Ever Lavén
A SYNTHESIS OF MEANING AND EXPERIENCE IN FASHION
1 Fig 1
Student
Ever Lavén
Title
A synthesis of meaning and experience in fashion
Program
Fashion MA at The Royal College of Art, 2021
Word count
9887 - Porfolio of three essays
Tutor
Thomas Turner
Keywords
Agential realism, Agency, Architecture,
Autoethnography, Epistemology, Materialism,
Ontology, Phenomenology
A SYNTHESIS OF MEANING AND EXPERIENCE IN FASHION
Abstract
This is a portfolio of three poetic essays, exploring the meaning and
To my mother Viveca and father Peter
experience of fashion through concepts of autoethnographic research,
who generously shared their life stories,
a phenomenological view influenced by philosophy of architecture
because of you I am me.
and a post-humanistic approach of metaphysics and physics through the concept of agential realism. The first essay is a self-reflective
An acknowledgement of gratitude to my tutor Thomas Turner that
and investigatory piece of text confronting the writer’s background,
introduced me to a new genre of writing and encouraged me to make the
demonstrating the impact it has on the perception of clothing and the
most of my investigative self-reflective story with pivotal suggestions to
conflicting emotions of a career as a fashion designer. This links to the
tie this work together. I also want to thank my friend Carl, who always
second essay, investigating the experience of fashion and the role and
challenges me with the interest in the process of our respective artistic
authority of the designer. With guidance from philosophical contributions
practices and my life partner Benjamin who is a source of inspiration to all
of phenomenology in architecture such as Juhani Pallasmaa’s book The
of my thought making with our unconditional discussions. Thank you for
Eyes of the skin and the podcast Architecture Talk by Vikramaya Prakash,
your support,
fashion is placed as a phenomena between ontology and epistemology.
you all contributed to these texts.
This sets the tone for the third and final essay of this portfolio where the focus is brought to immaterialism and materialism and why it matters,
Ever
anchored in physicist Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism. The outcome is a broad understanding of agency and the accountability that follows, generating and suggesting a methodology for the practical work of the designer. 2
3
CONTENTS
Prologue
5
I
The hand-me-down coat
8
II
What I learned listening to architects
26
III
Methodology of immaterial and material matters
34
Bibliography
43
PROLOGUE
I have never fully reflected on why fashion matters so much to me, but I have indeed questioned it. Conflicting emotions towards the desire to pursue a career in fashion, an industry that is wasteful, artificial and meaningless to so many people but yet so dear to me. This portfolio consists of three essays, aimed at a personal discovery and contribution to my area of discipline in defining the meaning of fashion. While exploring the theoretical framework I recognized that there was very little insight from practitioners of fashion, a motivation which led me to discover the concepts that would establish my methodology and philosophy. With the use of a poetic style of writing I invite the sensitivity of the reader to introduce that the fashion industry is in need of being revitalized in rhetoric and philosophy. A compelling narrative that seek to demonstrate the significance of the role of the designer, thus fashion design. I wish for these essays to give poise and significance to peers in the art of fashion and to awake curiosity for anyone who needs to understand it as a meaningful cultural human practice. In these essays I have attempted to use methods, primary and secondary sources that felt innovative but appropriate for the research. For the first essay, The hand-me-down coat, I establish and contextualize my own voice and confront my background through an interpretive qualitative ethnographic research. My primary research was conducted as interviews with my parents, deciphering the political and societal 4
E V E R L AV É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion
5
codes that our common attitude of clothes is burdened with. With autoethnography the researcher is considered a vital part of the research data and the writing is an analysis acknowledging what values and interest that, I myself, bring to the project.1 It should be stated that an autoethnographic piece is no site for argumentation from the interview part, but my representation of it, which could be questioned by ethical terms. Although, my experiences are unconsciously affecting my outcomes and therefore this methodology can unlock important aspects to my contributions and in this case
not assigned to any object, physical or metaphysical, but occurring in a ”When autoethnography works, it evokes not only a sympathetic response and a reflexive questioning of the connection of one’s own life to the story, but also a desire to correct the injustice(s depicted.” Arthur
Bochner
Carolyn
Ellis,
Autoethnography Lives
:
Writing
Telling
Stories.
Routledge,
2016),
and
(London:
and Evocative
led to a satisfactory conclusion for my part. Fundamentally
p. 57.
question of responsibility and accountability. Matters, non-human and human are entangled with one another in the universe, which makes no text original or without the impact of others’ influence.2 With this final piece I wanted to respond to how we can make understanding of fashion through material empathy and suggest that a focus on materiality would lead to a more mindful practice for designers and consequently affect consumption patterns based on principles of longevity. The research became a methodology for my continued practice, aligned with the ideology of challenging established systems of sizing. Along with the sources mentioned, Laurene Vaughan’s Practice based design research
I wanted to assess this idea of giving something back to the
initially inspired me to write from a maker’s perspective to academic
people we perform research on.
research. These essays became key for me to battle my diffidence
Leaving my own story, I return to this issue the second essay,
and to discover new paths in my practical work. The perspective of
What I learned listening to architects, of how our products need to possess
autoethnography, phenomenology and agential realism are all exposing
qualities that reflect the story of our inspiration. The research question
the reality and positive aspects of the thinkers personal experience,
that guided this piece of text is asking what fashion can learn from
observations, values and our resistance of them. The outcome of these
architecture, and by so, compare and locate the limitations of the fashion
essays was not only an adequate journey, but it allowed me to develop
discipline and where we need to expand on it further. With architectural
a philosophical foundation and methodology for my continuous practice.
practices and a phenomenological approach I was able to identify
The writing and the research has become a part of the making, intending
problematic areas of fashion. In writings and podcasts, architects inform
to answer why fashion and its practice is meaningful and how it can be
me that designers need to formulate our own disciplinary framework
understood, studied and nurtured.
around the fashion experience, rooted in skill, heritage, culture and time. My conclusion places fashion as a research subject in between epistemology and ontology. The personal experience and the subjectivity that follows, can be an item of critique on a scientific scale which I try to challenge in my third essay, Methodology of immaterial and material matters, with the use of Karen Barads concept of Agential realism. Where agency is 6
E V E R L AV É N
1 Arthur Bochner and Carolyn Ellis, Evocative Autoethnography:Writing Lives and Telling Stories (London: Routledge, 2016), p. 70. 2 Karen Barad, Meeting the Universe Halfway:Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007), p. 185.
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion
7
ONE
The hand-me-down coat
industry I ventured into was hiring designers only to create for the unremarkable display of repetitive clothes in the battle of commercial value and recognition. The artistic significance was becoming obsolete. In recent years, many people had rightfully begun to moralize patterns of consumption and question the production methods in quantity, quality and labour and its causes. I questioned too. I reasoned myself to pledge my choices and in 2020 I concluded to return to university for my master degree in fashion studies. My research was essentially about how I could make justice to my practice. This essay is a fragment of this ethos, a confrontation of my own background, to understand what shaped me to become a fashion designer and why fashion was significant. Why did
My parents were not surprised nor avid when I declared I was
fashion evoke so much interest and joy for me? Emotions that at the
attending fashion studies. After all, they knew that I was committed
same place and time were so placid and lifeless to my parents. When
to all my endeavors and aspirations. My own biggest concern was
going back to these years, I recognize an immediate sentiment in me. The
the lack of support and a cultural foundation. This was also the main
travels and adventures as a family, the promise of an upbringing in safety
objective of my Bachelor degree studies abroad. My studies in Paris
and love, in the sanctuary of a home. We were to the outside world
and London put me in the true mythical environment of knowledge, a
the quintessential middle class family, while my parents worked hard for
driving force that summarized my devotion. Smitten and romanticized
this, in reality there were struggles that we never disclosed to others. The
by the storytelling fashions of John Galliano and Rei Kawakubo, I was
family drama was covered by somber evenings of performative conduct.
not let down by the support and sensitivity the education had to offer.
At the dinner table, we seldom had vivid discussions. We would never
Nonetheless, I found myself affected by my parents’ lack of compassion
talk about ourselves, our interests or dreams. I think of it as too intimate
in my studies. I believed it was just a frivolous fad to them. My research
and palpable. This situation was often enclosed and heartened by my
and developments during these years was becoming an intermittent
fathers ability to take on any room. When not buried in work, he told
path of doubt, that left me in disbelief of myself as a future maker
us stories of history, of his day, his meetings and accomplishments. He
and designer. Returning to the place that once was home got harder
was by all means a voluble and talented leader. His presence of height,
and these emotions kept me quiet at a distance as I had little to rest
his loud voice and big hands were impressive and I was very proud of
on where I once came from. This was all I had. After my graduation
him. Although successful, he was not adept for the personal challenges
and in the beginning of my career I found that my enthusiasm for
a relationship can have. My mother, in contrast, is a small and tender
fashion had slowly begun to shift to a feeling of anxiety. The fashion
woman with soft blond locks. Her empathic and caring attributes were
8
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A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion
9
the foundation of our talks, if we had any. Despite all her efforts to be
the long and cold snowy winters. A commodity rather than necessity. I
the best mother for me and my two brothers, we saw and knew that
do acknowledge and value my parents’ past as a part of my presence and
her fragility was the result of her husband’s shortcomings. Now, many
insights to this essay. I begin my conversation with my mother by asking
years have passed since they divorced, and for the five of us life has
about the rituals of clothing in her childhood home.
moved on in different directions. I sometimes see a sliver of my mother
”It was another time back then you know. In the 1950’s we very
and father in my reflection. Melancholic. In the same account, I was
rarely bought any clothes. My mother and father were working class and
unhappy about depicting them in any part of me in that mirror. I often
we did not have a lot of money and we never threw away anything,” she
felt as if my family never got to know me and the things that my own
says. I have noticed an anticipation of shame in her when we approach
journey brought out of me. I had to investigate my background story
this subject but I encourage her to continue.
to situate my despair and replace it with prospect. With this brief fast
”Because of this, we could not wash our clothes that often. I
forwarding of a little life, the acumen of initializing talk and questions
was accustomed to grass stains on my trousers and a grease spot from
with my parents is very strenuous. It will take me weeks to even pick up
last week’s soup. Garments were patched, faded and worn to rags until
my phone to make these calls. To my mother and my father and each
they gave in to be used as remnants for cleaning,” she goes on telling me.
to their own, fill in the gaps and respond to my wonderings. I wanted
“It was foremost about keeping warm. Clothes were made at
to know about their own reflections of their dressing procedures and
home on the sewing machine or knitted by hand. All women knew how
interest as children in clothes and how this progressed throughout their
to knit and sew.”
lives. How does this echo in me? Impediments that coated my outcomes.
Traits that were taken for given by the women in her family
Both of my parents happen to originate from the coast in the north
unrelated to clothes making. A female devoir. Her sister Rita was keen
of Sweden, Luleå. A garrison town built on steel industry and forestry,
at sewing.
close to the polar circle and not too far off from the Finish border. They
“She made me a pair of trousers, I wore them every day!” My
were of working class descent, whose relatives were from traditional
mother says. She did develop her own interest in textiles and handicraft
occupations, representative of the rural parts in Sweden. Military,
work in sewing clothes for her toy dolls. Her own interest in handicraft
farmers and woodworkers. Indigent, most things were accomplished
was very treasured by me when I grew up. She even had a loom in the
in their homes by hand. Unfortunately, I never took the opportunity
basement, that I never saw her make use of. I ask her if she remembers
to speak about these matters with any of my grandparents, so now
how they got dressed for a day.
1
when they all have passed I will let my parents voice the conditions and
“There was not a lot to choose from in our closet, we did not
experiences. I had often been told, that when my parents were young,
have our own clothes anyway. There was a common closet that we all
clothes was never about expression or to dress up, it was about layers of
shared and clothes were handed down from the elder siblings to the
practicality as a protection of the short and mild summers of rain and
younger ones. I remember that even other families bestow us clothing
10 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 11
that their own children had outgrown.” My mother says she recognized
of him. My grandfather always wore a shirt or a polo jersey and had his
that it was uttermost important to fit in, that there was a fear of being
white beard perfectly trimmed. My mother tells me that there was a
bullied and standing out because of the clothes. Especially when being
difference of upbringing for the couple Rolf was from the better part of
poor. I wonder how involved and interested my grandmother was in this
town, whereas my grandmother, one out of nine siblings, grew up in the
everyday procedure and she responds,
countryside outside Luleå. According to my mother, Barbro was not so
“I was mostly inspired by my older siblings for how I wanted to
fond of her mother-in-law for her pretentiousness. Preconceptions of a
look. But my mother Barbro picked out clothes for us to wear for the day
lady from the city. Even if Rolf did enjoy dressing up, my mother lets me
but without any specific aesthetic mindfulness. She was not so concerned
know that when she was growing up he often expressed contempt for
about her own clothes and what to wear either.” My own memory of my
people who overdressed. Astound over the vanity of the youths. During
grandmother’s clothes are significantly aligned with what my mother
their own parents’ lifetime, clothes were functioning as a distinction or
tells me. I often found my grandmother in her chair, comfortably in
conformation of class. The people of their society had a very firm idea
joggers or in woven slacks with a drawstring waistband. She would
of what rich and poor people looked like.2 Parading the refined and that
wear a jersey t-shirt, sometimes in a knitted sweater she likely made
one was educated, to avoid being mistaken for uncivilized workmen and
herself. I believe she liked colours in pastel, muted pink and lavender. She
peasantry. Interestingly and importantly, my grandparents belong to
would always inspect her visitors. Looking you up and down, in no ways
the first generation to be born into an equal and universal suffrage for
discreetly. Sometimes she would pinch a bit of fabric from my clothes
women and men in Sweden. Political tension, high unemployment rates
between her fingers to feel the lint and correct her glasses to ask,
in the Swedish recession of the 1920’s would initialize a coalition of a
”How much was this?” My mother verify my memory and my grandmother’s anxiety over the price of clothes.
government that would achieve a democratic representation in Sweden.3 The welfare state was formed, financed and built on the idea of a
“Yes, she was always very interested in the cost of things.” I do
cooperation of government, employers and unions to increase production
suspect she cared, so much that it troubled her. In the same way I had
within the industry. The notion of ’Folkhemmet’ cultivated during the
experienced my own parents disregard of interest in attire. I read my
upcoming decades, building a system of social benefits with protection
grandmother’s negligence as obedience to the discerning of the society’s
from unemployment, of health insurance and old age-pensions financed
dress codes of class. Clothes separating ‘us’ from ‘them’, the ones who
by taxes on workers and employers.4 During the Two world wars, Sweden
could afford and they who could not. By not paying attention to it, it
had declared itself unattached to any allies through a policy of neutrality.
was only to blend in and evade the politics it really was conveying. In
However, goods had to be allotted as measures to be able to provide
the contrast of my grandmother, my mother resolutely recalls that her
for all of the population. Textiles and clothes were rationed by law up
father Rolf was “very vain.” At least to her, much more aware and caring
until the end of WW2. 5 There was an emphasis to improve everyone’s
about his appearance than her mother. This resonates with my memory
economy and thereby the dilution of class. The delineation of dress
12 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 13
would thereby alleviate but not entirely. But for my grandparents, it was already marked by a collective memory in rations and representations.
that we had to embroider our own initials on.” He remembers festivities as extraordinary because he was dressed
Here I decided to pick up with my fathers relationship to
in a white shirt and tie, and a pullover on top. When he turned 14 years
clothing. The phone call in April 2021 is the first exchange we ever have
old he began working at the men’s outfitter Bergmans Herrekipering.
about these matters and his response does not take me by surprise. He
By no particular interest in clothes, he just found an advert and needed
chuckles and tells me that when I handed this question to him his initial
a job. Even so, there was a young man working there, a few years older
thoughts were just, ”Clothes?! What clothes?” I am unruffled and curious
than himself that made an impression on my father with his outfits.
about his response.
“I found him really cool. So I bought my first two piece suit, the
”Can you please clarify?” I continue and he explains,
same as he wore. It was brown and in wool with a stitched press fold. A
“Growing up, one did neither consider nor make a lot of thought
suit jacket without sleeves…”
around clothes and what people were wearing”. Our conversation begins
“You mean a vest?” I interrupted.
trembling but as we go along he begins to tell me about the younger
“Well yes and no, in the function but it was based on a suit
years up in the north. Walking around in a pair of felted shoes that
jacket but just without the sleeves attached, it was a modern look in the
became awful and soaking when wet.
late 60’s.” The trousers had an itchiness lacking lining on the backside of
“In fact, clothes were nothing that one reflected about until other people were questioning them. I remember this now” Around the
the thighs. He remembers buying the same pair of The Hutton Playboy Chukka boot, famously worn by Steve McQueen.6
time of relocation to Stockholm he had his first encounters of thoughts
My father recollects that his mother Anita was complimenting
about clothing. He was 11 years old and another boy was snickering over
him for his sense of fashion, a way of calling someone a dandy in the
his pointy shoes, a pair of winklepickers. When his female friend showed
Swedish language. He believes that Anita herself had quite an interest in
up at class with a pair of trousers with a front zip closure, he learned how
fashion and went shopping for him at the low price department stores
adventurous and individualistic ideas of dressing made people scorn. Girls
EPA and KappAhl. My father thinks she was influenced by traveling
were supposed to wear a trouser with a closing on the side. He mentions
with my grandfather. She loved the mediterranean climate, visits to
the worries of being in the wrong and the sensitivity of standing out
Spain and Greece would have inspired her in colours and patterns.
were definitely present. My father is the oldest of three children in his
I don’t remember my grandmother very much, I remember her being
family, which meant that he was first in line for new clothes among his
tan and wearing makeup, that she was somewhat a fancy looking lady.
siblings. His relationship to specific garments are mostly related to his
I’m impressed by my father’s recollection of the textiles and sensory
engagement in sport and leisure activities.
experience in garments, and I begin to visualize and relate to the
“As a young boy I wore training jackets and blue shorts to play
experience of uncomfortable materials against the skin. I make notes
football in. They were given to us at school and came in a drawstring bag
about wool slacks, gabardine trousers and the excitement of the arrival
14 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 15
of the jeans trouser, corduroys and bell bottom jeans with nylon jackets or shirts to wear on the upper body; how the popular culture had a big impact on what people wore. As a teenager he got into competitive road bicycle racing, a team sport with cycling peers with the least interest in sartorial matters. Instead his interest for cycling jerseys emerged. I see a smirk on his face through the screen of our call when he exclaims, “Ohh.. An italian professional team jersey was a real dream garment!” When my mother and father met as teenagers in the summer of 1969, both their families had migrated for work in the suburbs of the capital Stockholm. Not only just relocating, but also a move in their own social mobility and journey of class. By the time my parents were born in the mid 1950’s, the societal changes had boosted the economy, wages and an overall better living situation for most of the Swedish population.7 The emergence of the retail phenomena and companies such as IKEA and H&M was founded, with products of low cost for a high revenue, offering modernity in contrast to the specialist stores and conservative notions of goods.8 Shopping signified a democratic choice, low prices and availability for everyone. My mother recalls the improvement and the changes it had on her life, “We had one boutique in Saltis where we lived. This is where I bought my first clothes at the age of 14, for the first money I ever made myself. It was two t-shirts. Then I took the train to Slussen and bought a pair of denim jeans on Domus. I was so proud of myself”. My mother began working full time in the city central at the age of 16 and remembered buying clothes at H&M. “I went there a lot, I bought something every month when I had my salary paid. We were made to believe that we were doing good by shopping, consumption made our nation’s finance prosper hence that A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 17
16 E V E R L A V É N Fig 2
MY FATHER PETER IN MALLORCA 1973
the society would improve”. This proved to become conflicting objectives of the old and the new world. In the context of the late 1960’s and beginning of 1970’s, there was an emergence of social- and solidarity movements in Sweden alike many parts of the world. For women and the environment, the counterculture and world peace. As the social activities would begin to characterize political attitudes, clothes became unspoken totems of the spirit of those times.9 Dressing-down was to be associated with expressing societal dissatisfaction and questioning the capitalist systems and consumption of goods. A criticism that was brought up by the forefront federation of retail trade KF, whose advice strived for democratic and sustainable consumption strategy for the Swedish population making the individual independent from the vanity of fashion and unnecessary attachment to material.10 Balancing democracy and capitalism. This event led to launching of a concept of unbranded basic wardrobe staples as a uniform with focus only to resolve everyday needs of dressing, a trace that we still can see in today’s minimalistic and sombre aesthetics of Swedish fashion.11 I have noticed that none of my parents refer to clothes as fashion, or the Swedish word ‘mode’. They refer to clothes as clothes. The notion of fashion was a stigmatized matter that one wasn’t supposed to put visible effort into, but a pragmatic one, as certain garments symbolized the very resistance of it. None of my parents were directly politically engaged, but this was the zeitgeist. Clothes were a marker of class. Clothes were a conspicuous element that was not supposed to take a big part of one’s life. In workplaces dress codes still were principal, to avoid distraction from the individual person. But that even became a compelling aspect in working in the city. My mother says she wanted to obtain this identity. A working girl in a skirt and heels. This was before she was educated to become a nurse. My father spent most of his life working in business. He testifies that the A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 19
18 E V E R L A V É N MY MOTHER VIVECA IN 1972
Fig 3
dress codes in the 1980’s and 90’s were becoming quite strict. The palette ranged from black to grey. He pondered a while on what he and his business companions used to wear, pointing out: “Back then we had no sense of how to wear a shirt, how it should fit, you know.” I wonder, “Having ‘no sense’? Does that mean that you didn’t have a real interest in dressing?” “I guess so” he responds. “I think there has definitely been a certain shame to be too trendy and too aware in Sweden.” In the new structures of modernity, success was not in the clothes people were wearing but in the amount of work one did. You couldn’t just change yourself to your individual liking, you earned a becoming, by working.
unnecessarily.” This idea that clothes have different values depending on occasion, made me develop quite a complex relationship to clothes. It seemed like the nicer clothes were less joyful. They were more like a costume. The unbleached wool tights, elasticated gusset slowly slithering down itchy legs, restricting my thighs to fully stretch out when sitting down playing on the floorboards. I remember my fathers trauma of itchy and ill-fitted clothing reflecting on my own experience. More than liking them, I disliked them. I felt restricted in my clothes. They could really change my mood, make me emotionally vulnerable. Even worse, make me into someone who didn’t belong with the rest of the group. Of all my family members I believe my grandfather Ingvar was the most important figure to me in terms of developing creatively. My
I was born in the mid 1980’s in Stockholm. The same year, my
grandfather was a remarkable person of warmth, skilled as a craftsman
parents had rattled together for a beloved wooden renovation object of a
with endless creativity. He raised me to truly believe that everything was
house in the suburbs. In the notion of Folkhem, my home was a central
possible to make. He illustrated and drew small books of small tales for
place for my upbringing. An ordinary day would entail being around the
me to read and look at. History, people and their stories were important
house, my parents working outdoors, doing gardening or building, and
to him. His ability to make friends with people from all over the world
me playing with my siblings or friends most often outdoors in the nearby
made him bring exciting gifts to me. Candy in artificial colours that was
woods. My own relationship to clothing in the earlier years of my life is
too hard to chew and too sweet, chocolate that tasted of bitter flavored-
very bleak. My parents did not spend much money on clothing for us. I
liquor, none of which I particularly liked, but I was fascinated by them
am told that I, like my parents, was given clothes from my cousins and
as they were from another world than mine. Once I was given two lamé
my older brother. My mother also made clothes for me. She reminds
polyester Romani dresses, full of frills, laces in the most striking pink and
me of how there was a difference between everyday clothing and this
pastel blue fabrics, they wore a heavy scent of chypre and rose. They
idea of dressing up. Putting on your best clothes was something we did
resembled nothing of the minimalistic Scandinavian culture I grew up in.
for the exterior world, in a sense it would mean that my parents indeed
Despite me being a tomboy I found these items beautiful in their own
understood the significance of fashion. My mother explains to me,
way and I treasured them dearly when I at most times could find very
”We spent a lot of time at home and there was no need for anyone to
femininely coded attire objectionable. Through my grandfather I found
dress up and look good. We would not wear and tear on our finer clothes
inspiration to look further than my own world as I knew it. Before the
20 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 21
age of 12 my mother decided for me what to wear. It was around this
a blank space in me and becomes a way for me to offer the meaning
time I learned that my parents were quite unaware or almost troubled
of clothing back to them. The approval I once was seeking myself.
by my curiosity and wish to present in a certain way. The affinity and
Clothes were trivial in relation to the vast financial hardship they found
interest for fashion were not shared with the other members of my
themselves in at times. And with the financial turn in society, the freedom
family. I remember it as a feeling of unrequited love. I wanted my parents
would be questioned and moralized. When I relocated a couple of years
to be influential to me, to teach me about life and guide me in finding my
ago I found a poetry book given to me by my grandmother Anita for my
own identity and not submitting to everyone else’s. But this was often
11th birthday. The forepage had a short text in her handwriting: “To think
being argued as reprehensible and not understood as important values
freely is great, but to think rightly is greater”. A quote from 18th century
of aesthetics and politics and a topic of passion for me. Their ignorance
poet Thomas Thorild, intending encouragement of social values and
and moralization was my social handicap. Like them I experienced
avoiding deviant behaviour.12 A clue of how deeply intertwined we are
situations of feeling an outcast because of wearing the wrong clothes at
by our roots. By being aligned with the idea to fit in, my parents believe
the wrong place. Around my early teenage years I began shopping for
they were being graceful by not acquiring excess and at the same time
myself at the budget stores in the local mall. Despite my parents attitude
having the wish to show that they were no longer at the bottom. To stay
towards clothing, I found that visual expression obtained a certain power
out of social debt. A perfect synthesis that needed no perfection. Fashion
and allure. I looked at music videos and movies, quickly to discover that
is not about excess, it is about agency, accountability of responsibility.
clothes inhabited fictive strength and a cover, to acquire attention and in
It is the stains on the trousers. The conversation we have around it. It is
my case resisting the normality. I couldn’t understand why my parents
a social glue. Remembering where you come from and where you want
did not make use of this opportunity of shape shifting. I went through
to go. The ability to materialize beyond what is already there. Fictive or
my teenage years experimenting with my appearance by dying my hair
real.
purple, cutting it off, bleaching it and shaping it into spikes. I wore a
I am about to hang up with my mother when she asserts to me
messy grunge look that moved on to an oversized skate period and then
that today she does care and she doesn’t wear just anything, and that
to feminine clothing and further to a more punk inspired look. Though
what she wears needs to correlate to her self image. Through the screen
I am still exploring, it is with less trouble and with more manoeuvre.
of my computer, I can see the wallpapers of flowers in her room, the
By examining my backstory I allowed myself to have a profound and
cushion covers and the curtains in intricate patterns. The thoughtfulness
empathic understanding of my parent’s lack of interest and a somewhat
she put into the materiality of her surroundings makes me miss her a lot.
muted perception of fashion. During the development of this essay I
I know that they matter to her, being representative of who she is.
find myself laughing, enjoying these talks with my parents. They launch
My father admits that he has gained a certain affinity for clothing
more questions, leaving the topic of clothes, about their personalities,
while getting older. He says he learned to like it. Traveling. Like his mother.
idiosyncrasies and surroundings. Nonetheless, their voices matter, it fills
Meeting other cultures and exploring his own identity. Like I have done
22 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 23
and still do. As much as I have acknowledged that my upbringing was never as a sprouting source of inspiration for my choice of approaching fashion design, it was by all means triggered by the lack of nurturing and gave me reasons to continue. This piece of text has been a natural course to understand what I represent in what I am researching, the question of meaning lingering in me. All of a sudden, a topic so dear to me that kept me and my parents at distance, now connected us. History filled in these pages and made me who I am. I can now look at myself in the mirror with gratitude, the coat I wear is woven with threads of their stories and memories.
1 Luleå Kommun, Historia, website, 5 May 2020, <https://www.lulea.se/kommun--politik/fakta-och-statistik/fakta-omlulea-kommun/historia.html> [accessed 14 March 2021] 2 Handelns historia, Att klä sig rätt, website, <http://www.handelnshistoria.se/kulturen/livsstil/att-kla-sig-ratt/> [accessed 28 March 2021] 3 Sveriges Riksdag, The history of the Riksdag, website, 24 February 2021, <https://www.riksdagen.se/en/how-theriksdag-works/democracy/the-history-of-the-riksdag/> [accessed 30 March 2021] 4 Nordiska Museet, Folkhemmet. Sverige under 1930 - 1960-talet, website, <https://www.nordiskamuseet.se/ kunskapsomraden/folkhemmet> [accessed 30 March 2021] 5 Ibid,. 6 The Weejun, Classic Americana, The Return of Hutton Famous Desert Boots, website article, 11 November 2015. <https://theweejun.com/the-return-of-hutton-famous-desert-boots/> accessed 30 March 2021] 7 Nordiska Museet, Folkhemmet. Sverige under 1930 - 1960-talet, website, <https://www.nordiskamuseet.se/ kunskapsomraden/folkhemmet> [accessed 30 March 2021] 8 Handelns historia, 1900-talet - Handelsexpansionens tid, website <http://www.handelnshistoria.se/historien/ handelns-epoker-och-artal/1900-talet-handelsexpansionens-tid/> [accessed 30 March 2021] 9 Kjell Östberg, ’Sweden and the long 1968´: Verso books, 2018 <https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3843sweden-and-the-long-1968> [accessed 8th January 2021] 10 Michael Hagström, KF, ’En text om blåvitt´, 2016 <https://kf.se/en-text-om-blavitt/> [accessed 8th January 2021] 11 Svensk Form, ’Äta - sova - sitta på KF:s basmöbler´, 2020 <https://svenskform.se/175aravsvenskform/ata-sova-sittapa-kfs-basmobler/> [accessed 8th January 2021] 12 Brittanica, Thomas Thorild, website <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Thorild> [accessed 8th January 2021]
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 25
24 E V E R L A V É N ME IN 1987
Fig 4
TWO
What I learned listening to architects
magnificent. The impression has lasted forever. In times when fashion did not spark excitement within me, the podcast Architecture Talk by Vikramaditya Prakas was a comfort blanket to me. Prakash and his visiting guest within his field of practice, with precarious and poetic thoughtfulness vocalized the meaning of constructing beautiful buildings. It sparked an inclination in how I could apply this lyrical characterization of awareness about architecture to my own discipline of fashion. In Prakash podcast, the name of architect Louis Kahn was a favoured topic. Not only was Kahn the creator of remarkable buildings but he generously contributed with passion and convincing conviction his ideas of significance to the field of
Growing up I was for many years a member of a local church
architecture. My curiosity for his work made me read the
choir. My enthusiasm for the weekly practice was not about curiosity
transcript of his lecture Silence and Light, in Zürich 1969.
of the religious aspect of going to church, it was because of the beauty,
A lecture addressing responsibility and of inspiration for
the atmosphere and the feeling the building offered. Mesmerised by the
the architect students by poetically articulating his lifelong
lights of candelabras, that lit up the intricate ornaments in gold and
search for the essence of architecture and putting words to
wooden work, there was something untouchable there. The nuance and
creativity as an vital outlet for humans.
“It says the language of man is art. It stems for something which grows out of the needing, of desire to be, to express...” Louis I. Kahn, Silence and Light, ed. by Alessandro Vassella (Zürich: Parks books, 1969),p. 26.
shades of light and darkness, the sun coming through the colour stained
However, what was riveting was the many episodes
glass windows. Big pillars throwing shadows on the corners adorned with
of discussions around Kahn and his work and how
tapestry of silk threads in hundreds of colours, depicting the horror of the
genuinely grateful the guests were talking about his heritage.1 A legacy
crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the mourning apostles in a very vivid but
that stood for the authority of an architect to give spaces symbolism,
incredibly beautiful scene. There was this feeling of an eternity there that
to evoke emotional response for the humans who saw and visited it. A
made me feel at peace, a sacred place full of decorations addressing and
heritage that the architects in the podcast honored. In Silence and Light,
honouring the skills and beliefs of beautiful art created by artisans. From
Kahn opposes that architecture has no presence without the work of the
behind the altar in the retroquire I watched the people who honoured
architect.2 To him, creating buildings is about resisting the temptation
and respected this place with all their beliefs. The visitors, dressed up
of designing for the market and about considering the timelessness of
for every occasion, for funerals and weddings, for Sunday service and
what we create. An ideology that should be adopted by us designers, to
leaving flowers behind. The memories I have of the atmospheric interiors
invest in structures that promote longevity by maintenance, repair and
of the church made me understand architecture as something sacred and
symbolism. The relationship between time and space has proved to be a
26 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 27
crucial denominator for architecture and fashion. How architecture can
Influenced
by
Maurice
Merleau-Ponty’s
concept
of
represent material, politics and heritage in a time and age, fashion in the
phenomenology, architect Juhani Pallasmaa devoted an entire philosophy
same way communicates our interrelation with time and space. In use
by defining architecture as a crucial subject of meaning through a
of material, the method of construction, trends of silhouettes and color
complex sensory experience.6 Merlau-Ponty argued that the body is an
palettes but most importantly people own emotional memories and
object mutually interacting among other objects, critiquing the human
nostalgia connected to the visuality, tactility and scent of the garment.
dominance of vision of culture. One that originated in Cartesian ideology.7
3
In capitalistic systems where fashion is constructed as spiritless
Supported by phenomenology, Pallasmaa’s own work The eyes of the
commodities depending on tendencies it is only awaiting to be replaced
Skin, is concerned by the visual emphasis as it compromises the sensual
by the new, therefore the designer needs to be revered by the task
elements and by consequence, diminishes our perception
and accountable for what we leave behind. A well designed garment 4
requires the intention of a long life commitment to a buyer as buildings are built to last, and we as designers are responsible to communicate these matters. Today, in current systems, we run the risk of creating a warped image of our traditions and heritage, as we curate and edit the timeline for future generations. Clothes as buildings that were telling for our time, the ones that became subject of demolition and refuse will
”The hegemonic eye seeks domination over all fields of cultural production, and it seems to weaken our capacity for empathy, compassion and participation with the world.” Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin: architecture and the senses. (Chichester: Wiley, 2012), p. 24.
of art and architecture. Drawing attention to the idea that mutual responses of our senses are not an assemblage of experiences isolated from one another. They occur at once with its spiritual and material presence.8 These concerns are notable and relatable for the fashion as a medium. In the current age of information, clothes are dependent on conveying a clear message that
not be representative of our history. In an episode of Architecture Talk,
is quickly read on the digital screen in a social media feed,
I listen to the conversation between host Vikramaya Prakash and fellow
that doesn’t acquire much knowledge from the consumer.
architecture professor Michael Benedikt, discussing the responsibility
If our consumers’ attention to fashion complexity has declined, what
of the maker. Benedikt assigns responsibility of time and space to the
happens to the effort of producing and consuming it? In accordance with
maker by saying that we need to consider the second hand value of
Juhani Pallasmaa and Louis Kahn’s contributions, highlighted by Vikram
things we make and we need to define and distinguish fashion from
Prakash and his peers of architecture, the maker is a proud authority
clothes and differentiate the function and meaning it. For fashion, that
of the experience your craft has to offer. Fashion should be a site where
means that we need to show consumers what distinguishes fast fashion
culture and perception is exercised, where the storytelling and the process
from luxury fashion, skills of making and curatorial practices. Prakrash
is a crucial aspect of the product. A seducing symbolism that makes the
and Benedikt underline the importance of how we chose to speak about
consumer aware about it’s longevity. The designer’s ambition should be
the artistic process. Real estate is not architecture, it is the marketplace
about constructing a world that excites and responds to our imagination
for architecture and we need to teach our consumers to make a difference
and not about wedging into a capitalistic system of supply and demand.
between categories of making.
A responsibility that we make way for future designers, a heritage and
5
28 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 29
Your taxi has gone
meaning of design, by generously supplying them with theories and
You left me a note , I’m reading it now
our knowledge. In his essay Atmospheres, architect Peter Zumthor
It has an I, it has a heart, it has a U We say goodbye, but you
affectionately describes architecture as a spatial art. A phenomena
always come back, that I know
with ability to touch people through a spontaneous emotional response
I’ ll remember to clean, I’ ll take care of the laundry,
by the material presence. When people interact with spaces and the 9
it is on me I’ ll remember your
moment a perception of the surrounding arises.I contemplate that
Collina Strada mesh top,
designers should allow ourselves to think of fashion as respectfully as
Your synthetic silky nightie,
in 30 degrees and no quick wash
and your low-ankled pink socks
we think of a building. With armature, pillars, claddings and layers of
Your Eckhaus Latta long Sleeve, in that weird viscosy quality
insulation, thoughtfully put together, on a firm structure, made to stand
Your running gear, your yoga mat, that I don’t know how to clean
with longevity and through time. To rise in majestic beauty. Inhabited by
But i’ ll remember that too It’s been three weeks, I
people, proud of their residency, to offer them a home, of safety and of
still haven’t cleaned, The smell of your sweat,
memories that they will nurture.
the taste of your lips It stings
I reflect on the podcast talks of architecture and writings to
I got no appetite and I can’t seem to sleep
conclude that fashion designers not only need to engage with the
Did you really leave me I mean, I know you did, physically,
materialistic value, but it is also imperative that we develop a language
but did you also go, spiritually Then why am I doing
that revitalizes fashion, a poetic vision of fashion that belongs with
your laundry? (...)
philosophical narrative. Fashion designers need to infuse symbolic meaning to clothes and to evoke empathy and emotional response. If fashion exhibits a demand of curiosity for knowledge of art and history, humans should grow an apprehension of what we consume and why and recognize “discovering” a vital aspect of human life. The different branches of fashion need to be recognized and understood through their own being and by its own philosophical framework and category. Hence we designers are responsible to contribute to this understanding, what materials and stands for the expression and representation that separates them. In short, we need to confront what is the 30 E V E R L A V É N
Extract of the ‘Laundry’
Fig 5
In the song ‘Laundry’ by Tella Viv, the references of clothes catches my attention in how we relate to clothes and our loved ones.In a brief talk with the lyrics composer Carl Hjelm Sandqvist I reflect on the experience and perception embedded in clothes. The lyrics demonstrate how fashion entails meaning beyond what we see. In a song, ignited by sound.
Muisc by Tella Viv Lyrics by Carl Hjelm Sandqvist
CARL’S HANDWRITTEN NOTES OF ‘LAUNDRY’
cost versus the value and what qualifies as fashion. In a world where humans tend to reflect about now and not about eternity, fashion should be constructing an contemporary observation, translation and interpretation of the culture, connecting the past, present and the future. With the globalization of the internet, we created a shortcut to learn about other countries, cultures, history, politics and life stories. These thoughts place fashion as an epistemological concept, a system of knowledge, a site of learning and exercising expression and perception and understanding of cultures other than yours. But it also manifests A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 31
our inconsistencies in experiences. I believe this gap of knowledge and
meaning of life within the structures of a building, dedicated to his
experience is the root of the problematic notion of cultural appropriation..
religion of Christianity. I share his interest in believing in something
A phenomena where one can borrow and reject whatever one likes
bigger than ourselves. But to me, it has always been this idea of being
from images without giving back. As with architecture, fashion could
a creator. To animate the within and to offer symbolic meaning of life.
be grounds to share and create a dialog for traditions, culture and meaning to be traced and continued, to contextualize yourself in time. With insights from architects, I now look at fashion as the making of a presence with a designers associations and experiences of our world. Fashion provides an understanding of the human condition, a traction between ontology and epistemology, as a system of being and knowing. A conversation between the body, one another, in space of time and the form.As designers we have the agency to construct meaning we want fashion to be about. Not only just being clothes of visual seduction, it relates mediates and project meanings beyond the fabrication of it. The clothes are a membrane on top of your skin and an extension of our body. The fully embodied experience of fashion demands an envision of all our senses and an recognition for its materiality. Fashion can no longer be understood as solely a product and a visual expression of the artist, the desire of the eye is reducing the substance of meaning and we as designers are responsible to present and educate the people who invest in us. Fashion begins with the idea from a designer but ends in your senses. My grandfather Ingvar was in the midst of his life reeducated from being a teacher to becoming a priest. This was the story of how I ended up as a member of the church choir. As I with this text is looking for support in meaning for fashion, my grandfather also looked for
“(..)Instead of portraying a musician on the road leaving somebody behind, I swapped perspective to being left, vulnerable and sad, only having your partner’s clothes as a souvenir. The hook line refers to semiknown fashion brands, mixed with training gear, and how to wash them. When you highlight fashion in popular music I feel it reflects a certain elitism, inviting listener’s to get familiar with an exclusive lingo. Today’s rap-infused pop repeats Gucci and Dior as a mantra, so I wanted to take it up one notch and mention more novel brands such as Collina Strada and Eckhaus Latta. The polarity of mixing over-sensitive phrases about heartbreak with hook-lines about expensive garments was a tool to ironise the superficial values in today’s pop.”
1 Vikramaya Prakash, 55. Louis Kahn and the Conceptual Practice of Anthony Pellecchia, Architecturetalk, podcast, 6 Nov 2019 < https://www.architecturetalk.org/home/55 > [accessed 16 October 2020]. 2 Louis I. Kahn, Silence and Light, ed. by Alessandro Vassella (Zürich: Parks books, 1969) ,p. 26. 3 Vikramaya Prakash, 93. Demolition of Kahn’s IIM Dormitories with Prem Chandavarkar, Architecturetalk, podcast, Spotify, 8 January 2021, <https://www.architecturetalk.org/home/93premchandavarkar> [accessed 1 February 2021] 4 Vikramaya Prakash, 94. Demolition of Kahn’s IIM Dormitories with Sarosh Anklesaria, Shubhra Raje, and Riyaz Tayyibji Architecturetalk podcast, Spotify, 20 January 2021 <https://www.architecturetalk.org/home/94artp> [accessed 1 February 2021] 5 Vikramaya Prakash, 91. Posthuman Humanism, Spirituality, and the Impressions of Childhood with Michael Benedikt, Architecturetalk, podcast, Spotify, 10 December 2020, <https://architecturetalk.libsyn.com/91-posthuman-humanismspirituality-and-the-impressions-of-childhood-with-michael-benedikt> [accessed 12 February 2021]t 6 Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin: architecture and the senses. (Chichester: Wiley, 2019), p.23 7 Ibid. p, 23. 8 Ibid. 9 Peter Zumthor, Atmospheres: Architectural environments, Surrounding objects. (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2006), p.16.
Sandqvist, about the inspiration and thought process behind the song ‘Laundry’ , 2021.
32 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 33
THREE
Methodology for immaterial and material matters
I have in earlier writings and through a phenomenological perspective engaged in understanding how humans inherently do not have a deeper commitment to material without practicing their knowledge and perception of it’s powerful significance. In this text, I am suggesting that material empathy can make us reach new understandings of fashion research and realities. In the contemporary age of information, a new materialism in fashion is produced and animated through the digital screen.4 The workmanship, the tactility and the somatic experience are lost but again also accentuate material as a notable matter to a fashion exiperience. With new materialism, we need to identify that emotion towards material is a valuable mechanism in the meaning of life. These
Fashion is an interdisciplinary phenomenon that has been a
new materialisms require new ways of understanding fashion. Our
research subject dominated by established academic domains within art,
understanding of material generated in coding and technology changes
humanities and social science. In the Western systems of thinking and
how we perceive its force and its complexity. The digital revolution is
through the linguistic turn, language has been central to understanding
constantly challenging us about our references to what material is. A
the meaning of fashion to explain its external reality.
Since academic
substance that is neither natural nor artificial, but dependent on its
research is intended to articulate the truth about reality, it is reasonable
context, conditions and relationships. Material can be organic but silent,
to ask what is real in a materialistic and metaphysical world of fashion.
fluid not flexible, mutable but rigid, sometimes immaterial. Researchers
Humans have a seemingly sceptical attitude of the materialist values,
should explore materiality as its own matter with its own meaning, and
hence the matter of fashion and its link to material is stigmatised and
not a passive part of fashion, but rather with its own agency. Influenced
its significance is debated. Consequently, it can be interpreted that the
by Laurene Vaughan’s book Practice based design research, this text
research in the field of fashion studies has mainly been concerned with
is also addressing the sine qua non practitioners in the discipline of
identity, morality, social politics and consumer culture. Modern times
fashion need to engage in articulating our own relevant methodology
have brought focus on eliminating the material rather than bringing it
for research in the field. 5 Traditionally the focus on meaning has been
forward. In the environmental crisis of the last decades, we found fashion
assigned to subjects with a universal truth and with scientific measures.
and material at the height of the problem which made it presumingly
Although, in nature science research, it is also crucial to provoke new
difficult for us to understand the meaning of it. It could be argued that
understandings and evolutions by investigative and intuitive experiments.
the neglect for examining and understanding the materiality of fashion
How do we define and evaluate fashion? Can science recognize matters
instead expresses its significance.
that are immaterial and unmeasurable? Design is about characterizing
1
2
3
34 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 35
a process, the quality and the result of making matter. The outcome
interferes with this relationship and is not an outside spectator of the
depends on the experience of the designer. For the artist and the maker,
phenomenon.9 Human and non human sources have the opportunity
the product is not only about the result of making,
to act and negotiate limitations in the production of the matter, which
but the very iterative process of doing it. By scientific
per se follows with a responsibility of challenging and reframing the
measures, the nonlinear exercise of creativity and
conduct and performance. All decision making is based upon structures
the subjectivity of methodology can be considered
and systems and ethics refers to our knowledge-making and what has
as an uncurbed exercise. Without the conditions of
been allowed to be a representative outcome. What has been left out
systemic analysis, there is a lack of control over the
unintentionally and what has been communicated.10 Agential realism
process, hence it lacks a deeper understanding as a
can help us locate a path for the industry, education systems, students,
meaningful operation. In his concept of aesthetic
emerging designers and users to reflect on how fashion is studied and
experience, philosopher John Dewey proclaimed that
accepted. A methodology and concept to bounce back to for improving
creativity includes a daily reflection of the process.
performance within an artistic and moralized field.
“All (...) creative activities show a pattern of controlled inquiry: framing situations, searching, experimenting and experiencing where both the development of hypothesis and judgement of experienced aesthetic qualities are important components in the process. The main difference between scientific research and art work being that the former aims at the production of theories where the latter concerns inquiries into materials in producing works of art.”
6
Because of the seemingly unmethodical
The boundaries given to the educational system should
practice, designers should choose to reflect on
be problematized and understood as institutionalized
the process of the practice and the knowledge we
knowledge that needs to be reworked and challenged
produce. To give a lustrous discourse of scientific meaning to material
on a daily basis. The design studio as reference is an
and fashion design. Theoretical physicist Karen Barad is questioning the
ambivalent place for the birth of design. With regards
frameworks of research that are manifested through representationalism,
to the structural and influential forces of the fashion
where language hegemony and philosophical tradition give agency
industry from sizing and methods of labour. The
and meaning to material by the encounter with humans. Agency,
sample size mannequins in the design studio, pattern
intra-action and matter are core concepts of Barad’s theory of agential
making from block patterns, units of measuring. The
Ed. by Laurene Vaughan, Practicebased Design Research, (London: Bloomsbury, 2019),p. 78.
“We don’t obtain knowledge by standing outside the world; we know because we are of the world. We are part of the world in its differential becoming. The separation of epistemology from ontology is a reverberation of a metaphysics that assumes an inherent difference between human and nonhuman, subject and object, mind and body, matter and discourse.” Karen Barad, Meeting the Universe Halfway:
Quantum
Physics
terminology of traditional sewing, darts and stitches
explains that conditions are established for how objects should be read
puts limits and offers easy solutions for the maker. It
and interpreted as metaphysical questions of the self in the world, as
automatically refers to a certain process of putting together, ”how things
clothes are an existential experience, and not isolated from the world of
in order should be made”, refraining from originality but also projects
being. Agency is not something one has or is assigned, it emerges within
the possibility of agency and reinvention in design. We, the makers of
the relationship of human and non human sources in intra-actions.
8
fashion, must engage in educating our consumers beyond the limitation
This inter-activity relates to the indivisible between the phenomenon
of commercial value, conventional use and societal and cultural
and its measuring agencies. The researcher becomes someone who
significance by remembering that fashion will always be evaluated and
36 E V E R L A V É N
and
the Entanglement of Matter and
realism; a proposition of knowing and being in the world. Barad 7
Meaning (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007), p. 185.
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 37
criticized through the contemporary taste. Designers need to question
described the iterative process, the actions and the intended result
established frameworks in the phenomenon called fashion, where
of my practice as fluid of agency. When investigating the politics of
there are opportunities for us to reconceptualize conditions for design
sizing in the fashion industry, I found that the stigma around sizing
practice and by this giving promise to fashion as a meaningful work
was around the discourse of ‘unhealthy bodies’. Implicated in power
of art. We need to understand that the meaning continuously expands
structures of exclusivity, representation, identity, capitalism and
independently, without us as makers and not only as a product of culture.
culture that raised many questions and opportunities for a systemic
The possibility of a flux of past and present, the relationship between the
disruption. To make meaning matter. My research informed me that
maker and wearer and what happens in between the designers work,
there is a need for discourse and new narratives regarding systems
the cloth becoming something out of nothing. This tension between
of sizing; a conversation and activity that we as designers need to
ontology and epistemology resonated with my approach and inspired a
confront when creating. Western society and the fashion industry have
methodology for my research practice during my master’s degree.
long promoted a stereotypical image of men and women that doesn’t
In the beginning of 2021, I attended an exercise of conceptual
resonate with the vast majority of the consumers. The inconsistency of
‘accident training’ with Ania Martchenko for my master studies at the
sizing reflects our educational and value systems and we as designers
Royal college of art. I wanted to investigate the creative source within
need to propose new ways of clothing construction, size measuring and
me but outside of my consciousness. The conditions for the session were
versatile size representations. In the Baradian notion of agential realism,
simple. For four hours I draped a cotton toile to the body of a model.
I found encouragement and I acknowledged myself as an intuitive and
My model was told to take new positions whenever they felt like it. I
investigative decision maker responsible to challenge the inconsistencies
had no control over the subject and no conventional straight-standing
of the sizing system. An honorable intra-action and agencies that emerge
position to follow. The conditions of the articulation and movement of
between me, my creations and the consumers demand for new sizing
the model’s body dictated my work, techniques of draping were adapted
options, a possibility to adjust and let the garment guide the wearer. To
for the unexpected. A dress was the outcome, a negative space with all
me, agential realism becomes a methodology of practice based design
my assumptions and ideologies of the world. I wanted to prove that
research, a reason and an ethos for my ambitions. Understanding
materiality is not a passive factor in design work but also it has agency
that there is no distinction between me and my designs, between the
in the process. An intra-action of agencies that formulated new matters.
human and non-human elements. It can make us consider what other
Reflecting on my experiences of the Four hour dress, I began
matters that accomplish fashion, a reverence for its sound, light, texture,
exploring the concept of a flexible size range within the same garment.
traditions and politics. Fashion is not a designer’s self-invested discursive
Submissive to the shapes and complexity of the human body but with
practice of communication or a visual material being for a wearer but
a fit relying on the structure of the garment, I gave the research the
the phenomena and matter lies within the dynamic process within this
name Sizing plasticity, where plasticity, the phenomenon of mutability,
relationship between all these factors.
38 E V E R L A V É N
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 39
Fashion can challenge our relationship with the world, explore our understanding of knowing and being a part of it. A material matter with the intricacy and tension that exemplifies a human necessity of search for the meaning of being. Language hegemony over material is problematic as it does not reveal the full dimensions of significance. Karen Barad’s concept of Agential realism informs me how I practically and theoretically can meet the meaning and knowledge of fashion, between epistemology and ontology. Fashion design needs to be studied beyond textual and literal meaning to reflect reality and with a sound correspondence with material in a post humanistic view. Fashion designers need to contribute with knowledge and be involved in paving new ways of practice design research and be held accountable for the impact of their practical processes and systemic differences their work can pose. As a designer I need to acknowledge the power structures my concept is born into and how I can continue to challenge and contribute with my practice to the field of fashion. Fashion is the art of dressing, the maker’s tactility and decision making, a religious and political division, concerned with metaphysical and existential questions of being. Clothes absorb you and your surroundings to emphasize the presence of your being, at the same time it will allow you to conceal and fade away in togetherness.
1 Ed. by Agnès Rocamora and Anneke Smelik, Thinking through fashion, A guide to Key Theorists (London: L.B Tauris & Co, 2016), p. 8. 2 Ibid., p 41. 3 Libbi Lee and Karl-Hendrik Magnus, A More Circular Fashion Industry. Will Require a Collective Effort, Business of
Fig 6
Fashion, website, 2 January 2021 <https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/sustainability/a-more-circular-fashionindustry-will-require-a-collective-effort [accessed 3 April 2021]>
40 E V E R L A V É N
THE PROCESS OF FOUR HOUR DRESS
A Synthesis of Experience in Fashion 41
4 Joshua James Small, How fashion’s post-pandemic future could be digital, I-D Vice, website, 2 April 2020 <https://i-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
d.vice.com/en_uk/article/g5x9ay/how-fashions-post-pandemic-future-could-be-digital> [accessed 5 April 2021] 5 Ed. by Laurene Vaughan, Practice-based Design Research, (London: Bloomsbury, 2019), p. 24.
The hand-me-down coat
6 Ibid., p. 78.
Bochner, Arthur and Ellis, Carolyn, Evocative Autoethnography:Writing Lives and Telling Stories (London: Routledge, 2016)
7 Barad, 2007, p. 128. 8 Ibid., 9 Ibid., 10 Barad, 2007, p. 381.
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IMAGES Fig. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Front page, fabric samples photographed by me for Systems, 2021 My father Peter in Mallorca, photo by Viveca Brännström, 1973 Me, photo by Peter Brännström, 1987 My mother Viveca in Södertälje, photo by Peter Brännström, 1972 Handwritten text scanned for ‘Laundry’ by Carl Hjelm Sandqvist, 2021 The four hour dress screen shots from film, January 2021 End page, photo by me from The four hour dress exercise, January 2021
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45 BENJAMIN IN THE FOUR HOUR DRESS
Fig 7