The expressiveness of use is of focal interest in fashion design, which makes the perspective of act design important in learning/teaching. The objective of the project presented here was to introduce interaction design methods in fashion design teaching to make act design explicit throughout the different stages of the design process in a systematic manner; to develop a general workshop curriculum in experimental fashion design focusing on the expressiveness of wearing and use. A series of test workshops were implemented to provide a foundation for reflection and critical discussions. The main results, motivated by workshop evaluations, consist of theoretical models for a systematic development of workshop exercises in fashion design aesthetics.

This study seeks to advance upcycling methods in fashion practice with the specificity of design methods that centre on revaluation and resignification of waste materials. The development of three key approaches to upcycling were tested for future application as design briefs and pedagogies in practice and education. These were developed through the acquisition, sorting and selection of a large sample of secondhand, consumer waste materials across fashion and textiles sectors. Practice-based experiments and the use of different forms of photo documentation examined and explored distinct ways to creatively understand waste material properties, conditions and potential. Fashion and material studies frameworks of object biographies, wardrobe studies, waste, secondhand material economies and art practice approaches of reclaimed materials expanded and refined the approaches. “Material Inventories” is proposed as a creative and analytical method to identify, sort and annotate pre- and post-consumer waste materials. “Garment ontologies” delineates how traditionally “design” in fashion practice is separate from materials and production. These methods enable a deeper investigation into material qualities, conditions, and reuse potential for extended life cycles. This experimental study presents novel and relevant findings with a compelling material sample and practice-based methods adjacent to scholarship in this area that are predominately theoretical- or case study-based.

This research proposes design methods for reuse and upcycling of post-consumer waste materials as an integral part of responsive design approaches for fashion design practice. The study seeks to overcome institutional barriers that limit potential applications of upcycling practices and how post-consumer waste materials can be included in fashion design curriculum and pedagogy. The findings reveal the need for a variety of design methods for upcycling to be embedded throughout education programmes from Bachelor to Master’s levels. The research suggests that academic institutions need to create a variety of assessment frameworks, foundational courses, learning activities and experiences that scaffold engaged uses and understanding of materials and diverse contexts and conditions.

All articles in fulltext.

Digitaliseringen av mode växer fram i allt större takt och under en tid där fysisk interaktion är begränsat. Under de senaste åren har flertalet samarbeten ägt rum mellan mode- och spelföretag, där digitala tvillingar av fysiska kläder skapas och implementeras i spel. Denna förstudie är finansierad av Västra Götalandsregionen och ämnar att undersöka kopplingar mellan mode och spel, dess skillnader och likheter när det kommer till konsumtion och betydelse av digitala respektive fysiska kläder, samt även undersöka samarbetsvägarna mellan dessa två områden och hur samarbeten skulle kunna se ut. Under förstudien har aktörer inom mode- och spelindustri intervjuats och en workshop har hållits för att få en djupare förståelse kring gemensamma intressepunkter och utmaningar. Resultatet har visat att det finns starka paralleller kring kläders representation för både skaparen och användaren i båda världar och att utmaningarna för samarbete dels ligger i tekniska begränsningar, företagskultur och bristande kunskap om det andra området hos respektive område. Resultatet visar också ett växande intresse och behov av hybriddesigner eller hybrida team som agerar som broar mellan dessa två områden.

This paper explores the ergonomic and functional possibilities of a recently developed new principle of construction technology for garments based on a new approximation of the human body in garment development. Although there are several different principles of pattern construction, the far majority are derived from the same approximation of the body based on horizontal and vertical measurements. Based on Lindqvist’s[1] model for enhance pattern technology, building on a number of key biomechanical point and balance lines instead of horizontal and vertical measurements of the body, this paper demonstrates the potential of the proposed technology in two garments for a specific function. The relevance of this new garment construction technology is significance because it presents a previously unknown model to construct garments with significantly increased ergonomics and agility as well as presenting a new theory of

The human body has been pivotal in much architectural research. Researchers of public space often underscore its interactive and transformative qualities as linking to a broader understanding of the different individual social practices taking place in such spaces. What seems to be lacking however is an analysis of the relationship between the dressed body and the built environment which together constitute a public space. The aim of this paper is to explore and elaborate on the interaction between dressed bodies and architectural structures and outline an alternative approach to understanding the different aesthetic forces at play in the constitution of public space. Using a photographic series of piloted experimental sites, this paper points out how the aesthetics of fashion enrich, contribute to, and change the aesthetics of urban architectural environments. The result prompts a clearer understanding of the interaction between dressed bodies and architecture and offers guidance for future research designed to bridge the gap between the aesthetics of the scale of the body and the scale of building and infrastructure in the constitution of public space.

Together with Jan Carlsson,

initiator, project manager and supervisor for this equally textual

and photographic based research project carried out jointly by final

year design and management students. The project aimes to explore the

humanistic dimension of global textile economy and design. This 3rd

edition specifically aims to look at imperialistic questions in the

process and expression of design. The project is exhibited in June,

2008 at Textilmuseet, Borås, and in September, 2008 at Gallery KG52,

Stockholm.

The possibility of the artefact in arts research to hold formal knowledge is still very much questioned. This paper explores the potential of not a single artefact but a series of artefacts to define and demonstrate formal knowledge in itself. Through a comparative analysis of a number of basic art research projects in e.g. painting, music, fashion design and photography, the paper explores how formal aesthetic principles may be not only defined through a series of artefacts but also equally argued for on the basis of the material evidence that the artefacts provide. The analysis of the examples shows how a series of artefacts can define and validate principle results of basic art research rather than narrate interpretative results of applied art research. The self-informed and self-referential character of the examples shows how formal aesthetic principles and its expressive potential can be validated in terms of fit rather than a justified belief in relation to the aim of the research. In conclusion, the result demonstrates significant implications for theoretical conceptualisation of foundational knowledge in art research based on a form of ostensive definition without significant use of text for theoretical reasons.

While the idea of material-driven processes is not new and the publication list of theories and models is not short, this book on material explorations in design aims to jump-start your curiosities and desire to push material boundaries through fundamental research. Considerations required in this process of exploring materials design – those that will provide some direction in the research process – demand both confidence and stamina, especially in relation to persistent questions of usefulness, as one conceptualize your own approach or open up fresh thinking about alternative approaches. The number of approaches to material research presented in this book is not to be understood as a complete inventory; in fact the list could probably be longer. Methods are abundant, and these suggestions simply demonstrate the wide field of possibility for divergent thinking in materials research for new aesthetics – both functionally and expressively and in combination.

Solo exhibition, artistic research project investigating

and expressing the role, concept and context of the body in fashion

creation in world fashion schools, Gallery Solo exhibition, artistic research project investigating

and expressing the role, concept and context of the body in fashion

creation in world fashion schools, Gallery KG52, Stockholm.

Solo

exhibition of an artistic research project investigating and

expressing the role, concept and context of the body in fashion

creation through more than 50 higher education fashion schools

visited world wide, IMA Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey

Relativistic aesthetics have had a major impact on the development of art research- and practice-based doctoral programmes in the arts. This paper explores research capabilities of arts practice for more propositional knowledge based on more formalist aesthetic qualities in artefacts, as opposed to more relativistic and non-formalist aesthetic qualities. It does so by tracing notions of formal aesthetics from Kant’s natural sublime to Aristotle’s notion of mimesis and catharsis in a number of research works. The examples show how formal aesthetics qualities in the results of art practice are able to demonstrate universal knowledge such as foundational principles, through consideration of a more formal logic in the artwork itself. Together, these works suggest a more formal research agenda based on the capabilities of artistic practices where formal knowledge proposed is rather relative – an aim that has purposiveness but without having purpose, as in Kant’s natural sublime, rather than having a wider social or historic context. Here, non-formalist aesthetic quality of art practice points rather to the applied qualities of a work: that is, to the range of possible applications of the formal aesthetic qualities

This article challenges traditional ways of understanding fashion as a social phenomenon. By considering the everyday social practice of fashion where looking, wearing, choosing, discarding, consuming, and producing fashion have central roles in understanding fashion’s person–object relationships, this study advances an alternative ontological view of fashion as a volatile emotional condition and inconstant state of mind. This suggested shift in theoretical perspective is significant in understanding and stimulating change or maintaining stability in fashion phenomena and could have principal consequences for thinking and developing policy in relation to fashion as well as to more general issues in person–object conditioned design cultures.

Fashion is one of the elements contributing to human phenomena such as self-concept, social interaction, and cross-cultural communication. Despite the significance of this reality however the link between the consumption of fashion and its lack of sustainability in relation to natural resources is one of ongoing concern. To investigate how large-scale changes in consumption can be encouraged, this paper explores the theoretical potential of dance as a replacement for the emotive person-product relationship related to the fast rate of fashion consumption, an exchange that would not disable essential functions such as expressive self-concept, social interaction, and cross-cultural communication. By refocusing the means of self-expression from material products to gestures and movement, dance and dance/movement therapy can help individuals resist the impulsive and compulsive consumption promoted by the fashion industry. This study identifies a potential for dance and dance movement therapy to reduce an individual's dependence on material goods for self-expression. Further research is needed to develop and evaluate practical implementation of place, scale, and longevity. In addition, research methods need to be developed to evaluate the effectiveness of different dance methods. 

Conspicuous consumption of products is problematic for the development of a sustainable relationship to cultural and natural resources. Drawing on an emotional design approach, this study explores emotional conditions involved in the buying phase of socially visible products used in a typically expressive consumption activity. Through an extreme character approach, impulsive and compulsive buying is explored to expose principal and generic emotional conditions in the drive for new design products. The study demonstrates a range of primary negative emotional conditions or emotional fluctuations related to anxiety, mood, and self-esteem in the buying of appearance-related products. In conclusion, to achieve a more sustainable consumer relationship with fashion-conditioned material goods, the study reveals a need for unemotional design to acquire emotional detachment, rather than design to acquire emotional attachment.

Group exhibition, selected artistic works in photographic exhibition curated by Dmitry Komis, Dumbo Art Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A.