Week 1 | Third Culture - Fashion Law & Design

PRESSED Apparel Compression. 2021.

I’ve inhabited a hybrid bubble of creating designs and commentary based on politics and fashion. In Fashion and Student Trends (FAST) at UCLA, I’ve designed two fashion collections and won a fashion design scholarship for a case study on compression garments. On the surface, there is an ambiguous link, at best, to my major: Political Science. However, law and fashion collectively define my analysis of sustainability, accessibility, and ethics within the fashion industry. Publications like The Fashion Law and the Business of Fashion are a few professional sources that bridge the gap between the two cultures. 

FASTatUCLA Winter 2021 Magazine Cover

“Shoes are for Walking”, Hope Pham (full article)

In response to a different type of division --that is, between natural sciences and humanities-- C.P. Snow suggests another form of mediation. Prior to rapid technological development, Snow proposed that literary intellectuals mediate the divide between science and the humanities. Professor Vesna illustrates a contemporary ‘triangular bridge’ in which artists manufacture a connection through communication. With creative freedom and multidisciplinary dialogue, digital artists lead the revolution which Kevin Kelly characterizes as the “culture of nerds”. The third culture is composed of so-called 'nerds' who create tools rather than theories; creation and entrepreneurial resourcefulness become their focus.

The 'third culture' perspective clarifies a notion I’ve struggled to articulate about false dichotomies. The corporate framework stamps misguiding, mutually exclusive labels on individuals and disciplines. Disciplines do not have to be segregated. Humans are not singular beings with singular talents. In fact, one person can tackle multiple businesses by adopting an array of tools and accessible technology. 

YouTube. RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms. 

According to the lesson by Sir Ken Robinson on paradigm shift, the current education system, and therefore the corporate employment structure, is an outdated and imbalanced framework for ‘success’. The corporate box duplicates the academic rift between natural sciences and humanities without presenting the third culture solution. The inflexible model of standardization cleaves the talents of multifaceted individuals to fit into production lines.  

In my own academic and career path, I’ve encountered pushback from recruiters who refused to accept my artistic portfolios due to my academic background and lack of technical experience from a fashion institution. Not many corporations are willing to take a chance on non-traditional candidates, but we have the choice to independently carve a space for ourselves and others. The third culture is that medium.

Fashion Scholarship Fund Case Study 2020

PRESSED Apparel Compression Garment designs

PRESSED Apparel Compression Garment research

Sources:

Brockman, John. The Third Culture (1996). www.edge.org/3rd_culture/index.html.

Fashion Scholarship Fund. 2021. https://www.fashionscholarshipfund.org/fsf-scholars

Fashion and Student Trends at UCLA. Winter 2021. https://issuu.com/fastatucla/docs/magazine_fullspread_final

Pressed Apparel. Design Case Study. https://www.dropbox.com/s/j1tqg5lvnnsu7r1/Hope%20Pham.pdf?dl=0

Kelly, Kevin. “The Third Culture”, Association Affairs. Science. 13 Feb 1998: Vol. 279, Issue 5353, pp. 992-993. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/279/5353/992.full 

RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms. Sir Ken Robinson. 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1959.

Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in between”. Leonardo, Vol. 34, No. 2. (2001), pp. 121-125.