Emancipating in Style
Escaping the Infinite Staircase of the Fast-Fashion Industry
T.J. Beekes (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
Fernando Del Caro Secomandi – Mentor (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
Caiseal Beardow – Mentor (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
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Abstract
This thesis addresses the researcher’s experience of the disappearance of local culture in fashion and costume due to the Userist design principles prevalent in the fast-fashion industry. This work intends to construct an alternative interaction with fashion which allows for more diverse cultural expression. A theoretical framework that tests for Userist oppression was adapted to the tangible and performative nature of fashion and applied.
From this analysis the collected insights were translated into a metaphorical worldbuilding exercise in which one can immerse themselves through roleplaying. This exercise allows participants to express complex experiences through physical movements and interactions with the metaphorical world. This exercise stimulates reflection on normalized behaviours and speculation regarding alternatives in a less performative setting.
Both the worldbuilding exercise and insights from the Userism analysis were combined in the creation of a participatory design workshop. This workshop was designed to be held in communal social contexts, so that participants would feel comfortable to express their experiences and aspirations for interactions with fashion.
The final proposed design of the workshop, based on the collected feedback of the participants, facilitates an interaction with fashion is one of community-supported repair and alteration in which artistic expression is encouraged and inspired.
This proposed interaction is mean to inspire other designers to do more research into possible applications of this alternative interaction within their own or another’s social community contexts, encouraging the community to emancipate themselves from their consumptive interaction with the fast-fashion industry and reclaim their cultural agency through design. The project overall attests to the value of experimenting with artistic expression as complementary to reflection and speculation for academic interaction design.
https://delftdesignlabs.org/justice-by-design/grants_and_projects/emancipating-in-style-escaping-the-infinite-staircase-of-the-fast-fashion-industry-master-thesis/