Reflections on blending garment analysis with wardrobe interviews

Wood, Sophie (2024) Reflections on blending garment analysis with wardrobe interviews. International Journal of Fashion Studies, 11 (1). 45 -61. ISSN 2051-7106

[thumbnail of Reflections on blending garment analysis with wardrobe interviews.pdf] Text
Reflections on blending garment analysis with wardrobe interviews.pdf - Accepted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only until 29 April 2025.

Download (232kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

This article presents my reflections on a method that attempts to bridge a methodological divide in fashion studies by blending garment analysis and wardrobe interviews. In doing so it presents the ways in which we can consider evidence from the subject, the object and the subject–object assemblage. Garment analysis is a method rooted in dress history and fashion curation, whereas wardrobe interviews grew out of anthropology and sociology. While wardrobe interviews do to some extent offset the preference for language in interviews, what is miss- ing was a systematic way of encouraging a deeper engagement with that garment. Interview techniques can provoke the wearers or owners of clothes to narrate their garments. With one method we consider the object, the other method the subject. My research gathers evidence from both the subject and the object by blending garment analysis with wardrobe interviews to uncover the meanings entangled in objects and memories, to interrogate what we can consider evidence from the subject, the object and the subject–object assemblage. My study explores how this methodological pluralism can allow movement between material, semiotic and affective interpretations of garments. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of both the physical garment and the embodied experience of wearing to fashion research and argue that ‘turns’ in the discipline should instead be considered as expansions that allow the coexistence of multiple approaches.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: 10.1386/infs_00102_1
Dates:
Date
Event
5 February 2024
Accepted
29 April 2024
Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords: methodology, material culture, everyday dress, affect, materiality, semiotics, sustainability
Subjects: CAH00 - multidisciplinary > CAH00-00 - multidisciplinary > CAH00-00-00 - multidisciplinary
Divisions: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > College of Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles
Depositing User: Sophie Wood
Date Deposited: 04 Sep 2024 14:16
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2024 14:16
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15750

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Research

In this section...