PDP – REFLECTION ON CONSTELLATION!!!

When I started University I didn’t know there was a constellation section to the course and wasn’t quite sure how it was going to fit in with the course I am on. I couldn’t understand why we were learning about things that weren’t relevant to my chosen area. After a few sessions I understood a little better why we were learning these different topics but some of the topics I still don’t find relevant to textiles. The topics I think were interesting could definitely help me in the future when writing about my work in an academic way or evaluating and analysing my own work and possibly others.

My favourite lecture for the first term was Cath’s lecture ‘Teenage Kicks – Cultural approaches to Dr. Martens boots.’ This lecture was really interesting to me personally because I’m very keen on fashion and Dr. Martens are one of my favourite pieces of clothing that I own. This session was also interesting to me as I do love fashion but I’ve never really thought about the meaning behind a certain style or piece of clothing. The lecture taught us that Dr. Martens were originally designed for work wear, aiming their product at policemen and OAP’s. The target was to advertise the Dr. Martens as comfortable and sturdy not as a fashionable item. From there then we went on to look at how the younger generation from different groups and scenes adopted the brand and claimed it as their own, which changed the original purpose into a fashionable item which isn’t what it was designed for. From then on the Dr. Martens had a different meaning depending on the group that had adopted the shoes e.g. in the 1960’s they were adopted by the skinheads and mods, in the 1970’s the punks claimed them and the in the 1980’s the Goths.

I found Cath’s lecture so interesting that I chose her option for constellation in the second term. The option Cath was teaching was called ‘Smells like teen spirit; subcultures and street style.’ As I said previously I love fashion but never really thought about the meanings behind that style and I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn about subcultures and how they are created. We were told that we were going to be looking at different subcultures such as The Teds, The Zoot suit and Punks. We were given a images of each subculture then given a academic case study on the subculture to, this made learning about the specific subculture a lot easier and a lot more interesting than just reading some information and that’s it, I l liked having  visual. Cath then made it easier to evaluate the different images we were given. We were taught a specific way to evaluate and analyse different pieces of work, the strategy we learnt was to split our information into three columns; Describe the characteristics of the image, Analysis of the meanings/connotations and Theoretical underpinning/Academic studies. This table made evaluating each case study so much easier and also at the end of the term we have to write an essay that is based on two or more images and we have to describe and analyse and I think this table is going to help me a lot more now, especially when I have never been very strong at analysing work or at academic writing.

As I said previously I have to write a essay about my desired topic, I have chosen to look at the Teddy Boy suits and the differences you can see through the decades. This essay was inspired by one of Cath’s lectures on the Teddy boys and I found the case study and subculture so interesting that I wanted to find out more. So far I have really enjoyed researching different case studies that have been written about the Teddy boy subculture but I have also enjoyed writing the essay! This for me is a big deal because I hate essays but this one has really caught my attention and I have really enjoyed writing the essay.

I have found Cath’s sessions very helpful towards my textiles course when it comes to describing and analysing not only artists work but my own work too. I have found the term to be very interesting and beneficial and I’m really glad I chose this option for this term.