Uniforms Cannot Control School Violence Essays - Uniforms

Uniforms Cannot Control School Violence Uniforms Cannot Control Violence Bomb threats, shootings, fist fights and even name calling: all of these are taking place in our schools today. School boards around the country are searching for the cause in a desperate attempt to end the school violence. Some say forcing the students to wear uniforms will do the trick. I do not think wearing uniforms will lessen school violence any more than it will win a fashion contest. Many students express who they are through the way they dress. For example, if a teenager wants to show the world that he loves Jesus, then he or she might wear a T-shirt that states a positive view on the subject. Similarly, a student might want to wear green colored clothing to celebrate St. Patrick's day. School uniforms would destroy both of these instances of freedom and even more. Just as it is with every group of people, there is going to be a few folks who strive to be noticed my others. If uniforms are enforced, the students can no longer express themselves through their clothes. Therefore, they will find new ways to let their true feelings shine through. Piercings, weird hair and dramatic make-up will become more popular. That would result in our schools consisting of stranger looking people than before. The establishment of school uniforms will not affect the amount of school violence. Clothing is not the problem. Studies have shown that the cause for violence in the schools starts at home between a student and his or her family. Teenagers who have been neglected or mistreated by their parents tend to be the ones who commit violent acts against their teachers and schoolmates. I feel that the use of uniforms will strip the student body of its individuality and cause negative creativity. Students will rebel and be uncooperative in class, thus causing more on-campus violence. We need to focus on developing a better home life before we try to change the things that it effects. In doing so, that would make all the schools around the country a safer and more desirable place to learn. Social Issues

Making Friends Essays - Friendship, Acceptance, Personality Type

Making Friends Essays - Friendship, Acceptance, Personality Type Making Friends The process of making a friend is a very unique one. It depends on the person one is trying to become friends with, it depends on one's gender, it depends on one's age, but most importantly it depends one's personality. Every individual is different and how they make friends differs just as greatly. The way I make friends depends heavily on my personality. As an introverted person, I tend to first meet potential friends through what I call forced association. After the initial meeting, I evaluate them and determine whether or not I think they should be my friend. Bonding, specifically male bonding, follows and acceptance is the final stage. Before I can delve into the sometimes mysterious process of becoming friends with someone, I have to divulge some personal information. I am a great believer in personality typing: the theory that a great majority of people fall into one personality type or another. A complete analysis of my personality is not within the scope of this essay, but suffice it to say that I am very introverted. This does not mean I am anti-social, it merely means that new and non-routine interaction with others taxes my energy. The process of making a new friend is by definition a new and non-routine interaction, therefore it is quite difficult for me to initiate the process. This is where the concept of forced interaction comes in. By forced interaction, I mean a situation where another person and I are placed in an environment where we have no choice but to interact with each other. The largest and most important type of forced interaction for me is school, and more specifically, classes. It is impossible to be completely separate from other students in a class. Consequently, I met all my best friends in school (of course, it was a place that I spent most of my time so it is not a big surprise). Another type of forced interaction comes when you meet a friend of one of your friends. It would be extremely rude to not interact with someone that your friend considered to be friend. That is the way that I met a very close friend of mine and one who I will use as an example of my friend-making process throughout this essay. His name is Andres and I originally met him through another friend of mine, Josh. We were all going to the same high school next year (more forced association), so it was only natural for Josh to try to have us all become friends. But I was not friends with Andres when I first met him. I had to figure out who he was before that could happen. Evaluation has always been very important to me. I constantly evaluate and re-evaluate myself, my friends, my schoolwork, and so forth, almost to the point of obsession. I am ruthlessly self- critical and it is only natural that this same criticism would extend to those I consider my friends. Before I can become friends with someone, I have to determine whether or not I want to be friends with them. I have been told that this is an extremely arrogant way of conducting relationships, but I find any other way to be lacking. If one's own needs in a relationship are not met then it is impossible for them to fulfill other's. The first step in evaluation is the establishment of common ground. It is very unlikely that I will become even casual friends with someone who I have nothing in common with. The more important to me the commonality is, the more likely I will desire to become close friends with someone. One of the first things I look for is intelligence. Part of my personality is the love of intelligence, which means: doing things well in varying circumstances. A very important part of a friendship for me is intellectual stimulation. If it is missing, the friendship will invariably begin to wane. So intelligence and knowledge are two things I look for almost immediately in a new acquaintance. Andres possesses both of these qualities and he possesses them in areas that we both find interesting. Both of us have an aptitude for the sciences. This contributed greatly to me finding him worthy to be my friend. But knowledge and skills alone make a person boring, so I also look for common personality traits. A love of humor is also necessary, as is a low degree of self-monitoring: the degree to which people change to match their surroundings. I am extremely low in that area

Did Globalization lead to the current Economic Crisis Essay

Did Globalization lead to the current Economic Crisis - Essay Example Although many economists were predicting the crash, their predictions did not ignite any concern until it had happened. The recession has led to many assertions and analyses on the causes and events leading up to it. There has been a reevaluation of economic and financial models to ascertain the weaknesses in the system that were over looked. Similar to the stock bubble and dollar bubble, the financial bubble burst and took the global economy with it. The events that caused this financial bubble need to be analyzed. Many experts are of the view that globalization of financial and labor markets have led to the crash, while many argue that the lack of savings and investment in the real sector caught up with the financial market. This report will analyze all these views and aims to determine the effects of globalization on macroeconomic variables. The causes of the great recession The most common perception about the recession is that the financial crisis is responsible for it. Irrespon sible banking, lack of regulation, displaced optimism and a high debt burden led to the collapse of the US financial markets resulting in ripples all over the world due to the US being the biggest economy in the world. However, these perceptions form a part of the picture but are not the underlying cause of the recession. Many economists including Alan Greenspan did not anticipate this meltdown and the fall in real estate prices was considered a minor bump in the road. Economists were focused on the integration of the financial market and the innovativeness and complexity of new financial instruments. They were excited with the increased investment and spending and the only issue of concern was the rising current account deficit. Households in the US were riding a consumption boom based entirely on credit; household spending was based entirely on credit cards. Due to the housing boom and rising asset prices, Americans felt rich, they consumed more Chinese imports and bought more hou ses on mortgage. Interest rates were low and banks had excess liquidity to lend to subprime borrowers through collateral debt obligations. For policy makers and analysts the recession was a shock; however an analysis of various factors leads to the conclusion that the recession was imminent. According to Bezemer (2009), the ignorance about the recession stems from the use of equilibrium models in macroeconomic policy making and forecasting. He advocates the use of accounting models to explain macroeconomic flows. The use of the flow of funds model, that takes into account debt, which equilibrium models ignore, is necessary to identify the effects of rising asset prices. The recession, according to him and many other experts, is the result of rising asset prices and thus greater investment in financial assets than in the real sector. The illusion of wealth that was created by the rising financial asset prices, that include real estate and insurance as well, caused the private sector to borrow more against their assets. This resulted in consumption driven by increased asset prices rather than wages and incomes. This is proven by the fact that the share of wages and salaries as a percentage of GDP dropped from 49% to 46% from the year 2001 to 2007. The resulting increase in debt and its effect was not perceived by prominent economists. The growth in debt relative to growth in GDP was unsustainable and thus resulted in the bursting of the financial bubble. According to the flow of funds view, any surplus of wealth that households own will be

Building Performance Management through Employee Participation Essay

Building Performance Management through Employee Participation - Essay Example Employee participation is a significant component of motivating them which is also necessary for both their growth and that of the organization. By virtue of their positions, employees have unique and relevant performance information that may not be obvious to those conducting the performance management process (Mayer & Gavin 44). As evidenced by the JMI case, most employees feel unsatisfied with feedback and goal setting processes used by the management. They tend to view it like a procedure manufactured elsewhere and imposed on them. Contrarily, their active participation in the process provides them with a voice in the system, developing a sense of belonging and ownership over the process (Mayer & Gavin 46). Greater employee participation will create an environment of employee support and cooperation. This will encourage developing of counseling and coaching relationships, reducing defensive tendencies and tension and making the results more acceptable to the employees (Mayer & Ga vin 46). Employees provide input on the required standards on which their performance will be based (Cardy & Dobbins 12). It is, therefore, vital to formulate standards that evaluate essential responsibilities and duties by balancing the process, individual and group participation and the outcome. Employees can have a say by contributing their suggestions on the types of rating systems that give an actual representation of their responsibilities and duties (Cardy & Dobbins 12). Studies have indicated that self evaluation increases the participation of employees while enhancing overall satisfaction when used for the purposes of development (Cardy & Dobbins 19). Employees can carry out their own evaluation by completing their own performance evaluation forms prior to the official evaluation interview (Cardy & Dobbins 12). Although it is evident that managerial and employee ratings may not always be in agreement, it is essential for both groups to remember that the process does not see k absolute agreement. Rather, it should be viewed as a process aimed at obtaining consensus from the two teams over time (Mayer & Gavin 54). As with the JMI case, the consultant interviewed the management and used the employee participation technique to solicit feedback from the organization. With this feedback, they were able to identify the problems the employees had with the performance manage system in use. They generated the employees’ support through their participation to formulate a new and acceptable system. Basing on the JMI example, performance management systems can be improved by making them more sensitive to the employees’ issues. This can be achieved through increased privacy and confidentiality; according employees the management’s undivided attention and setting time to discuss issues. Those charged with carrying out the process need to be prepared prior to the exercise (Muchinsky 21). An emphasis is also placed on performance counseling. Team l eaders are encouraged to give individual employees feedback in confidence on their job performance. This may give rise to various potential benefits such as motivating them to be more productive (Muchinsky 34). Those given performance evaluation results that may be below their expectations will also accept them since

Performing well academically and having a social life Essay

Performing well academically and having a social life - Essay Example â€Å"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.† Being a 16 years old sophomore I believe I have faced enough competition in the early academic years. Since my childhood, I’ve been a shy, reserved and quiet person. I don’t interact with people much due to my hesitation while talking to new people. I feel uncomfortable when I am surrounded by a group of individuals and I’ve always tried to stay out of group discussions. These natural personality constraints led me to the isolation from my social circle. I have had a few friends and even their knowledge was limited about my problems, likes, dislikes and issues. These personality traits seem normal and unproblematic to many people. However, I personally feel that these were the factors that affected my academic performance the most. I never wished to take a position in the class in order to avoid prominence and attention from others. I did not take part in class discussions as I felt awkward and uncomfortable speaking in front of all students and the teacher. I kept myself from asking question even if I had some confusion in my mind regarding the topic being taught by the teacher. When I was a kid, I used to avoid interactions with other kids. I kept myself isolated in the parks, play grounds and even in the school. I used to keep my feelings secret and ideas personal. All these traits resulted in inner conflicts arising in me. I felt irritated by the thought that people avoid talking to me. I felt aggressive and angry when people talked to each other and did not involve me in their conversations. Somehow these were the reactions of my responses to them when they started a conversation or tried talking to me which I avoided most of the times. My parents noticed these problems and were constantly making efforts to make me friendly, confident and sociable. At first I found the lectures of my parents and elder siblings completely meaningless. I was extremely disheartened by the way people ignored me while talking to each other. This was the most difficult phase of my life. I lost my hopes of getting good grades, having friends and making my way out of the isolation that I created in the past years. However, the constant struggles of my parents motivated me to talk to them about my issues. I started discussing my experiences, daily activities and secrets with them. Their friendliness, affection and loving nature made me confident enough to share everything with them. The main problem then, was to change myself in front of others. I felt comfortable with my parents but when it came to other people I still felt the same hesitation and shyness. I started motivating myself to take part in the conversations. I started writing a diary of my day to day activities in order to blow out the negative feelings. I used to feel relaxed after writing the diary. I made a plan to encourage myself on speaking in crowds. Firstly, I started asking questions during the class lectures when I found anything confusing. I started taking part in the classroom discussions and academic debates which greatly helped me to enhance my social skills. My class fellows started discussing their academic and other issues with me which again was considered as an encouraging gesture by me. The first effect of this step was a positive apparent impact on my

Lower And Higher Cognitive Processes

Lower And Higher Cognitive Processes In cognitive psychology, lower and higher cognitive processes are cognitive processes that governs the way different abilities, for example, perception; attention; thinking; problem solving, are being used. However, each of the processes has their unique characteristics when applying the abilities. Lower cognitive process occurs in an automated manner with lower level of consciousness while higher cognitive process exercises mental activities voluntary with controlled awareness. Nevertheless, this essay aspires to investigate the differences of each process through the introspection and examples in order to help us understand how different each process can be. The Use of Lower and Higher Cognitive Processes in Looking At Experiences Our brain lays two very important processes that govern different abilities, the higher and lower cognitive processes, in fact both processes have different characteristics that can be explicitly observed, while higher cognitive process have a more general, non-automatic, mediated memory, controlled awareness and constructive thinking characteristic, whereas, lower cognitive process a more specific, involuntary automated and unconscious characteristic, thus, lower cognitive processes are instructed and run by higher cognitive processes, (Kalyuga, 2009; Fernyhough, 1996). Nevertheless Stuart-Hamilton (1995) analysed that both lower and higher cognitive processes are linked processes as lower cognitive process is a simple and basic process which governs basics task, for example, pattern recognition, thus, with the incorporated information from the lower cognitive process, the higher cognitive process is in charge of the collection of the information. At the same time, there are differe nt levels of processes to process the received stimuli from the variety of analysing of sensory aspects to semantic and theoretical processing (Eysenck, 1990). In my past twenty-one years, I have experienced quite a number of events which are unforgettable while some were memorable and some were regrets and if there is a chance to turn the clock back to my young age, I will definitely change how I think and how I manage things. While advice was given from peers and matured people around me, I will end up deciding what I want the most and ignore what they have said when I was younger. Nevertheless, there were times where I will look into these experiences and ask myself questions like why do I want to do that and how did I manage to do it. When I was in primary school, I hate to do assignments so almost everyday after school, I will hide my assignments somewhere, places where it cannot be seen, for example, under my bed, behind the cardboard or mixing them with other books. When my mum comes back from work, I will usually say that there were no assignments for the day and I will be allowed to play at the playground or with my toys. The follo wing day, I will tell my teacher that I have forgotten to bring my assignments in order to get away and if the teacher asked again about the assignments, my answer will often be, I loss it and I cant find it anywhere, but the fact is, it is hidden somewhere. However, every half a year, my parents will receive a phone call from my teacher saying that I have not been hand up my assignments for the past few months and my mum will start searching my room. At my surprise, she is able to find most of the books and worksheets and I will be forced to finish all of them in one or two nights. This experience became a continuous cycle for few years of my primary school days. Looking back at my lower cognitive process during my experience, what I want to do is just purely playing and because of that reason, I can even hid and lie to my teachers and parents about it so that I am free from any assignments. I presume that my brain has a certain perception about assignments which causes me to run away from it and what I want is just to play and enjoy myself. According to Margaret (2005), the utilization of perception is through receiving a stimuli by a persons senses while prior knowledge is retrieved to facilitate interpretation. Thus, perception involved physical items where beliefs and concepts are involved about the items and the outlines are being maintained by memory (Hamlyn 1994). Nonetheless, the features of both the stimuli and the prior knowledge are combined by perception (Margaret, 2005). Symbolic activity is also a classification of percetion as a symbol represents something other than itself, in my case, assignments symbolises boredom (Sekular Blake, 1994). Perception is an active process as the perceiver needs to execute certain actions to perceive with the behaviour being steered by the process which motivates a higher level of activity, for example, when I receive my assignments, I will either choose to do it or hid it somewhere and not do it (Sekular Blake, 1994). This gave me an idea of why I will dislike studying so much and even though my parents know about what happened numerous times, I will still continue to do hide my assignments and run away from it. I start to look into the higher cognitive process about how it think during my experience for example, why will I choose to hid my assignments and what made me to have this thought in my mind, why do I hate studying and doing assignments so much and enjoy playing much more, why did I not think that my teacher will call my parents to inform them about the situation. According to Ruggiero (1998), thinking is engaging our minds whilst being in charge of its activity and it is a process that helps us to find an answer to a question, to come to a conclusion and to learn, however, consciousness is not often required to appear during the process of thinking. Making decisions and forming beliefs are part of the thinking where it helps us to eliminate our uncertainties while decision making helps us to reach our goals and our beliefs will determine the actions that are beneficial for us to reach the goal as belief allow us to believe very robustly about something which we determine that it is the truth (Baron, 2008). So for my experience, my belief has caused me to believe that assignments are boring and hiding it was the action that beneficial in order to escape from it. Resistance to change and stereotyping are two things that are in the thinking processes which are very subtle. According to Ruggiero (1998), resistance to change tends to ignore new concepts or procedures in seeing and doing things even before testing them fairly, thus, one of the reasons is laziness. Indeed, advice and even punishments were given to me but because of laziness in me, I ignored and continued my old ways. Whereas for stereotyping, generalization of concepts, locations and people, it creates a good environment for presorted, predetermined, prejudged ideas as each has a compartment for storage with no judgment being placed on (Ruggiero, 1998). Maybe my brain has already stereotyped assignments as boring when I was in school which made it hard to change my way of thinking. Due to my laziness, I end up scoring very badly for my Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and I got into Normal Technical. When I was holding on to my result slip, I was very upset, angry with myself and I really regretted for not studying hard. My family will regularly have lunch with my parents friends on Sundays and I will naturally focus my attention on what they talking about and also listening and playing with the other children. However, they will often talk about their childrens study and their results, so when I hear anything about study I will fully focus on what they were saying while ignoring others. And when it was about the PSLE and what school their child got in, I felt very embarrass, I felt that I let my parents down and I caused them to feel embarrass when they talk about me so I will walk away and do something else. During this period, I loss my confidence is doing things and I had a low self-esteem which caused me to think that I am not as smart as anyone a round me. But as the time goes by and I grew older, I start to learn to cope with my own thoughts and not judging myself on who I am according to how smart I am academically and understanding that I am good with other things. I was even determined to do my O levels and send overseas for two years to complete United Kingdoms General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and I scored fairly well. I was surprise on how I can divide my attention to focused to what the adults were talking while I play with other kids and when I hear about PSLE results, I am able to focus on what the adults have to say and unconsciously ignoring any other messages around the environment. I believe that it is caused by the sensitivity level about the topic which causes the division of my attention and what I choose to focus on. According to Johnson and Proctor (2004), the function of attention helps us to be aware and conscious towards presented messages or objects and also choosing the actions according to the messages or objects. According to Margaret (2005), divided attention is one of the processes of attention which helped us react appropriately to each thing while paying attention concurrently to a few things at the same time, for example, watching television and understanding what is going on while having dinner and knowing what food it is while putting into the mouth. Hence, divided attent ion uses the split-span technique which breaks two full messages into two short messages that the memory span can register the information without rehearsing into the individual ears (Johnson Proctor, 2004). While selective attention is another process which overlooks the other messages while focusing on just one message and selective attention apply dichotic listening, a technique which the individual side of the ear receive two different type of messages (Johnson Proctor, 2004). Through reading these, it made me understand how I can focus on a few conversations at the same time and suddenly when the topic is on studies, I will focus on that conversation while ignoring the others. I look at the higher cognitive process in my experience, I tried to solve the problem from being unable to study and having low confidence to picking up myself and trying hard to study to scored during the GCSE. According Bransford and Stein (1993), the problem solving process has been described as a cycle that contains different phases but it is not required to be arranged in sequence, the problem solver must; 1) discover and be aware of the problem; 2) mentally classify the problem; 3) come out with a solution idea; 4) information rearranging of the problem; 5) solve the problem through designation of information though the psychological and the physical; 6) keep close observation of the process; 7) check for accuracy of the solution that is brought up. There are two different classification of problems; well-defined and ill-defined (Davidson and Sternberg, 2003). Well-defined problems are problems that provide a distinct direction towards finding the solution for is one that is ba sed on the given information, for example, calculating the price for each person from a receipt with a friend while the amount is stated (Davidson and Sternberg, 2003). However, ill-defined problems are problems that does not provides a distinct direction towards finding the solution and in order to make ill-defined problems observable, significant work of gather of information is need, hence, it is possible to generate a number of correct solutions from the generation of solutions by the ill-defined whereas well-defined problems can only generate one solution (Davidson and Sternberg, 2003). In my experience, learning how to overcome my emotional thoughts and not judging myself, are ill-defined problems that I had to find a solution to them in order for me to start a fresh. Success problem solving requires one to be well-versed in the field of study of the particular subject or issue as well as being a competent thinker, however having only prior knowledge does not ensure that the s olution will be found as the answers are usually unfamiliar and foreign to the problem solver, whereas thinking is required, in partnership with the prior knowledge, to help one to apply the known knowledge to the context of the problem (Ruggiero, 1998). Indeed, I gain success in starting fresh as a new person after I have grown older as I am able to think deeper and better and combine what I have learnt to solve the problem of me judging myself according to my academic level. In conclusion, the lower and higher cognitive process are two different cognitive processes which are linked processes that governs different things which helps us in daily activity like, thinking, perception, attention and problem solving. Through my introspection, I realised that my attention and perception which are part of the lower cognitive process, are both were exercised automatically and unconsciously occurring. However, when I looked into the higher cognitive process, I am required to exercise concrete thinking in order to come out with solutions to solve my problems and the think for ways to run away from my assignments as solutions and ideas will necessitate mental activity.

Avant-Garde fashion history

Context Page Introduction 2 History of avian-garden 2-3 Avian-garden in fashion history 3 Contemporary fashion and avian-garden 3 Discussion of Suzan Hens' autumn/ winter collection 4 Discussion of Assistant Louse's 2011 autumn/winter collections-5 Discussion of Black Coffee's 2013 winter collection 5-6 Discussion of Luda Inglenooks 2012 autumn/winter collection 6-7 Discussion of Taboo Machete's 2012 collection 7 Conclusion 7-8 List of Illustrations 9-13 List of References 14-15 What is avian-garden and how does it fit into South African contemporary fashion design?In order for one to determine if you are for or against avian-garden, and pacifically in relations to South African avian-garden, one must first define avian- garden and explore the origin and history of the movement. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Art, avian-garden is defined as â€Å"a term originally used to describe the foremost part of an army advancing into battle (also called vanguard) and now applied to a g roup, particularly of artist, that considers itself innovative and ahead of the majority' (Chillers, 2004:42).Avian-garden therefore refers to designs that are new, innovative and cutting edge. South African avian-garden is presently a very small part of the local fashion industry, UT it is a developing fashion trend with great potential. South African avian-garden designers are constantly pushing the envelope in order to stretch the minds of the consumers and other designers. This carries great potential for the South African fashion industry as well as the economy, for if the designers succeed to be truly avian-garden, it is bound to have a positive outcome.I am therefore arguing for the existence and development of South African avian-garden and will be discussing Suzan Hens' 2011 autumn/winter range, die form, Assistant Louis 2011 autumn/ winter range, Black Coffee's 2013 winter range, WREATHE, Luda Inglenook' 2012 autumn/winter range, Anamosa, as well as Taboo Machete's 2012 ra nge, Kabob EAI Balboa. Avian-garden first made its appearance in art during die late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. A small group of artist decided to break away from the rules that bound artist into creating only an established style of art.They actively attacked the institution of art in order to separate and detach themselves from it, but also to reincorporate themselves and their art into life (Berger, 1984: xvii). The first avian- garden art appeared is the Italian Futurism, French Cubism and German Expressionism movements. These movements were so different due to their fundamentally new aspirations and origins in relation between the artist and the world as well as the subject and the object. Dadaism, Surrealism and Constructivism followed soon after, continuing in these aspirations (Cabooses, 1971 : 53).During the late twentieth century, the fashion century came to an end and postposition came into being. This new fashion movement is expressed in the reversal of the relationship between the fashion designer and follower. Since the ass's, fashion is no longer initiated by the aristocracy or the bourgeoisie and then hefted down to the general public, but now introduced by the general publics street style where after it moves into the salons of haute couture where it is adapted and mimicked (Vine, 2005: 63).In the ass's, fashion designers started implementing the use of non-fashionable elements to create the avian-garden fashion beyond fashion. Western Paris-based fashion designs and ideas were shattered and the idea of dressing oneself as a ‘man', Woman' or ‘lady became an out of date concept. The avian-garden fashion trend aimed to expose the old function of clothes that classified people into groups of age, gender and status (Geeky, 2012:103). Furthermore, avian- garden designers aimed to shock the public and not to create beautiful and luxurious clothing (Vine, 2005: 64).Today, contemporary civilization is so desensitizing to norms and values that designers struggle to succeed in using the shock treatment as a way to draw attention to their work. It is also very difficult for designers to create totally new designs, for almost everything has been done before. Due to this, as a designer, avian-garden is such a difficult movement to be apart of. South African designers therefore also tend not to be a part of the avian-garden movement, but to follow the European trends and use it as part of their design inspiration.A few South African designers has accepted the challenge of designing avian-garden garments, but are they really a match for the famous and established avian-garden designers or are they simply following in the footsteps of other avian-garden designers? In case study 1, Suzan Hens' 2011 autumn/ winter range is depicted. This range's name is â€Å"die form†, because she drew her inspiration from the anatomy of the human body (Hens, 2011). When one looks at the images, one can see that in some instances, continues lines are used to depict the flow and natural rhythm of the human body.Her aim was to reveal the inside of the body on the exterior of a garment, thus creating an exoskeleton (Hens, 2011). This is evident in every design due to the different techniques that she implemented. In this collection one can also see that the muscular and skeletal systems are taken and distorted and warped to create remarkable designs. The fracture shapes in the garments, also contributes to an anatomical silhouette. Suzan describes her collection and says â€Å"it is about inner symbolism, looking at our inner physiology and taking it outside which in turn represents the unveiling of our hidden psyche† (Hens, 2011).Suzan Hens is one of South Africans leading avian-garden fashion designers, but does her designs live up to the standards and definition of true avian-garden design? Although her range has a very interesting concept, and forms such an excellent collection, it is not truly avian-garden, for it has been done before. In 2010, Gucci had a range inspired by x-rays and the same year Jean Paul Guiltier launched his creation as part of the fall collection, inspired by exploring the concept of wearing narrower as outerwear Goanna, 2010).This proves that although her designs might have been lassie as avian-garden, it is not truly innovative. She did thus also not set a trend, but followed the trendsetters. In case study 2, one can see Assistant Louse's 2011 autumn/winter collection. In this collection, he uses different layers of fabric to represent an exploration of self- expression in the context of social, sexual and traditional cultures. At the same time it also comments on our perception of an African aesthetic (Melange, 2011).Assistant was inspired by the way that different cultures wrapped their cloths, especially the Mass' and Indian cultures as well as the ancient Greeks (Mulberry: 2011). He also explored with African aesthetics in his coll ection, which can be seen in the beaded necklines. His collaboration of different cultures' way of wrapping their clothing, led to a balance of colonial and nomadic styles. In this collection, a diverse range of high-wasted peg-leg trousers can be seen along with harem pants and pleated shoulder shawls.Loose fabrics are also used to create these different kinds of wraps and loose silhouettes. The warm and earthy colors, such as mud-grey, brown, blue, red and burnt orange, also refer back to African aesthetics. These colors bring the collection and theme to life. Colorful belts that are wrapped and folded over loose vests as well as over-sized neck pieces are also some of the accessories and styling that contributes to the feel of the overall range (Mulberry, 2011).Assistant Low is viewed as one of South Africans up and coming avian-garden designers, but these designs can not be classified as truly avian-garden. The use of fabrics, such as t-shirt fabric, and the combination of cloth ing items might be a new addition to traditional culture's wrapping cloths or way of styling, but that does not make it avian-garden. As soon as a designer uses another culture's clothing as inspiration, the ND product is likely not to be avian-garden, for it has mostly been done before.The third case study is Black Coffee's 2013 winter range, WREATHE. This range entwines together contemporary engineering and fabrics with classic and feminine silhouettes. The textures that is clearly visible and one of the key elements of this collection, is created by braiding industrial felt and the layering of mesh panels. In this collection, Black Coffee experimented with the sculptural process of carving, where the shape is exposed within and not constructed by the foundational material (Black Coffee, 2012).This also served as their inspiration for the range. With this collection, Black Coffee hoped to create a ‘collection that captivates by precision and seduces through romantic imaginat ion' (Black Coffee, 2012). This collection uses a very soft and feminine color palette in order to convey the romantic feel and to highlight the classic silhouettes. It also uses the classic clothing elements such as high-wasted pants, coats and dresses but change them in such a way that they appear as innovative garments.In 2009, Given launched a spring range with a dress that appears to be very similar to some of Black Coffee's 2013 winter designs (Style, 2012). Although that is the case, Black Coffee can still be viewed as an avian-garden designer, for it creates truly innovative designs that are beautiful and functional at the same time. In case study 4, Luda Inglenooks 2012 autumn/winter range, Anamosa, are depicted. His inspiration for the designs is traditional Xhosa bodywork, craft, symbolism and colors.He uses these in knitwear made of mohair and merino wool in order for mammograms, Xhosa initiates, to wear it after they have gone through the initiation process (Inglenook, 2012). This knitwear depicts his cultural aesthetics and is very practical at the same time. AAA of his designs is contemporary and yet culturally applicable and brings the Xhosa aesthetics to any outfit (Design Indaba, 2013). One can clearly see the use of the Xhosa patterns and the bodywork inspiration in the Jersey designs. They are also colorful, true to the Xhosa traditional colors.Furthermore, Luda has succeeded in creating garments that is formal enough for the mammograms to wear, for they traditionally have to wear formal clothing for up to six months after the initiation process, to symbolize their newly found manhood Inglenook, 2012). This Jersey-knitwear does not seem to be avian-garden design, but no knitwear has been made using Xhosa patterns and bodywork as inspiration before. If one looks at the definition of avian-garden, stating that a design should be innovative to be classified as avian-garden design, then Luda's Anamosa range can be classified as avian-garden des ign.Case study 5 depicts Taboo Machete's 2012 range, Kabob EAI Balboa, meaning blanket of the prestige (Design Indaba, 2013). Taboo uses Bassist blankets to create stunning coats and handbags. The handbags are made out of the blanket scraps, in order to eliminate as much waste as possible. By up-cycling the blankets, Taboo is also contributing to a â€Å"greener† society (Macbeth, 2013). Traditional Sotto patterns can be seen in the coats, as they are traditionally on Bassist blankets.These blanket coats can certainly be classified as avian-garden, for it is cutting edge, and has not been done before. There is currently a blanket trend amongst males, but none that include fashioning clothing out of blankets. The trend merely includes males draping blankets with fashionable patterns around their neck and shoulders, almost like an over-sized scarf (Bogart, 2013). Contemporary South African fashion does not really include avian-garden fashion designs. Most trends are simply copi ed from European fashion trends, for we are a season behind.Therefore South Africa has a very small, yet developing avian-garden fashion movement seen in the designs of fashion designers such as Suzan Hens, Assistant Low, Black Coffee, Luda Inglenook and Taboo Macbeth. These designers' works would most likely not be classified as avian-garden by famous European designers, but from a South African point of view, they would qualify. Just like the small group of artists that broke away from the bounding rules of revises established art styles, our small South African group of designers is attempting avian-garden design.They may not be the leaders of the pack, but they are certainly contending and attacking the system of following European trends. Although I have now seen that South African avian-garden is really limited and almost none existing, I am still arguing for the development of South African fashion design. I believe that the success of being truly avian-garden will lead to ex posure and publicity for the country, which in turn will lead to a positive economic outcome. 2003 words List of Illustrations Case Study 1: Suzan Hens Suzan Hens, Die Form, Audiometer 2011.