Elle Newman

From the Banksy and Icy & Sot exhibition, I went to I now know I want my Final Major Project to have some kind message behind it. I love the fashion industry and always have from a really young age, but unfortunately, fashion is always linked to exclusivity. In the past, people who have worked in the industry have excluded certain types of people as they are not seen in the industry’s eyes as beautiful. I think fashion has a chance to bring together all kinds of different people and really change peoples lives as the way you dress is proven to have a huge impact on not only how you feel about yourself but how other people see you and treat you. I have started my research by creating a spider diagram of all the groups of people I think get excluded from the fashion. (You can find the spider diagram below)

From my diagram I have found a number of different groups that I feel get excluded from the fashion industry, these groups are; Plus Size, LGBTQ community, Older Generation, Different races and ethnicities, People with illnesses/ receiving treatment such as cancer, People with disabilities and deformities. I have put a red star next to the ones I am most interested with and want to research further into, these ones are; Plus Size, People with Disabilities and Deformities, People who are unwell and the Older Generation. The reason I am drawn to these ones is that I believe that the fashion industry still to this day does not except that the average size of British women is size 16 and that beauty doesn’t mean skinny. I am interested in People with Disabilities as I feel like they are never really represented or seen in society and in fashion but there are thousands of people who are affected by disabilities all over the world. I have a special interest in people with Illnesses and the older generation as these two have both affected me personally so I feel very strongly about them.  The first one I’m going to look into is Plus Sized as recently this has been in the news, so I feel like it is really relevant at the moment.