CASE STUDY: WEEK NINE

 Following the hand in this morning, there are a couple of things I would like to have done a little differently. I would have liked to have known my question to before going to Paris Fashion Week. This would have allowed me to talk to any Peacocks and observe them in detail. It would also have been beneficial to attend London Fashion Week 2015, from information gathered from the interviews, there is more emphasis on the 'outside' event, networking and Peacocking. Finally, on the topic of research, I would have liked to carry out a second round of questionnaires based on the results and outcomes of the first round. This would be possible if there was more time to conduct the case study as I could have attended Paris and London Fashion Weeks in September 2015.

However, this is still a piece of work I am proud of. I'm proud of sticking with my initial thoughts after I doubted them and finding quotes to support them. I was surprised at the amount of quotes I found and the ease of finding them, one I knew what I was looking for. I discovered that I enjoy researching and writing about social elements of society such as social roles and subcultures. Knowing this will help me in finalising a dissertation proposal for next month.

The librarian, Rosie Sellwood mentioned in my tutorial that I could be one of the first people to write about Peacocking as a theory. With this knowledge I want to work on this study further to make it as good as it can be with the motive to get it published.

During the process of this study, I have noticed changes in myself. Six months ago I never would have imagined going to Paris alone and asking people I had never met to help me with my study. Now I wouldn't think twice about doing it again. I think this is partially down to growing up with Falmouth being my environment but I feel like going to Paris gave me the push out of my comfort zone I needed to feel comfortable with myself.

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CASE STUDY: WEEK SEVEN AND EIGHT

After a meeting with Rosie Sellwood in the library last Wednesday my points in my discussion were made clear. Talking through my points for my discussion with someone else made them so much clearer and understandable in my head, I was starting to think they didn't make any sense, or at least only to me. My problem was that I had my points about peacocking and networking but I couldn't find any academic references to back my points up. Rosie suggested that I use a similar scenario in different discipline. In terms of pea cocking, I am going to compare that scenario to that of subcultures and the transition of certain groups such as Punk and Goth into mainstream society. Within this point, I can predict that as with subcultures, peacocking behaviour will become part of fashion events. Rosie also sent in the right direction when searching terms in the library. I had exhausted all versions of 'peacocking, fashion, paris fashion week and identity'. And I accquired 15 books to look for across Tremough and Woodlane libraries.

One theory that I'm particularly interested in, in terms of fashion is subcultures and their relation to peacocking. One particular useful quote I have found is, 'clothing is used to affirm membership to social groups and personal identity' [Barnard, 2002].

In many ways I'm glad our event and two thirds of 250 are over so I don't have to worry about it and can concentrate on 240.

Barnard, Malcolm. Fashion As Communication. London: Routledge, 2002. Print. 

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CASE STUDY: WEEK FIVE AND SIX

Watching Fashion Week happen and using it to my advantage has made me want to pursue a career in fashion again. I used to think that the only was I could work in Fashion and Events was to be a Fashion Marketeer however, after researching more, going to fashion week and watching 'Sex and the City', I have discovered the job title; Fashion Show Producer, that's what I want to do.

I think I asked the wrong people to fill out my questionnaires in Paris. I was confident as far (as my own confidence goes) in asking the right amount of people but they were easy to ask. I should have asked more people who had dressed up and prepared for the event. Because of this, my research is completely different to what I expected it to say. I expected people to spend double the amount of time getting ready to what they normally do, to have spent money on their preparations and say they prepared in such a way to meet people and get their photo taken. Instead, the opposites of all these happened. If spectators answered the question about who they dressed up for, they said 'Myself!' which is great and great comment on the independence of women and such but I question whether it is for themselves or if that's just what they like to think. That's probably just the cynic in me.

I started writing this week and I have a little more clarity on what I am going to write in my discussion. I have comments and evidence of 'Peacocking' at Fashion Week and spectators wanting to prepare what the look like to network and make good first impressions but I want to explore how spectators making these decisions impacts the event itself. It's almost like there are 2 different shows going on at the same time; what's going on inside and what people are wearing outside. I think that effects the event by attracting more and more attention to it. There are so many reasons to go to fashion week other than what's inside Somerset House or the Grand Palais; there are people to meet and take pictures of outside that will help careers and that's a whole separate event. So, how does what's going on outside affect what's going on inside and vice versa?

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CASE STUDY: WEEK THREE AND FOUR

Being shown past assignments actually made this assignment seem easier, I'm not as worried as I was about it.

After giving out 27 questionnaires and conducting 4 interviews with fashion photography and design students, I think my primary research is done. On a personal note, conducting those interviews I've been able to show myself how far I've come in terms of confidence in the last 6 months and I'm really proud of that.

This week I am going to finish the data analysis of my research and begin the literature review of other research in order make a detailed plan for the essay. I am so determined to get a first for this one.

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CASE STUDY: WEEK TWO

We had a guest lecture from Rob Plastow who is a research specialist, it was really useful. He was able to go through my questionnaire and develop it into a useful piece of research.

In the last week, it has been Paris Fashion Week which I attended as a spectator in order to conduct my research. I was able to give my questionnaires to 30 people as well as make observations and meet members of the industry that may be able to aid with my research.

Seeing the responses to my questionnaires and witnessing fashion week has really made me question what the specifics of my case study will be and what it will be answering. The responses to most of the questions weren't what I was expecting and most participants left out the last question; 'Why and who for did they make the preparations they had made?'. This is a little frustrating as it was the most important part of the questionnaire. However, some of the women I asked happened to be industry specialists that were attending the show did answer the final question and, I feel like their opinions will be very valuable.

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CASE STUDY: WEEK ONE

I was so worried about this assignment before this week. I thought there was too many boxes it had to tick: Something you're interested in, involve a placement, Events based, primary research, secondary research. The term 'placement' irritates me as it is. A week in a cold, developing gallery, is not going to benefit me, other than knowing what not to do. The term Continual Personal Development(CPD) is so much more suited in this scenario.

As soon as CPD was mentioned, everything became so much clearer. I knew I wanted to research something in the field of fashion, it's exciting and what I love. I started researching and found a report on The Culture Show from LFW 2010. The reporter told viewers 'if you're planning on attending LFW then get up 15 minutes earlier to lay on the slap' [The Culture Show, 2010]. I was so mad at this comment and at myself for not attending London Fashion Week because that could've been my CPD. THEN, Paris was mentioned, Paris Fashion Week 2015. Tickets were booked on Friday. My current question: Does Paris Fashion Week 2015 create expectations of women to look and act a certain way?

References

The Culture Show, (2010). [TV programme] BBC 2: BBC.

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