The journey into questioning how we find emotional connection to our garments began early on in my training as a designer and pattern cutter. My interaction with materials gave me the opportunity to not only learn about the provenance and technical properties of materials - it also allowed me to build empathy towards materials. It allowed them to speak to me in the design process and to recognise the need to value and appreciate the textiles we come in contact with on a daily basis.
As we move more and more towards shopping exclusively online, many of the haptic skills we use as a means to understand the making, design, workmanship and quality of garments have reduced greatly. Browsing, feeling and touching are tactile activities that are “thoughtful meditative and sensory” and allow for shoppers to develop knowledge of a garment and its material makeup outside of the shopkeeper’s styling advice. We perceive the world through our senses, and our understanding and knowledge of objects and materials is formed through our memory of all the objects and materials we have interacted with in the past.
In an attempt to try and understand how we can fully experience and connect to our clothing at a deep level, I began reading about phenomenology - which, simply put, is the philosophy and science of how we experience the world around us. In phenomenology, the deepest source of meaning and value we place on the objects and the world around us is through our lived experience(s) as human beings.⁴ Using a phenomenological approach to understand how we experience our clothes means that we explore what they do in relation to our body and psyche. As humans we are intrinsically connected and influenced by the dynamic nature of the garments we wear. This is reflected when we form emotional bonding to an item of clothing because of the meanings we project on to it through our lived experiences.⁶ Often this projection is strongly linked to our sense of self in relation to our memories of loved ones, special places and memorable events, much of which help us build stories and narratives around our clothing and ourselves. In turn, these stories and narratives deepen our sense of self and our emotional bonds to our clothing even further.
In relation to ‘the self’, there is the notion that an object, material or garment develops its aura and authenticity as it exists within the past, present and future of the wearer's use and interaction. We should consider the metonymic relationship garments have to the person who wears them or has been wearing them over a period of time. This puts forward the idea that the aura and authenticity of a piece of clothing is not only experienced through aesthetics or the unique status a bespoke or expensive garment might give a person – but rather, it is the long-term material relationship the person has with it.⁷ For instance, the coat a person wears takes up the form or physique of the wearer and thus participates in the stories and experiences of the wearer. It begins to take on the past history and memories of the wearer and in so doing, a bond is created between the piece of clothing and the wearer. The scratches and marks that a piece obtains through human-material interaction tell a story - “Interactions with materials result in alterations, imperfections and ultimately unique objects, which carry traces of time and life.”⁸
The school of thought is that we tend to repair garments that we are emotionally bonded to. When we are emotionally attached to our clothing, we are more likely to hold on to them, to care for them and to maintain them. But how do we connect emotionally to garments that are worn out or damaged and that we no longer see purpose in owning. In our contemporary society, the short term relationship we have towards our garments, even those with the slightest flaw, is often because of a throw away culture. Still, I implore us all to see the beauty in garments that are damaged or threadbare as a mark of the life experiences we have had.
The Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi which calls to celebrate and see the “beauty in imperfection and impermanence” and the Japanese repair techniques of kin-tsugi (golden joinery), gin-tsugi (silver joinery) and shashiko, plus other methods of repairing garments such as swiss and weave darning, all represent examples of material traces. With use, repair and re-use over time, the object develops a character, a patina – its stories intrinsically linked to the stories of the wearer.⁹ The repaired garment becomes a metaphor for life as it takes up the flaws and scars as an important part of its story. The process of kin-tsugi and gin-tsugi require a skilled artisan with deep understanding of the materials and technique, and as such these ceramics are often regarded as more valuable than the original un-damaged object.
In fashion and textiles, repair offers a possibility to find emotional attachment to our clothes. Slow and meditative, mending is a sensory art form that allows us to take our time, to consider the garment, the cloth, and the stitch. Repair is a way to restore the hidden emotions that dwell in the garment. Perhaps mending our clothing could foster that emotional attachment to our clothing that we seem to have lost, allowing us to not only give new life to our garments but express our creative identity, share our personal narratives and build our sense of self.
Emma is a PhD Candidate in Material Science at the Royal College of Art. This article pulls from her thesis exploring the sensory experience of circular embroidery design and practice as a means to facilitate human-product attachment.
Words by Emma Harris.
Photography by TOAST & James Bannister.
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[2] Ellen Dissanayake, ‘The Pleasure and Meaning of Making’, American Craft (American Craft Council, April 1995), 40.
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[6] Tim Ingold, Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture / Tim Ingold. (Routledge., 2013);
Elvin Karana and others, ‘Material Driven Design (MDD): A Method to Design for Material Experiences’, 2015.
[7] Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction / Walter Benjamin ; Translated by J.A. Underwood., Great Ideas (Penguin., 1936);
Miriam Bratu Hansen, ‘Benjamin’s Aura’, Critical Inquiry, 34.2 (2008), pp. 336–75.
[8] Valentina Rognoli and E Karana, ‘Towards a New Materials Aesthetic Based on Imperfection and Graceful Ageing’, in Materials Experience: Fundamentals of Materials and Design / Edited by Elvin Karana, Owain Pedgley, Valentina Rognoli., ed. by Elvin Karana, Owain Pedgley, and Valentina Rognoli (Butterworth-Heinemann., 2014);
Holly Robbins and others, ‘Understanding and Designing with (and for) Material Traces’, Studies in Material Thinking, 13.1 (2015), pp. 1–24.
[9] Andrew Juniper, Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence / Andrew Juniper., 1st ed (Tuttle ; Airlift, 2003);
Leonard Koren, Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers / Leonard Koren., rev (Imperfect Pub., 2008).
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