MUTIARA ELENA PERAL ESTAVILLO

SIMPLICITY IN FASHION - FASHION LOOKBOOK

I did not need to delve into my mind to figure out what I wanted to do for my Personal Project. Looking back, I have not always enjoyed reading. In fact, I used to dislike it so much. However, I have recently been using it as an escape from reality to be free of the constant stress and worry that surrounds me. Lately, reading has been one of my favorite hobbies. It is one of the few things I do when I am not studying or finishing homework. My friends would always tease me for being a “nerd”, anti-social, or an introvert because now I always have my nose buried in a book. This new hobby has got me thinking why I had not picked it up earlier. With all these new, fun, and creative ideas I got from reading, I decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to use this for my Personal Project. I figured why not put these ideas into writing and create something purely out of my own imagination, something I know I would always be able to relate to. Another one of my passions and biggest goal in life is to become a runway model. It has taken me nearly my whole life, and a few mental health crises here and there, to finally accept and love my body as it is. This is the reason why I think that modeling is a really beneficial way to encourage and show self-love. Modeling can be a way that people can express themselves freely and at the same time learn new experiences. Being a model teaches and at the same time enhances a variety of skills that can be applied in personality development and helpful in many careers, such as proper posture, poise, and excellent communication skills. For these reasons, I figured that the Personal Project would be an excellent opportunity to combine both passions. With my improved reading skills, I wanted to further hone my writing abilities, while learning more about the modeling industry. As a result, I decided that my learning goal would be to produce creative, fun, and unique writing pieces, especially with the use of vignettes, while also studying the different aspects of being a model. I personally considered writing vignettes because if The House on Mango Street, a book I read in ninth grade, taught me anything is that a nicely crafted vignette with the finest details can capture a single moment and turn it into something so beautiful.

Product Goal

With my learning goal in mind, I decided that my product would demonstrate two of the things that I love – writing and modeling. The product that I have decided to create is a lookbook much like the portfolios that models have to present to agencies. Lookbooks are also created by fashion houses to show their latest collection for the season. However, I decided that my lookbook would a little twist, where I would write a vignette for every look. I will explore my experiences and journey from a person who was insecure to someone who has accepted and celebrated her beautiful self. I would also include issues I feel strongly about that many young women like myself are struggling with: body dysmorphia, eating disorders, unrealistic beauty standards, body shaming, and mental health issues. I have thought of a few themes for my lookbook, most of which include classic vintage styles. I would include themes that are based on my ow style such as dark and/or light academia, “A Night Out in the City”, and “Boarding School” vibes. Other themes I plan to include are “A Summer in Venice”, “Old Money”, and “Parisian Street Style”. I wanted to be as creative as possible with the themes and feel as though I’ve chosen them quite well because it portrays the different styles in fashion varying from modern to those considered vintage.

Reflection

I have learned many things in the process of doing my project, from the classic time management to other valuable things which I will always keep in mind, such as the amazing advices I got from the modeling workshops. The lessons I learned to be more confident with myself and my body. My self-esteem has increased now that I have learned to be more expressive of myself. Reading on the issues I wrote also made me feel more relieved knowing that I am not alone, that I am not the only one going through those problems. Another thing that had a huge impact on me was writing the memoirs and vignettes. Not only did I just simply write about the issues, but I had to write in detail to make sure that the readers could feel what it truly felt like going through those things. An article by Blake Morrison really gave me the insight I need when writing the memoirs. He wrote about how it’s crucial to “get the monkeys off your back” (Morrison 2019) when writing about yourself, to be unafraid of the consequences of your words. Later, when editing, you may then worry about other people. You need the illusion of seclusion to avoid anticipating people’s reactions when you’re in the middle of something. Self-censorship is a cowardly act in the majority of cases. The part of the article where this was mentioned, especially, helped me to be able to let myself go when writing about the struggles I related to. It told me to not hold back on the details and let myself pour out every possible emotion that came with the struggles.

Product Evaluation

My final product was a modeling look book, portraying the things I’ve learned through the photoshoot I conducted. In the look book, I included five themes, and for each theme was around 2-3 outfits and a short memoir/vignette that talked about issues and struggles such as eating disorders, body dysmorphia, body shaming, beauty standards, and mental health problems. I made this modeling look book because modeling is something I’m determined to do in the future, and this is as close as I can get into modeling for now. With the current situation, I was at first worried that I wouldn’t be able to reach some of the targets I had for myself in my product success criteria. But after compromising every now and then to be able to get the best results of things, I’d say I was able to meet my standards. I was quite proud of how I wrote the memoirs and vignettes and therefore, the content was clear and the message is easily understood. The layout of the whole look book was pretty neat and organized, though I felt like I could’ve done a better job at arranging some of the texts. But I’d say that the pictures really helped with making each page look enticing. The photoshoot I conducted had a lot of drawbacks at first, but I was quite satisfied with how the quality of the pictures turned out.