How can we use the stories of worn objects to develop research, communication, and design processes that challenge negative fashion cultures through new approaches?

We invited second and third year Fashion Design students at the Glasgow School of Art to engage with the stories of their worn clothes as a way to develop research, communication, and design processes that challenge negative fashion cultures. The Part One brief, titled ‘Process,’ was based on methodologies developed through our work at Worn and as part of Design Domain, a school-wide project within the School of Design where students from various disciplines participate simultaneously. The course encouraged students to explore new ways of thinking and creating within fashion design, while connecting to the broad range of ideas that inform the wider field of design.

Students were asked to select and analyse a garment from their wardrobes with a personal story, using it as a starting point to research its broader narratives, which could include anything from its past production to its future consumption. This approach was designed to highlight how researching and communicating these stories can reveal our own, and others’, often overlooked relationships with worn objects, as well as their connection to our collective environmental, ethical, and socio-cultural responsibilities.

In Part Two of the project, titled ‘Reinvention,’ the selected worn objects were investigated further. Students were introduced to processes of both practical and conceptual reinvention. Their outcomes and presentation methods varied, including drawing, writing, performance, interviews, photography, film, prototyping, and more.

^{The Glasgow School of Art, Visiting Lecturing and Workshop Series (November 2023 - March 2024)}