Object Inspiration

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In the past few weeks I have been using this bag from the brand Urban Outfitters to go to the beach and it reminded me of the brand's hipster subculture and alternative style of clothing. Urban Outfitters  design a style that reflects the hipster fashion with a variety of denim clothing  (Moore, 2017). The stores have been very popular among teenagers in recent years expanding across North America and Europe with a total of 240 stores in 2016 (Bondarenko, 2017). The brand offers a street style embracing hipster fashion, selling large sweatshirts and bohemian clothes.

Regardless of the popularity, Urban outfitters has been criticized for its little care of ethics and sustainability. In fact, the brand uses very few eco-friendly products and did not try to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (Dockrill, 2017). Moreover, according to Dockrill (2017) Urban Outfitters has seen itself caught up in a scandal which reported the brand asking its employees to work for free throughout a weekend as a "team building activity" (Allen, 2015). On the other hand, the brand does not use fur, down or skin in their clothing which is a positive aspect for the company.





In 2014, another event caused Urban Outfitters to be harshly criticized. The brand presented this red sweatshirt (appearing bloodstained) portraying the label "Kent State University". People immediately assumed that the sweatshirt was referred to the tragedy that took place in that institution back in 1970 when 4 unarmed students lost their lives by fault of a national guard that was trying to halt a protest against the expansion of the Vietnam war into Cambodia led by the President (Richard Nixon) at that time. The sweatshirt was seen as offensive and poor by many and led to the removal of this piece from what was defined by the brand as part of the "vintage collection" (Tuder, 2017).

I believe that clothing can be a good inspiration for a media project and art work.

I could:

-Write an article on the how hipster fashion originated and evolved up to now

- Explore eco-friendly fashion and the opinions of consumers about it 

- Shoot a series of photographs of a model showcasing the hipster subculture of recent years

- Discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on the fashion sector - specifically in high Italian fashion 

Sources:

ALLEN, K (2015) Urban Outfitters ask employees to work for free. CNBC. [Online] 9th Oct. Available from: https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/08/urban-outfitters-asks-employees-to-work-for-free.html [Accessed 07/07/20].

BONDARENKO, V (2017) URBAN Outfitters is more mainstream then ever- now it's struggling to stay relevant. [Online] Business Insider. Available from: https://www.businessinsider.com/urban-is-struggling-to-stay-hip-as-it-goes-mainstream-2017-4 [Accessed 03/07/20].

DOCKRILL, M (2017) How Ethical is Urban Outfitters?. [Online] Good On You. Available from: https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-urban-outfitters/ [Accessed 07/07/20].

MOORE, J. G. (2017) Street style in America: an exploration. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC.

TUDER, S (2014) Urban Outfitters Apologizes for Insensitive Kent State Sweatshirt Sale. ABC News. [Online] 15th Sept. Available from: https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/urban-outfitters-apologizes-insensitive-kent-state-sweatshirt-sale/story?id=25514185 [Accessed 07/07/20].

URBAN OUTFITTERS (2014) Kent State Sweatshirt. [Online image] Available from: https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/urban-outfitters-apologizes-insensitive-kent-state-sweatshirt-sale/story?id=25514185 [Accessed 07/07/20].

Comments

  1. Zoe Van-de-VeldeJuly 5, 2020 at 10:33 AM

    I think you need more research here and more ideas - perhaps consider further what urban outfitters stand for, explore the crisis in fashion during the Covid crisis, Urban Outfitters do not rate that well on he sustainable and ethical? I think you have not really explored this 'object' in depth

    ReplyDelete

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