Home Economics

Home Economics and Design Technologies, Food and Fibre MRS MANDI-JOY MEISE, HEAD OF SUBJECT HOME ECONOMICS AND DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES

‘Your closet and your kitchen can have a truly clean conscience’ (anonymous)

With Fairholme farewelling Home Economics as we know it and welcoming Design Technology Food and Fibre as part of the new Australian Curriculum, we appreciated and celebrated for the last time the curriculum theme of ‘living with a conscience’. Students investigated the realities of fast cheap fashion, including the social and environmental exploitation and displacement of many people by 2050. Year 12 Home Economics students were asked to make a difference by designing with a conscience, creating an ethical and sustainable ensemble. They were encouraged to define their personal style in the effort to ‘wear more, share more, and care more’. Designing with a conscience required the students to look at timeless silhouettes that were made slowly and of a high quality, appreciating the significant impact that their design decision can make. The results were outstanding, with this year’s Year 12 HEC students constructing bespoke, ethically produced ensembles of an exceptionally high standard.

‘Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the 38

approaching of a revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes.’ (Diana Vreeland)

This year, the emphasis within the classroom was to encourage students to start a revolution; a revolution in their thinking and designing. Making a collective shift in their approach to Design, with specific consideration for the human and environmental costs of the choices they make, students focused on designing with a conscience. They were encouraged to speak out against trending design approaches or trending applications, in an attempt to stop the adverse impact of poor design decisions. Design at Fairholme encouraged an appreciation of the lost trades, craftsmanship and skills that stir up deep emotions of value and sole ownership. Design provided the students with a platform for individual expression, storytelling, collective action and common endeavour, in order to aim for a better-placed future.

Highlighting the theme, ‘living with a conscience’, bespoke local designers from Brisbane and Toowoomba – George Wu (George Wu Couture), Michelle Frain (Fraim of Mind) and Camilla-Jade (Pale Jade) – were invited to be part of this year’s Spring Fashion Parade. These guest designers paid homage to timeless fashion, and included ‘styles, fabric and colours made by someone, who made the pattern, cut the fabric, sewed, steamed and physically touched every piece so that the final product is completely hand-made’ and bespoke. This year, the Design Awards drew inspiration from the 1990s, its quality fabrics and appreciation of well-made pieces. With the 2019 Design Awards seeing a record number of new entries and quality ensembles, all agreed that Fairholme’s support and encouragement of emerging designers within the school system has seen the successful development of design capability and appreciation.

Highlights

Years 11 and 12

Brisbane Fashion Excursion QUT 360 Fashion Showcase George Wu Workshop Fairholme Fashion Week Design Awards Food and Nutrition

Years 8 – 10

Individual design challenges and products developed Design Awards Food Technology

Year 7

Design challenges around the fundamentals of Design Production of aesthetic cushion and functional apron Design Awards.

Academic Results

SA 31 5316I Year 12 HA 53% VHA 31% 16%