Introduction to week 1

The aim of Fashion Values: Cultures is to support you and your fellow learners to explore multiple and diverse fashion stories and cultures. You will use the lens of Carol Tulloch’s style-fashion-dress model, and the framework of storytelling, as a foundation to develop visions for the future of fashion that put planetary and human health and wellbeing first, reflecting the diversity of fashion cultures that can and do exist.

This course touches on specific areas of cultures, drawn from Centre for Sustainable Fashion’s framework, and network of members and colleagues.

In week 1, we will start this process by getting acquainted with the topics covered over the course.

Wilson Oryema explores the tensions between the fruits of fashion and the harm the fashion industrial machine creates.

Caroline Stevenson introduces us to Carol Tulloch’s conceptual model of style-fashion-dress, the distinction between each of these terms and their relationship to each other.

We will take a first look at storytelling and how we can use stories as a way of communicating and documenting diverse fashion cultures.

We will be starting our in-depth exploration of Tulloch’s model by focusing on the theme of style. We will look at style and sustainability, street style, and Otto von Busch will ask us to consider how we might move beyond moralising, before we undertake an object analysis activity.

There will also be an introduction to the Design Thinking Challenge – using the framing of fashion and cultures to craft world-relevant skills to help us understand the big challenges facing the fashion system. If you have taken any of the other Fashion Values courses you will notice that this course is approaching the challenge with a difference. We will explore this in more detail later in week 1.

We will conclude this week with an opportunity to reflect on the week’s activities and start your learner journal. To build your own practice in design thinking, and to connect the activities through the weeks, we recommend you find a way to record your thoughts, ideas and reflections. This could be a written journal, using a notebook or sketchbook. You could use an online program like Miro or Mural to create a digital log. Or you could keep a log of voice notes on your phone. Having a place to record your work will help you to see how your learning and thinking is developing as you work through the tasks. It will also allow you to go back to review and refine your thinking. Your personal learner journal will stay with you long after you have completed this course.

Now, let’s get started.

© Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, UAL