I love exploring textiles with different textures, colors, and durability. Denim was the first textile I really enjoyed. denim is a versatile fabric that has a timeless appeal. It has been around for centuries evolving from functional workwear to becoming a popular fashion staple.

    To start, denim has always been praised for its durability. According to an article from Cottonworks, denim originates in 17th century France under the name of serge de nimes. In these times denim was mostly used as workwear and would be commonly used for jeans, overalls, and jackets. Denim didn't start to get popular in the United States until Levi Strauss got ahold of it in the late 19th century. He was already making work pants but was making it out of canvas material which is uncomfortable to wear. The denim material was much softer on the skin and it completely changed the style of work pants. Since denim is less stiff than canvas, they had to add extra seams and pockets to the design to make it more durable for heavy duty work. This type of work pants is similar to what is seen today. It wasn't until the 1950's when denim became more mainstream in the fashion world and was no longer seen as just a work pants. Celebrities such as Elvis, caused the denim look to become more popular across America and Europe.

    By the 1960's, the classic blue jean was picked up by other designers such as Calvin Klein and began becoming synonymous with pop culture. People began to get more creative with pant styles and started to steer away from the cookie cutter work pants. Around this time is where we start to see the rise of bootcut and bell bottom jeans. As we move closer to the 21st century denim continues to remain versatile and people are still changing the way we style/design jeans. Some of my favorites I have seen are from Y/Project, Acne Studios, and A.W.A.K.E. mode. I like the way Y/Project and A.W.A.K.E Mode experiment more with intriguing designs. Acne Studios experiments more with the coloring and the wash of the jeans. As the fashion industry continues to change, it is exciting to see the way denim evolves with it.

Image Source:A.W.A.K.E. Mode

Image Source: Y/Project

Image Source: Acne Studios

Entry #5 Higher Education in Arizona

Image source: Forbes

    After reading both of these articles, I believe that it is a good thing that the Arizona government is wanting to fund higher education. In the first article, I like how they plan on bettering k-12 schooling to help better prepare people for college. As someone who recently graduated from high school, i think a lot of highschoolers don't want to go to college because they don't feel like they are prepared enough for it. College isn't always an affordable option for most people. Growing up, I never thought I would be able to go to college so I never thought about it until my senior year of high school. I think that college isn't as desirable and immediate employment because you get instant gratification from it. I think because some people can barely afford college, they are hesitant to go because they don't want to feel trapped into a career they might not like. I agree with a lot of what this article says about higher education opens doors in your life. weather that's finding financial stability or networking and making connections with people. Although I think higher education is important, I don't think it always makes or breaks a person. A college degree isn't everything and people need to consider experience, connections, and dedication. Someone might not have worked towards getting a college degree does not mean they are any less of a hard worker with skills. I believe college education is good for certain professions but for others I believe it is more about gaining connections to enter into a specific field. 

    In the second article, I thought it was interesting how different the range was for the median incomes. To piggyback off of what I was saying previously, Although being college educated is a helpful tool to make more money, it is not the end all be all. I am the first in my family to go to college and everyone keeps telling me that it is good for me to get a degree but it depends on what I do after I get that degree. In other words, if I don't apply what I learn towards a profession my degree will become nothing but a piece of paper. That's where experience comes in place. Neither of my parents got a college education but after working in their industries for 20 years, they are making similar to what people with degrees make.

    Overall, I think both of these articles presented good information on higher education in Arizona. Although I think higher education is important, I don't think it is needed for everyone to succeed in life. There isn't a set path to success.