417.1 - "I think we're moving rapidly towards a world where identity is being redefined" - Gibson

CIM 417 Week 1

Armstrong and McDowell (2018) emphasises that creative industry roles are not static, but shaped through social practices, and discusses how creatives have co-constructed a professional identity in the digital age through media, institutions and professional organisations.

For me this opened up the concept of "fashion" from the regular context I use it in ie. "design of garments" to encompass the cultural and social practices as a medium for self expression. Fashioning is also synonomously another word for "Making". As I self identify as a "Maker" - does that mean that I "Fashion"?

The other take away is the battle that creatives have had legitimising our practice into professional society, and shaping what it is to be a "Professional Creative" ie "made up of career hierarchies of specialized occupations, selected by merit and based on trained expertise" ( Perkin 1989 : 405) no just "a collection of individuals" but a "body of men who carry on their work in accordance with rules designed to enforce standards both for the better protection of its members and for the better service of the public" (Tawney 1921: 88) by bringing diverse literature codes and standards to our practices.

Armstrong, L. & McDowell, F. (2018) Fashioning Professionals : Identity and Representation at Work in the Creative Industries. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Perkin, H. ( 1989 ), The Rise of Professional Society , London : Routledge

Tawney, R.H. ( 1921 ), The Acquisitive Society , London : G Bell