{"id":669,"date":"2022-03-24T17:34:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T21:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/?p=669"},"modified":"2025-05-28T16:14:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T20:14:39","slug":"mexico-seminar-2022-a-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/2022\/03\/24\/mexico-seminar-2022-a-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico Seminar 2022: A Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the Mexico Seminar, FIT students were given the assignment to share their reflections, attitudes, impressions, and ideas on our experience in Oaxaca, and the breadth of lecture topics that were heard in Mexico City. GFM Class of 2022 student Zach Mauer shared his thoughts on two topics that were discussed at some length and his plans to incorporate\u00a0his learnings into his career and his life.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Class of 2022 students Amethys Kompani and Zach Mauer at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Question Everything<\/strong><\/p>\n

Based on your role in the industry: what can you learn during this seminar?<\/em>\u00a0 This was my favorite question posed to my cohort while in Mexico. By the end of the seminar, my answer was simple: question everything.<\/em> As someone who works in marketing, brand development, and content creation, my professional experience has always revolved around the power of storytelling. Marketing is the process of telling stories that people will buy, idealize, and defend. The Mexico seminar reminded me that as a storyteller, and more importantly, as a student, I need to continue to question things. For example: we discuss at great length in several GFM courses the value of writing a competitive analysis of an industry. But what is a competitor? What is a competitor if you change your mindset? If sharing in a community promotes wealth, harmony, and happiness, then what happens to competition? What metrics or KPI\u2019s should a community of artisans measure its success with? For that matter, what is success? The questions are endless when you reframe your perspective from the traditional hyper-capitalist point of view of which we\u2019re accustomed. We were reminded numerous times during the seminar that when working with artisans, you aren\u2019t working with producers, you are working with culture. When one\u2019s perspective changes, and the questions you\u2019re asking change, the story can change. When the story changes, marketers, brand developers, and content creators can promote new stories for people to idealize and defend. Storytelling in this way becomes a frame. \u00a0Based on your role in the industry: what can you learn during this seminar?<\/em>\u00a0 Question everything, there are new stories begging to be told.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Students examining pottery from Colectivo 1050 grados during a discussion in Oaxaca. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Slow Fashion<\/strong><\/p>\n

I entered the fashion industry five years ago with a relatively simple definition for what I considered \u201cfashion.\u201d Broadly speaking, I considered fashion to exist at the confluence of art and commerce. But delving deeper, I\u2019ve always defined fashion as a form of communication which involves three different cultural dimensions to provide context for its overall message. I believe that\u00a0fashion<\/em>\u00a0entails a combination of 1) cultural symbols, 2) the culture of people, 3) and the culture of place \u2013 ultimately shaping what we wear, how we wear it, and how it\u2019s understood by others. At least, that was always my understanding.<\/p>\n

We were told to go into the Mexico Seminar with an open mind, and in doing so, I was able to imagine a new dimension of fashion that I hadn\u2019t previously considered. One of the things that our guest speakers mentioned was that clothing made by artisans isn\u2019t just another means of communication (as defined above). Like other artisanal objects \u2013 pottery, sculptures, paintings, several of our speakers told us that these pieces have souls. At first, I wondered if that meant that fast fashion was inherently soulless. But for the rest of the seminar, I also wondered if fast fashion (a product of globalization) was the antithesis of slow fashion, or if I was trying to compare two entirely distinct concepts.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photographs from Colectivo 1050 grados of their work with artisans in Oaxaca. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Listening to our guest speakers at the textile museums in Oaxaca inspired me to think of possible ramifications for the contrast of fast vs slow fashion. Clothing made by the artisans is a method of breathing life into traditions that have lived for thousands of years. Fast fashion is the result of a race to the bottom in terms of price and ethical payment of factory workers, as well as a fierce competition of production speed driven by the hunger for convenience by consumers.\u00a0How could I compare fast fashion and slow fashion?<\/em>\u00a0I thought. Slow fashion doesn\u2019t seem to exist in opposition to fast fashion, at least not when viewed through the lens of the artisans we connected with. After my group visited the Navarro sisters in Oaxaca, they told us that they had once taken an accounting class to better understand how they could price their pieces based on their costs. At the end of their story though, the Maestra threw up her hands and started laughing. Our translator told us:\u00a0\u201cshe says that in the end, the accounting class was very difficult. It\u2019s difficult to set the price on something you like to do. They don\u2019t see it as a business. They see it as a way of life.\u201d\u00a0The Navarro Sisters continued to elaborate on why they found the accounting class challenging. Traditional accounting practices attempt to quantify every scrap and thread that doesn\u2019t end up becoming a part of the finished garment. What\u2019s worse, is that in accounting \u2013 these costs are referred to as \u201cwaste.\u201d But the Navarro Sisters don\u2019t see their materials in that way. For them, thread is not\u00a0waste<\/em>.\u00a0In this way, slow fashion appeared to exist on a separate plane from fast fashion.<\/p>\n

\"Students
Students watch as an artisan explains how she weaves using a backstrap loom. Photo by Aaron Duncan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Mariana G\u00f3mez weaving on a backstrap loom. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

[videopack id=”683″]http:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/files\/2022\/03\/Untitled.mov[\/videopack]<\/p>\n

The Navarro G\u00f3mez family invited GFM students into their home to share about their work and their lives. Video by Eva Le\u0301piz.id = videopackOn my group\u2019s excursion to San Antonino, we were shown a white dress that had been passed down and worn by Reina\u2019s family for 47 years. It had been repaired, resewn, and re-embellished more times than she could count. I immediately thought of the clothes in my own closet: would I keep an article of clothing for 47 years? When an article of clothing, or even a piece of pottery has cultural meaning, when it channels a centuries old tradition, the object becomes more than just a shirt or dress. Again \u2013\u00a0how could I compare a 47-year-old dress with fast fashion?<\/em> I thought of my closet full of Calvin Klein sweatshirts. How could I compare them with a dress that has existed in Reina\u2019s family for almost twice as long as I have been alive? My sweatshirts were born out of trends, but their dress was a conduit, it has a soul.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Students studying finished embroidered garments from Artesan\u00edas Nasa\u2019a in San Antonino Castillo Velasco. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Handmade dress from Artesan\u00edas Nasa\u2019a. Photo by Katharine Dorny.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I purchased two embroidered shirts at the market in San Antonino, and I did so on the promise to myself that I would commit to making the two shirts last in my wardrobe for the next 47 years. One of our speakers mentioned that slow fashion has become trendy in the fashion industry, which is great. But one of the things that really registered with me was that to be truly impactful, slow fashion needs to become more than a trend: it needs to be a commitment. As a fashion stylist, I\u2019m fairly attuned to the dimensions of fashion that I mentioned earlier: symbols, people, and place. I know that I can make the two embroidered shirts last for decades if I commit to it. My reasoning being that if I can start making better decisions when purchasing new pieces, maybe I can help change other peoples\u2019 minds about their decisions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll admit that the idea of clothing having souls was new to me, but some of the ideas discussed during the Mexico seminar were familiar. Several speakers discussed the concept of sustainability, a topic heavily discussed during the GFM Seminar in New York. I often found myself remembering a moment that happened during the New York seminar months before. One of our guest speakers was asked along the lines of: \u201cWhich brands are currently doing exceptional work in the field of sustainability?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0The asker of this question had a clear intention of wanting to purchase clothes from whatever sustainable brands the speaker would mention. But instead of giving a list of brands, the speaker aptly responded:\u00a0\u201cIf you\u2019re looking to be more sustainable, start by looking at what\u2019s already in your closet.\u201d\u00a0The speaker went on to say that increasing the life of the products we already own is the best way that we can individually be more sustainable. At both seminars we\u2019ve had experts in the fashion industry advise that the answer to society\u2019s mounting global problems isn\u2019t more consumption. Specifically, during the Mexico Seminar, we learned that demanding too much, too fast, ruins the slowness of the artisan\u2019s design process. I wondered if it was consumption, and not fast fashion that existed in opposition to slow fashion.<\/p>\n

Our guest speaker, Anna Paula Fuentes told us that if the process stops being small-scale, it stops being artisanal. Selling, in this way, is only a quick answer to the challenges facing artisan communities. In our Global Politics and Trade course last semester, we discussed the fact that we are living in a period of hyper-globalization. Speed and convenience are highly prioritized, but hyper-globalization stands poised to compromise the cultural essence of what these artisan communities are creating. In this way, overconsumption doesn\u2019t just run counter to slow fashion and the centuries old traditions of the artisans, it becomes a threat to their very existence.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ana Paula Fuentes speaks with students at the Museo Belber. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A hand-embroidered garment by a local Oaxacan artisan. The stitches were so fine, they could hardly be seen on the reverse of the fabric. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The seminar ended two weeks ago, and my mind keeps going back to the 47-year-old dress. It goes back to the two embroidered shirts I bought at the market in San Antonino. It goes back to sitting in a courtyard of stone with my cohort, passing around clay bowls and photographs. I think about concepts like commitment, and waste. Ultimately, however, I continue to think about overconsumption, the threat it poses, and how as a marketer I can use storytelling to combat it.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Zach Mauer in one of his new shirts from San Antonino, which he plans to wear for the next 47 years. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Students shopping at the local artisan market in Santo Tom\u00e1s Jalieza. Photo by Eva Le\u0301piz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the Mexico Seminar, FIT students were given the assignment to share their reflections, attitudes, impressions, and ideas on our experience in Oaxaca, and the breadth of lecture topics that were heard in Mexico City. GFM Class of 2022 student Zach Mauer shared his thoughts on two topics that were discussed at some length and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":453,"featured_media":674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[69093,36878,44344,36872,14357],"class_list":["post-669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gfmseminar","tag-gradstudies","tag-mexico","tag-gfm","tag-global-fashion-management"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/files\/2022\/03\/N0A1921-2.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p521HQ-aN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/453"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/gradstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}