@claudiapotycki

Fashion Design, Year 3

22 years old

Verona

Schools have been among the first institutions to adapt to the new measures of quarantine. How did your school react to the state of emergency? In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of online classes?

From my point of view the pros are many: I'm a commuter, so I didn't have to get up again in the night, I didn't have to travel four hours every day, it didn't have to deal with full or delayed trains. I also had a great time with the online lessons. In our course we often have the problem of overcrowding in the classrooms, so you follow the lesson badly, very often the teachers do not use the microphone, so you lose part of the speech. In any case this is because the professors were efficient in using the new platforms and it was very easy for us students to adapt.  A contra can be the lack of physical contact, but from my point of view, in theoretical courses there is not, in the sense that we are more than a hundred students in a classroom, the professors just explain and that is it. They hardly know us individually. Regarding the laboratories, on the other hand, it's different. You establish a relationship with the professor, you share ideas and get to know each other. As a result, it is difficult to maintain this relationship online. But the distance learning classes have given more flexibility in the reviews: if I have a question, I put it in chat right away, I don't have to wait until the next week to go to class. Also, since I cannot assist us directly, I have the impression that the teachers have trusted us and left us more free, and I think this has improved the relationship with the teacher. So for me, in the end, they're all pro.

The Fashion and Design Industries have been aggressively afflicted by the state of quarantine and social distancing. As a consumer, but also as a future insider of those systems, what do you think the worst consequences of this crisis will be?

I think the worst thing that could happen is a collapse of the fashion system. This would cause the death of all those small and medium compartments that miraculously managed to survive, thus advantaging the fast fashion industry and in general the corporations that have very high capital at their disposal. In my opinion, this is the worst consequence, because the crisis we are experiencing has clearly shown that the fashion system has taken an unsustainable direction. Too many collections, too many novelties in a very short time. This is bad both for the creative person, who does not have the time to develop an idea deeply, and for the consumer, who is in a perpetual state of stress because constantly under pressure from new goods to buy.  In addition to the pollution and environmental damage that the fashion system causes. I hope that this isolation will create a new common consciousness, both on the part of industry and the consumer. I hope that we move from quantity to quality, from mass to individual, from mere profit to customer interest. It doesn't make sense to remake your wardrobe every year, maybe with cheap clothes that are already ruined after wearing them twice. I hope we change this mentality in favour of a more sustainable, more personal fashion and in support of local businesses. Instead of shopping a t-shirt that thousands of people buy identical in a department store, maybe go to a small brand or a niche shop. I wish the collections of fashion houses would be bette, have more solid, deeper ideas, and all this can only be done by slowing down the pace, which, moreover, would lead to an improvement in the working environment.

Your work is built on creativity. While we’re all in quarantine, what is your solution to keep on being creative? Where do you find your inspiration in this moment?

Personally, my solution was to search for it in my intimacy, in what identifies me and in my tastes. I am very sensitive to external stimuli, I am always looking for something new, also to confront what I see and what is going on right now. Having drastically reduced direct contact with the outside world, I have not been "contaminated" by influences that have ruined my work. My collection is personal, it completely reflects myself and without this isolation I would never have achieved this result.