Search Results (2)

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. Full article

In Greece there are several collections of “traditional costumes”, i.e., garments with a strongly local character, which were in use up to the early 20th century. “Traditional costumes” are directly linked to Modern Greek folk culture: they were formed in its context and they are its most typical and obvious image. They have often been used as a national icon and are popular with people of all ages, who admire them and, on occasions of national celebrations and dance festivals, take pleasure and pride in dressing in replicas of them. Since they have stopped being worn many decades ago, the existing collections are a major source for their study, and they are respectfully referred to by scholars, the public and makers of replicas. The provenance of these collections—the criteria used, the persons involved, the purposes served, etc.—deeply affects the extent and the nature of our knowledge on the objects included in them. Given the inadequate information usually recorded on provenance issues, a thorough search of all potential sources with an aim to put together ‘biographies’ of collections will help to understand the collecting context of the objects and their respective historical and interpretational value. Full article