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Imaging China   Term Paper ID:43103 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: This paper provides an extended first person perspective related to the authors design thesis ...... More...

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Paper Abstract: This paper provides an extended first person perspective related to the authors design thesis in fashion design and the media. How fashion design and the media are impacted by politics, culture, globalization and other forces are addressed in show how the author will put their design ethos into practice. Paper Introduction: Imaging China I see fashion design as an art form John Dewey in Art IsExperience maintains that Art is a more universal mode of languagethan is the speech that exists in a multitude of mutuallyunintelligible forms Fashion as an art form has brought culturescloser together through borrowing elements from different cultures Globalization through media and consumerism is proving Dewey correct More than three decades ago Marshall McLuhan wrote The Medium is theMessage In that work McLuhan\'s words about the impact of media Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. "Michelle Obama Rocks a Jason Wu Gown." Seattle Examiner 2 Jan. New media realities also open up new opportunities for designersto expose their fashions to much greater numbers of people and tocultures the world over. AsLeonard and Rayport (1 2) write, "What customers can't tell you mightbe just what you need to develop successful new products." By beingempathetic with the audience I am serving, I can anticipate the needsthey may have in their fashions, similar to my critique of the modernChinese public school uniforms that express no empathy with the needsor desires of those that ultimately are forced to wear them. 2 9 .Leonard, Dorothy, and Jeffrey F. "Declaration by Design: Rhetoric, Argument, and Demonstration in Design Practice." Design Issues 11.1: 4-22.Busch, Akiko. It isforcing us to reconsider and reevaluate practically every thought,every action, and every institution formerly taken for granted." Thisis true where national government and culture are concerned as much asit is true about art and fashion in the global era. Like the "auteur," the designer is responsible for guidingher creation to reality in ways that capture the essence of theoriginal idea or conception. Forexample, the 196 s film, The World of Suzie Wong, was credited withsetting off the cheomsong craze in the U.S. Army's 'Be all that you can be.' Great ad themes andheadlines should represent something substantive behind the headlines." In this manner, I ultimately hope to see my brand stand as a goodwillambassador that promotes the benefits of cultural exchange anddiversity. For instance, media helped expose members of the formerSoviet Union to Western icons, from Coca Cola to fashions like Levi'sjeans. In The Sense of Beauty, GeorgeSantayana (161-62) expresses an ethos of happiness and art that is partof my practical aesthetic as a designer: Could the labors and sufferings of life be reduces, and a better harmony between man and nature established, nothing would be lost to the arts...Indeed, they would all be increased; and it has ever been, accordingly, in the happiest and most prosperous moments of humanity, when the mind and the world were knit into a brief embrace, that natural beauty has been best perceived, and art has won its triumphs.This ethos mirrors my own practical application of design and themedia, as a means of increasing or advancing happiness throughpromoting good will among cultures through fashion. My overarching theory of practice is that fashion design and themedia remain highly powerful in their ability to move people on manylevels. On the other hand, the media has the capacity to fostergreater appreciation of cultural diversity and ethnic heritage byfeaturing fashions that are innovative and combine style and fashionwith individual expression and elements of ethnic heritage. In previous generations, fashion was often associated with sharpdistinctions of culture, ethnicity or nationalism. New York: Vintage, 1979,Santayana. This will help promote knowledge ofother heritages while also fostering greater appreciation of themthrough cultural exchange. The above impact on designers shows that new technologies andnew media (Internet) and political (i.e. Today's cultures exhibitfashion influences of other nations in their own styles, as evidence ofthis capacity of fashion and media. In this way I hope to be able topractically apply my individual design ethos, in ways that will helpadvance social justice and create greater awareness. John Dewey (335) in Art IsExperience, maintains that "Art is a more universal mode of languagethan is the speech that exists in a multitude of mutuallyunintelligible forms." Fashion as an art form has brought culturescloser together through borrowing elements from different cultures.Globalization through media and consumerism is proving Dewey correct.More than three decades ago Marshall McLuhan wrote The Medium is theMessage. In Emotional Design, Donald A. 21 Apr. Perigree Trade, 2 5.George, Maude. Intimately I havewitnessed the good and bad of both nations and know that both havepositive values and share more in common than is often thought. To Americans, it shows the First Lady's willingnessto embrace diversity and offer opportunities to all Americans. Too often fashion designers sacrifice style for function orfunction for style. The media serves toreinforce this learning through exposure and transmission amongcultures. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1988.Windschuttle, Kevin. In many cases, little is left to individualexpression of finished creations. What is Cinema? Chief among theseis my desire to reflect my message of embracing diversity whilerespective heritage in my fashions. California: Univ. It is these profound levels of impact ofdesign and media that offer fashion its power and influence to bringindividuals together while also letting them express individualdistinctions to a degree. West negotiation in designremains divided, "The conceptual boundary lines of design lines upmodernity (fashion) along the Western side, and tradition (anti-fashion) along the Eastern side, providing the framework in whichdesign, production, and marketing interactions and negotiations takeplace." It is one of my design goals to have my fashions advance thisEast-West negotiation in fashion in ways that bring cultures togetherbut also retain traditional elements of design influenced by thosecultures. This is because governments andpropaganda can often shape mass consensus by censoring information ofaccess to media. I. On the one hand, it can serve to homogenize fashionand fashion styles, so that consumerism and globalization are driversof fashion. Though Niessen et al.(254) maintain that the dynamic of East vs. The Uncommon Life of Common Objects. The media plays an important role inhelping to spread this message of cultural appreciation through displayof products or fashions. In many ways, my fashion design ideology hopes to createfashions that also have beneficial impact on individuals and society.For example, some of the elements I incorporate into my variousfashions will have hidden cultural significance to those from othercultures when I include diverse fabrics, colors, or other objectsassociated with specific cultures. This is also howhumans grow, through development that stems from psychological orbehavioral improvements. New York: Vintage, 1992.Buchanan, Richard. Michelle Obama has recently been featured wearingthe designs on non-native born Chinese designer Jason Wu. HerInaugural Ball gown was a glamorous, white, one-shoulder Jason Wu, whois labeled a "Taiwanese-American designer" by Ramos (1). Orientalism. The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America. As with the "auteur" theory promoted by Andre Bazin (FrontMatter) in What is Cinema, I think the designer is an artist thatbrings her creations into full expression, from the vision to thewearing. 2 9, 1-2.Said, Edward. Humanity can beknit into an embrace through clothing. Buchanan (7)argues that until technologists view themselves and technology in adesign capacity they cannot be practical in application, "Until theirwork is recognized as persuasive and part of the practice of design,their ideas will remain implicit or naively unexamined." In thissense, design must be practically applied in order to remainsignificant as a source of innovation and a force for change. A conclusion will address how as an art form,fashion continues to advance cultural diversity through increasingmedia exchange and cultural exchange. Designers at the AcademyAwards purposefully dress the stars in their creations, knowing thenews media around the world will cover the event. As Niessen et al. This is because fashion is a very common object but it isuncommon in a modern sense in that it no longer promotes ethnicity ornationalism as much as it does global consumerism and marketing trends. In today's Internet world, it is more difficult toprevent access to exposure to other cultures or sources of information. In his discussionof the creation of the "other" between East and West in Orientalism,Edward Said (47-48) notes distinctions toward nationalism werepurposefully created among cultures and nations through politics tofashion, "Both the traditional Orientalist and [the West] conceive ofthe difference between cultures, first as creating a battlefront thatseparates them, and second as inviting the West to control andotherwise govern." Being from two cultures myself, this distinctionmade by Said is no longer valid in the global era. Instead, designers both in the East and West are influencedin their designs as much as by marketing and media forces as they arecultural heritage or national identity. Innovation, whether it is in the form of the wheel or computer,brings people together because it empathizes with the need forbetterment or developmental improvement in things. Marconi's (141) Image is Everything demonstrates how savvymarketing can create powerful brands with dynamic images whose appealand power crosses borders, cultures, governments and economies. Gingko Press, 2 5.McLuhan, Marshall. In "Declaration by Design," Richard Buchanan (4)maintains that the one idea common and central to design studies is theimportance of "communication." Not only is fashion a means ofcommunication but it is communicated through media. The choice of Michelle Obama to wear non-native born Chinesedesigner Jason Wu illustrates the modern connection between fashion andmedia. Both design and the media permit me to blend aspects ofdifferent cultures into fashion designs that offer individualexpression while reinforcing various cultural heritage points ofreference. Chinese-American? Imaging China I see fashion design as an art form. Vital and ideal impulses exist in human beings that can beexpressed through fashion and the media in ways that unite all beingsand promote greater happiness. fashion) creation as much as nationalismand ethnicity used to. Berg Publishers, 2 3.Norman, Donald A. Seeing the pros and cons of both cultures, my main goal is toserve as an ambassador for both cultures through the medium of designand media. In a former era, nationalism and ethnicity or culture went hand-in-hand, with fashion often reflecting national identity, whether"American" jeans or the "Chinese" cheongsam. Rayport. (243) argue, "Thatfashion is a global phenomenon is indisputable." Globalization drivesinnovation and product (i.e. of California Press, 2 4.Boorstin, Daniel J. I am a multidisciplinary designer with a concentration onfashion and media studies. My own mission of design practice isto blend cultural heritage and functionality into styles that permitindividual distinction without sacrificing style or function. In that work McLuhan's (1) words about the impact of media tochange our world seems prophetic in an era of globalization and theInternet, "The medium, or process, of our time-electric technology-isreshaping and restructuring every aspect of our personal life. Because of this, First Lady Obama'schoice to wear a Chinese designer sends a number of messages todifferent nations. Who am I? My own experiencesshow me this as much as the changing world around us. As Marconi (141) explains, "The ad campaignthat uses the theme line 'A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste' for theUnited Negro College Fund is every bit as powerful in its imagery asthe U.S. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. They are indistinct between genders and offer noindividual form of expression. Such events arepopular in Boorstin's view, because Americans think more in terms ofimages than ideals. My own goal of serving as anambassador of both Chinese and American culture can be accomplishedthrough fashion design and the media. Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. A powerful brand typically has something ofsubstance underlying it. The Medium is the Message. Design and the media often help to "set the record straight," asnoted in Understanding Comics (2). Thefollowing photo of a traditional Chinese school uniform demonstrates astyle that reflects visually what good design is to me: [pic]The above image represents an ideal blend of functionality and culturalheritage that permits some measure of individual or distinctexpression. InUnderstanding Media, Marshall McLuhan (7) argues that the "Medium isthe message," or "the personal and social consequences of any medium-that is, of any extension of ourselves-result from the new scale thatis introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or byany new technology." Globalization is a good development for my viewof fashion design and media, since I believe that multi-cultural designis the wave of the future. Possibly all three or none. As George (1) reports, First Lady Obama "stepped off the planein London wearing Jason Wu's chartreuse silk crepe short sleeve sheathdress." Silk is also associated with Eastern fashion but is now wornby the wife of the most powerful leader in the world, America'sPresident Barack Obama. The material does not breathe and theoverall design is shapeless and clunky, resembling casual gym attiremore than the classic and styled nature of the design seen in theschool uniforms that represent good design to my eye and my personalideology of design. In "Spark Innovation Through EmpathicDesign," Leonard and Rayport (1 2) maintain it takes empathy to designthings that will appeal to consumers because consumers seldom have thechance to provide individuals like fashion designers with input. Despite government propaganda about the negative influence ofWestern culture and consumerism, the media helped show Russiansdemocracy and capitalism did not seem horrible. I believe that fashion design and the media move people inpowerful and significant ways, from stimulating their emotions togetting them to self-reflect and even change their behavior. There is little denying the role of the media in helping topressure designers, wearers of fashion, and others to adopt varioustrends or the latest styles. "Michelle Obama Arrives in London Wearing Jason Wu." 31 Mar. First Lady Obama wore Wu's work during the inaugural ball, hasbeen photographed on the cover of Vogue magazine in one of his designs,and recently landed in London wearing one of his dresses. On the"visceral level," things like look, feel and sound dominate observerresponse, but on the "behavioral level" other aspects like the sensualcome into play (Norman 69). Art, from painting to fashion design, has long served as a meansof learning about other cultures or uniting them. Re-Orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress. Ultimately, this ledto its spread when millions of people in former Soviet states demandeddemocracy and free markets. My vision of fashion extends beyond themodern or the classic and beyond the ethnic or the nationalistic.Instead, I seek to design fashions that have universal appeal whilerespecting cultural heritage from a variety of nations. Metropolis Books.Dewey, John. This is because theconcept of beauty or what is beautiful is very often defined in themind of the beholder rather than in the fashion itself. Because of this, the media can serve as atwo-edged sword. and other western nations.Today, such influences are less ethnically distinct but still findoverlap in fashion due to media exposure and influence. Brightcolors associated with Oriental fashion, like chartreuse, dominate Wu'sstyle. For fashion designers, it offershope that major world leaders will be less nationalistic or culturally-oriented in their choice of fashions and those who design them. 1999): 3 -38. Daniel Boorstin's (9) notion of a "pseudo-event" is unveiled in The Image; an event that is covered by the newmedia not because it is a spontaneous occurrence but because someoneplanned it mainly to get news coverage. Yet Ihope the message of the benefits of cultural exchange and diversitystand behind my brand. "Edward Said's 'Orientalism' Revisited." New Criterion 17.5 (Jan. My ownfashion ethos will embrace the effort to extend the appeal of fashionbeyond national constraints. Vol. New York: Harper/Perennial, 1-23.Ramos, Dino-Ray. In Art is Experience, Dewey (271) maintains that "Art is theextension of the power of rites and ceremonies to unite men, through ashared celebration, to all incidents and scenes of life." Theselection of fashion is certainly a rite of all cultures. Image Marketing: Using Public Perceptions to Attain Business Objectives. Chinese or American? Norman(63) explains the capacity of design to influence others, arguing thatdesign impacts people on the "visceral, behavioral, and reflectivelevels." From line and color to slogan and form, designs are able tomove others on different levels. Fashion also crosses classes and can unite differentgenerations. Art as Experience. Inthis way I hope to practically inject this value into my fashion designand media presentation of my fashions through the quality ofinnovation. In The Uncommon Life of Common Objects, Akiko Busch (42) explains howmarketing and products can serve to promote benefits to individuals andsociety with his "eat-and-learn phenomenon." From providing rolemodels on boxes of Wheaties to Alpha Bits that promote reading, amixture of marketing and product can have beneficial effects despitemany critics condemnation of such efforts as detrimental to health orwell-being. This will be achieved in theelements of the designs but also by their presentation or marketingthrough media. In contrast to the above image, the image below representsanother visual picture but of what I consider bad design: [pic]The above image shows the lack of functionality in these modern publicschool uniforms. In theglobal world, fashion exchange and increased media exposure continuesto promote the undermining of national distinctions of culture orpolitics. Something thatis beautiful is beautiful to all cultures when it is designed in a waythat appeals to the universal in human beings. Thisis true not only in terms of values and beliefs but also in terms ofgovernment, economies and social institutions. In today's global era,this is no longer the case. Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press, 1994.Niessen, Sandra, Ann Marie Leshkowich, and Carla Jones. Because of technology, the media andcultural exchanges in fashion, food and other aspects; the East andWest and past and present have melded into the modern global world.Marshall McLuhan's concept of a "global village" connected throughelectronic media is truer today than when he wrote about it decadesago. How media and politics or national identity impactcontemporary designers will also be addressed. We have all purchased a shirt becausewe like its color, its material, its fit, or its tailoring. We allknow of women who intensely diet right before "swimsuit" season and weall know people who modify their eating habits after a news warningabout tainted beef or produce. Niessen, Leshkowich, and Jones (218)maintains that today "When Asian designers explore their nationaltraditions for aesthetic input in contemporary design, it is not aresurgence of ethnic identity...on the contrary, it is a complex designstrategy shaped by market requirements and experience." In this sense,these forces serve as constraints on fashion designers, but they alsoprovide them with the capacity to extend the reach of the appeal oftheir designs beyond national borders and the dominant culture. My beliefs about the capacity of design to bring people togetherby transcending ethnicity, culture, government and national borders arereflected in my design practice in a number of ways. Works CitedBazin, Andre. How my beliefs arereflected in design practice and my overarching theory of practice willalso be addressed. As with my own cultural dualism, the global world is becomingone where national identity, ethnicity, and geographic borders arebecoming less important, while consumerism and markets are overlappingin terms of style, design, influence and taste. One of the underlying values of my own design ethic is empathy.Having lived in both Chinese and American cultures most of my life Iknow that there are pros and cons of both cultures and societies. New York: Basic Books.Understanding Comics. Today's consumers and citizens are savvier in their ability to seekout alternative sources of media information that set the recordstraight. After spending my childhood onairplanes going back and forth between the two continents, I am nowaccepted by both cultures. These eventswere widely covered in the media. This analysis will provide a discussion of how modern realitiesof culture in the global era impact my view of media and fashiondesign. To Europeansand nations around the world, Michelle Obama's choice of Wu shows a newwillingness on behalf of the Obama Administration to reach out to othernations in International matters. Far fromspontaneous, the event is heavily planned in advance. "Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design." Harvard Business Review (1997): 1 2-111.Marconi, Joe. Young, hip, and blending modernity withclassic charm, Wu is a sign of modern fashion designers who design morefor the "modern" woman than for a woman of any particular culture ornation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.McLuhan, Marshall. The Sense of Beauty. the spread of capitalism anddemocracy) realities affect people as much as people affect them. Various innovations in color, design, or style could beimposed on these uniforms that would make them highly contemporary. 2 9. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.