Blog 6: Is That Your Grandma's Coat?

When I originally signed up for this class, I thought to myself, Asian American Studies and Textiles & Clothing hybrid class, this is going to be so easy. The first day of class, and my original perception was turned upside down. Totally not what I have expected. Professor Valverde touched on topics that have I found very refreshing, since my Textiles and Design classes rarely touch on Asian/Asian American fashion. After that first lecture, I was hooked, in a good way. 

The first third of the class was about looking at images, and testing myself on how strong my knowledge of fashion was, and I did excellent on the European/American section, but once the Asian/Asian American fashion images came on screen, I did not do so hot. Why did I not know these things? It bothered me for a while, and I realized that these images rarely come up in American pop culture, until recently, when Alexander Wang, Richard Chai, Phillip Lim, and Thakoon were mentioned in the pages of Vogue. As the class progressed, we talked about globalization, capitalism, diaspora. I found myself digging through my closet and looking at the condition of them, labels, and tags. A majority of my damaged items were from Forever 21. Surprised, not really after watching Made in LA film. I slowly started to see the politics behind fashion and the power plays it has in the industry, influencing what I buy as a consumer, and therefore shaping my identity expressed in my style. LIGHT BULB! 

When I started this be green challenge, or what I now dub "No-Buy November", I really had my doubts as to if i will survive this cold turkey style. Especially with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It will take a lot of determination to take me...

From this:

source: http://www.joblo.com/images_wallpapers/2072/coas_2_1280.jpg

To This:

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes

And I did get through it! I am so proud of myself, and thrifting has become more of a hobby for me now. I definitely have my favorite secondhand stores in the Davis/Sacramento Area. Which are...

Davis: All Things Right and Relevant, Boheme, and French Cuff Consignment

Sacramento: Bows & Arrows, and Crossroads Trading Co.

But besides all of that, I throughly enjoyed the discussions we had, and as I became more invested, the more I looked forward to going to class, and i put in more effort into dressing up for lecture. It was truly one of my favorite classes in Davis. I wish there was a Part 2 where we talked about beauty products, upcycling, and etc. 

Not gonna lie, I will miss this class and the people in it

- Krizia

Reflection of the Challenge

Natsumi Moudry

Blog 6

Inside Source: “Fashion as an Institutionalized System.”In Fashion-ology.

Reflection on the compact challenge: I believed that preventing myself from buying any new items would not be that difficult because I am generally not interested in popular stores like Forever21. I am a fan of clothing but the only stores near our campus is Forever21 and Gap. I believe that if I was in Japan it would have been a lot more difficult for me to follow through the challenge. I believe that if I was in Japan, I would be more tempted to buy items because there are generally lots of stores in Japan that are not big box industries. I believe big box industries do not sell clothing with much uniqueness, so I am generally not interested in their products. Japan has many small businesses and stores without a big name. America is filled with chain stores such as Forever21, H&M, etc.

Fashion in America relies on gatekeepers like magazine editors who control what type of clothing/ material items get displayed in magazines such as Vogue. The designers that are already known by the gatekeepers keep having their products published in the magazines, and continue being successful in their business. The designers who are invisible to the gatekeepers keep seeking to be discovered by the gatekeepers. These designers, whether the population may like their products or not, are not able to advertise their products as effectively (Kawamura, 41). I wish America had more small businesses, and not big name stores that only the designers approved of.

Update of the compact challenge: I really did not have a problem not buying any material items until this last week. My headphones stopped working in both ears, and I was no longer able to listen to my music. A lot of times I like to listen to music just to keep me concentrated on studying, so this week I purchased a new set of headphones. Although I am not addicted to shopping frequently, there are some items like my headphones that I feel like I need to have because I am so used to having it. I almost made it through the challenge, but unfortunately I did not.

I believe going to thrift stores like this week is a fun way to shop. I definitely saw some clothes that were made of better material compared to lots of clothes in the mall. I will definitely check out some thrift stores during winter break. The Youtube video that I posted shows a woman who went shopping at thrift stores. She shows that rather than buying items at big box industries, she can buy clothes at a cheaper price and higher quality. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI13TI5wYfs

Reflecting.

Sharon Lin

Blog #6

Be Green Challenge Reflections

            After a month of challenging myself not to buy anything I have realized a lot about the consumer society that we live in. I knew the challenge would be difficult but what I didn’t realize was my excessive need for the joy that comes with purchasing new things. While I tried to buy second-hand items, I realized that there is definitely a different type of feeling that comes with the purchase of a new item. With that realization, however, I also came to understand how brainwashed our generation truly is in regards to consumption. Although I failed my challenge on Black Friday, I realized that I had less of a need to purchase things that I had originally thought were necessary for this new winter season. I found myself examining my purchases much more closely and actually trying to make sure I needed my purchases before buying them. I also have learned set a limit on the amount that I want to spend on a piece of clothing and actually sticking to the limit.

             Unfortunately, after a month of not spending, I still went back to my spending ways. (I still cannot thrift…it still makes me too uncomfortable.) I still love my sales and still love to shop. In the future, I would love to try this challenge again…although I’m not sure that without a professor watching over our challenge I will be at all successful. It would definitely be a fun challenge to attempt with friends. Overall I truly enjoyed this challenge. Paired with the readings, I was able to really challenge my spending habits and understand where my clothes come from, and how I can be more aware of how, where and under what conditions things we consume are made. This challenge was a great eye-opener and I am very glad I took this challenge seriously.

            I really enjoyed this class and will definitely miss it. I learned so much more than I had originally expected to learn. I learned so much about the history of fashion and the relevance of fashion to activism. Fashion is so important in defining who we are and how we see ourselves. Social activism and our awareness of how we consume is an important part of fashion. I will take what I learn in this class into the way I interact with consumerism everyday. The discussions we had will continue to challenge me and push me toward making spending better habits. (PROFESSOR VALVERDE SHOULD TEACH  A PART TWO OF THIS CLASS SO WE CAN ALL JOIN TOGETHER AGAIN SOON!) 

Farewell ASA 141! You will be missed. 

Mean Thrift Queen

Be Green Blog # 6

Kenny Saechao

Reflection:

            I remember the first time I contemplated taking this class. My initial thought was “I have tons of style, this class will be a breeze” but in the end I took this class with Professor Valverde and nothing is ever easy when it comes to her. I was surprised by how much I learned- I never thought too much about sneaker culture nor did I realize there was a relationship between globalization/colonialization and the Philippines.

            This Be Green challenge was very validating in the sense that I’ve never been crazy about materialistic goods so joining a challenge that questions consumerism was nice. I never really denied consumerism for necessarily the same reason as this challenge but the two parallels were nice. I never thought about all the clothes that went unworn because of new products, I just bought old clothes because they were cheaper. Well, the price was nice but it is also for the idea that what I buy at a thrift store cannot be re-bought; what I wear from a thrift store is going to be worn by me only, the likely hood of someone else buying the same thing I’m wearing is so rare- as opposed to Forever 21 clothes.

I never really thought about sweat shop workers, it was always an out of sight, out of mind kind of topic.  I use to sew in high school so I know how tiring it is to sew; no back support (because you lean forward to sew better) for long periods of time can lead to chronic back pains, also the machines themselves overheat and get dangerous if used for too long. It strikes me as so sad how something as a luxury for me is a last resort to pay bills for many sweatshop workers. I’m reevaluating the way I see clothes and even the seam lines in clothes.

I have been known as the mean thrift queen among my friends. I can spot out what I do and do not like in a thrift store pretty quick. I’ve been looking for a color palette that resembles this picture:

It’s 3 pictures all put in one. I thought the color palette was absolutely gorgeous. For the last day of class I got a shirt that I feel really confident about. I look and feel amazing in it- and ultimately isn’t that one of the best things about fashion? I hate the idea of fashion being used to impress other people but damn sometimes people have to feel validated in their beauty one way or another; sometimes that means someone else validating you. I will continue on with my frugal lifestyle- I just can’t pay anymore than ~$10 for a t-shirt, it strikes me as ridiculous. Thanks for this amazing class, it was a little sad when I missed out on Black Friday but reflecting back on it now I don’t know if I will go next year. 

The End of a Beginning - Blog #6

ASA141.

This is such a relevant class in the contemporary world, for it does not just focus on fashion, but also its sociological impact throughout history.  At first, I dismissed this class as something more arty-farty - that is, I thought that it would focus more on designs in fashion rather than what fashion is itself.  As time progressed, I found myself so engaged in this class - perhaps the material was easy to understand because it was so relevant to my immediate surroundings, perhaps the issues that we discuss are so similar to conversation, perhaps I knew I wanted to get within the inner workings of exactly what fashion is and how it can both make crazy nutjobs and mindless worker ants out of people.

Fashion, life, society - three in one.

The Prof claimed that everybody "dressed better" now that our class came to a most unfortunate close.  To be certain, I am more aware of how I dress, now that I have learned both the good and the ugly of fashion.  However, it doesn't mean that I dressed better overall.  Finals are looming, and I've been lounging around in my bed hair and comic-book pajamas all day for the past two days.  However, I claimed that I didn't care if I was a complete mess, I still unconsciously tried to tweak my rumpled sleepwear into something that was somewhat less sore to the eyes.  Hence the concept of "casual chic" continues on.  We all live and breathe fashion - it worms itself into all situations, regardless of whether we know it or not - regardless of whether we want it or not.

So we continue on, and spread our ways of expression.  We try to be different through fashion, but the thing is, so is everyone else.  It got me thinking: is fashion really an attempt at expression after all?  Or does it just merely reflect preference?

WHY HELLO THERE DAHLING WE ARE ABOVE THE MASSES...WE FOLLOW ALLLLL THE HIGH TRENDS

This class has also awakened a new love for thrift shopping in me - one can truly find some precious gems, and feel slightly less guilty about feeding the consumerism black hole while doing so.  Okay, maybe it wasn't so much as advocating anti-consumerism as much as OMG THAT SKIRT WAS 50 CENTS WHAT HAS THIS WORLD COME TO, but hey, the benefits still have to be good in order to fully jump into the cause, right?

Goodbye, dear green blog-that-has-a-scary-naked-dude-eating-himself-out-of-existence-wow-I-love-how-deep-it-is.  I will still stare at you from time to time and admire the sparks of passion from the future students that take advantage of the Be Green Challenge, of the class, and of fashion.

Peace out, homes -

Jing Mai

All Things Right and Relevant

Steve (Shing) Li Blog #6 Reflection

$16 Dollar Jacket Thrifting! But I didn't get it. :(

Walking into the first day of class I was very disappointed that my original class with Professor Hamamoto was cancel for the rest of the quarter and anxious that I would not be able to add another class to be a full time student. But looking at the class schedule I was able to find the ASA 141 class in the same time slot and class days as my original class that worked with my schedule!

I wasn't sure what to expect in a Fashion class but after sitting through a few classes of ASA 141 I saw myself surprisingly interested to learn more about the subject of fashion as an idea that is affected by social culture, economic times and identity. I truly enjoyed the class and the discussions that we had in order to see fashion in a different light and become aware of our addiction to consumerism.

In order to kick our colossal habit of consumerism out the door, Professor Valverde challenged the whole class to go  into a cold turkey anti-consumerism diet that prohibited the purchase of anything that was not essential (food, toilette's, etc) for 30 days. Coming into the challenge I did not know what to expect but after watching the film about the L.A Forever 21 workers mistreatment and also learning about the commodity chains and how big corporations are making profit by paying their workers very little oversea, I  was disgusted at the though that my hard earned money was going into encouraging these practices that are unethical and unjust. As a result, I was determined to keep myself away from retail stores and big chain stores.

Understanding fashion will be an ongoing lifetime process for me, but now that I have some understanding of about fashion I see the world around with different lenses. I take a second look at the clothes that individuals wear and appreciate their sense of style and uniqueness. Thus, I have learned a lot about myself, culture, history, and identity in my first Asian American Studies class here at UCDavis and I cant wait to see what other Asian American classes have to offer.

Personal note: I owe Jing $2 incase I forget!

Bon Voyage ASA 141

Mai Moua Vang

Blog # 6

This green challenge is over and so is ASA 141.  In the previous blog I wrote about my feelings towards the challenge so in this blog I will write about my overall feelings for the course. Many people do not take the way we dress seriously, but really your clothing sends a message to others about your personality (even if it isn’t true) and people will judge you based on it. Clothing is so powerful and it can turn a country upside down and have people fall onto their knees because countries rely heavily on that industry for money. Clothing is so powerful that sales associate with holidays. Anyone can be a trendsetter regardless of gender, sex, age, race, class, and other ways you identify yourself. Fashion is not always about people dying, it can be a form of social activism and empowerment.

These are some of my thoughts of the course. Although the class has ended, I will continue using my knowledge about the things I learned in class and expand it through research and also my closet. Thank you peers and professor for your thoughts and opinions, they enriched the conversation. I’m a little down that I won’t have you in my class but you’ll be in my thoughts!

Good luck and happy studying!