Lesson video

Hello, everyone, how are you? I hope you're feeling really good today.

My name is Ms. Avsal, and I'll be your art teacher for this lesson, which I'm feeling very pleased about 'cause today we're looking at fashion design and not just any kind of fashion design.

We're looking at fashion design for empowerment.

Yep, doesn't that sound good even saying that? I think so.

Our lesson comes from the unit of work "An Overview of Design." So if you are ready to get into some fashion design for empowerment, you've got some ideas, some empowering symbols perhaps in your mind, and some enthusiasm, and curiosity, then we'll begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is, "I can explore how fashion design is influenced by identity, culture, and self-expression." We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them.

Identity and symbol, so what do these words mean? Identity is who a person is, including their background, culture, and personality.

And symbol, a symbol is a picture, shape, or object that stands for an idea or meaning.

These are our keywords, identity and symbol.

Let's be on the lookout for them.

Let's listen out for them.

Let's think carefully about them.

They'll be coming up in our lesson today.

Our lesson is called "Fashion Design for Empowerment." Hmm, how does that feel and sound to you, "Fashion Design for Empowerment"? It has two learning cycles, first of all, understanding fashion influences and next, expressing yourself through fashion.

Let's begin by understanding fashion influences, and let's fast-forward to the end of the lesson and looking at what some outcomes for today's lesson might look like.

Wow, some pretty fantastic designs on these T-shirts, great messages, very empowering and eye catching.

I hope you agree.

Fashion can be a powerful tool to express identity, challenge norms, and celebrate cultures and personal strength.

Fashion designers are inspired by their identity, culture, and the world around them.

They use colour, fabric, and design to tell stories and express powerful ideas.

Pause the video and share with someone.

What do you think are some of the powerful ideas being expressed in the image that we can see on screen? Thanks for sharing.

We'll be exploring more of those later.

Fashion designers who are inspired by their heritage include, Duro Olowu draws inspiration from his Nigerian-Jamaican heritage, blending vibrant African prints with Western tailoring to create bold, colourful designs.

Erika Varga promotes her Romani heritage by using traditional patterns and transforms them into modern designs.

And Issey Miyake blends innovative technology with traditional Japanese style to create designs that are both artistic and functional.

Pause the video and share with somebody.

Do you know any other fashion designers who are inspired by their heritage? Thanks for sharing.

The clothes we choose can say something about who we are, how we feel, or what matters to us.

Just like designers are inspired by culture, music, history, or social issues, our own choices are influenced by the world around us.

Pause the video and share with someone.

What are some of the key things that influence you in terms of culture, music, history, or social issues? Thanks for sharing your influences.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Where do fashion designers get their ideas and influences from? A, they just copy popular trends.

B, they only follow what celebrities wear.

C, they are told what to design by fashion companies.

D, they're inspired by identity, culture, history, and what's happening in the world.

Pause here while you decide where fashion designers get their ideas and influences from.

Well done if you chose answer D.

Indeed, fashion designers are inspired by identity, culture, history, and what's happening in the world.

These pupils are discussing how fashion can express their identity.

"I wear bright colours and bold patterns because they show who I am," says Izzy, and Alex, "My clothes reflect my creativity and make me feel like myself." Pause the video and share with someone.

How would you describe how fashion expresses your identity? Thanks for sharing.

Fashion can be a powerful way to speak out.

Designers use clothes to share messages about identity, equality, and change.

It's not just style.

It's self-expression.

Pause the video and share with someone.

What do you think this T-shirt that we can see on the screen is expressing? What message does it have or messages? Thanks for sharing.

We can see a peace symbol, rainbow on the peace symbol.

brown inclusion, a happy, smiley face, a love heart expressing love, joy, and a Black Lives Matter fist expressing solidarity, inclusion, and justice.

Fashion designers who are inspired by their personal experiences include Harris Reed, who takes inspiration from their experience as a genderfluid person, creating fashion that celebrates self-expression and challenges traditional ideas of gender.

Louise Linderoth is a disabled designer whose life changed at 10 years old when a spinal cord injury affected her mobility.

This inspired her to promote better a more body-inclusive fashion world.

And Dian Pelangi is credited with pushing the traditional boundaries of Muslim modest fashion by boldly using vibrant prints and colours.

So we can see there are a number of fashion designers who are inspired by their personal experiences.

A symbol is a simple image that stands for something bigger, like a heart for love or a lightning bolt for energy.

Designers use symbols and slogans in fashion to express ideas, beliefs, or identity.

Can you recognise any of these symbols? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing the symbols that you recognised.

The T-shirt began as simple underwear for soldiers in the early 1900s.

It was plain, white, and worn under uniforms. Since then, it has become a powerful tool for fashion, identity, and self-expression.

Today, the T-shirt is everywhere, worn by everyone in every style from oversized and printed to fitted and minimalist.

Often with text, images or symbols, the T-shirt became not just clothing but a way to make a statement.

Pause the video and share with someone.

Do you have any T-shirts that make some kind of statement? And what statement does your T-shirt make? I have a lot of T-shirts that make statements.

One of my favourites is by a singer I love called Patti Smith.

And it says, "People have the power," which is the name of one of her songs and a really great slogan of hers.

And she usually ends each concert by singing that song, and everybody's singing along this line, "People have the power." It's a wonderfully powering moment.

And now it's time for your first task.

What would you like to say through your cloth? First of all, take five minutes to discuss with your partner.

Is there a message you care about? What do you stand for? How do you express yourself? And is there a symbol or shape that represents you? Spend 10 minutes researching and making a sheet with symbols that you can use later.

So pause here while you have a go at this first part of your task, considering what you would like to say through your cloth.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

So what would you like to say through your cloth? You might have said something like this.

Here's Izzy.

"I would like my message to be about equality, maybe with a symbol like hands holding or something colourful and bold." I love that.

And now we're on to our next learning cycle, expressing yourself through fashion.

In the 1960s to '70s, T-shirts became a canvas for self-expression.

People printed them with symbols and slogans, band names, peace signs, and protest messages.

They became part of political movements, music scenes, and subcultures like punk and hip hop.

We can see a lovely T-shirt representing a music festival on the screen there.

From the 1980s onwards, fashion designers began including T-shirts in high-end collections.

Designers like Ashish Gupta and Katherine Hamnett used T-shirts to make bold statements or express identity and activism.

And we've got a T-shirt there very boldly claiming that, "We stand for human rights." Designers who speak out about issues through their fashion designs include Katherine Hamnett, who created the "Choose Love" T-shirt with the charity Help Refugees to raise awareness about the many humanitarian issues that are occurring in the world, Ashish Gupta, who created the Immigrant T-shirt to challenge negative ideas surrounding the word, reminding people of immigrants' valuable contributions to society and to appreciate how much richer societies are when they are diverse.

Alex and Izzy are talking about what they would want to express through their cloth.

Here's Alex.

"If I could say something through my T-shirt, it would be, 'Everyone deserves to be heard,' like a slogan and a symbol across the front in big letters." I love that, and Izzy, oh, Izzy loves it, too.

"I love that," also.

"Mine would be about equality, maybe with a symbol like hands holding or something colourful and bold," such wonderful ideas.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? Fashion is just about creating clothes that are beautiful.

Pause here and decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected false.

And now I'd like you to say a little more about your answer.

Pause here while you do this.

Perhaps you said something like this.

"Fashion is not only about beauty.

It's also a way to express identity, beliefs, and ideas.

Many designers use fashion to raise awareness about social issues, tell personal stories or challenge the status quo." Designing your T-shirt can look like this, looking at research for inspiration, then tracing symbols onto A4 paper.

Great choice of the love heart, Black Lives Matter symbol, peace sign, and smiley face.

So first of all, put a T-shirt on a flat surface.

Then place a design in the centre to see if it works.

And start to trace the design with a felt-tip pen.

Use felt-tip pens to carefully add colour.

Colour in each area of the design.

Check the finished design and tidy up any lines.

It's looking good.

You can also select safety pins and choose the colour of ribbon for the next step.

Attach the end of the ribbon to the safety pin.

Keep adding ribbon until you're happy with your design.

And then you can pin this onto your T-shirt.

And now the time has come to really express yourself through fashion and complete your final task.

So first of all, I'd like you to gather your chosen materials.

Choose your white T-shirt, collect some fabric felt-tip pens for a color-fast effect.

Normal-tip pens will work but will not last if you wash the T-shirt.

Collect items to decorate your T-shirt with.

It's up to you what you collect.

You just need to make sure you can attach them to the T-shirt.

So pause here while you do this.

Gather your chosen materials.

I'll see you when you have everything ready.

It's great to be back with you.

You've gathered your chosen materials, and you may have gathered fabric felt-tip pens, a pencil and rubber, A4 paper, a white T-shirt, ribbons, and safety pins.

And now for the next part of your task, I would like you to design your T-shirt.

So put a T-shirt on a flat surface.

Place the design in the centre and start to trace the design with a felt-tip pen.

Use felt-tip pens to carefully add colour.

Pause here while you complete this part of your task.

Great to be back with you, and now you can use the safety pins to add decoration to the T-shirt.

So choose coloured ribbon and then add coloured ribbon to the safety pins.

And then attach your safety pin to your T-shirt.

Pause here while you have a go at this part of your task.

It's great to be back with you.

So how did you get on with designing your T-shirt? It could have looked like this, oh, my.

I love all the safety pins even around the neckline, and some great ribbons, and these wonderful symbols, so much expression there.

Let's hear from Izzy.

"I used the Black Lives Matter symbol to show support for equality and justice.

The peace symbol and heart stand for kindness and love." Ah.

"And I added safety pins and ribbons to make it feel bold and unique, like standing up for what I believe in." Oh, yes, Izzy, that is what we need in this world.

Love that attitude and love this expression of your attitude through this wonderful garment.

And I hope you've all enjoyed designing your T-shirts and expressing yourselves and what matters to you.

And now I'd like you to share your T-shirt with someone else and offer each other an interpretation of what you think their T-shirt stands for.

What message is it giving? What does it show that this person believes in and thinks is important in this world? And they would like to express this and show this through their T-shirt wearing symbols that matter to them.

Pause here while you have a go at this.

Thanks for sharing with each other.

In our lesson "Fashion Design for Empowerment," we have covered the following.

Fashion can be used as a powerful tool to express identity, challenge norms, and celebrate cultures and personal strength.

Fashion designers are inspired by their identity, culture, and the world around them.

They use colour, fabric, and design to tell stories and express powerful ideas.

T-shirts can be used by designers as a form of self-expression, using symbols and slogans to promote and share important messages.

Well done everyone for joining in with this lesson.

It was great to explore how fashion can help us express our identity, stand up for what we believe in, and help us to feel empowered.

I hope you've enjoyed this lesson and maybe learning a little bit more about what matters to each of you and to then express that via your T-shirts.

Enjoy wearing them with pride and sharing your messages of empowerment.

I look forward to seeing you at another art lesson soon.

Until then, stay creative.