Back to the Future of Fashion Past: Re-Fashioning Future Garment Making

The analysis of historic garments can reveal hidden information of past construction and reconstruction processes. This research investigates historic re-fashioning skills through three case studies. The case studies span a 200 year time frame, from the mid-18th century to the mid-20th century, incorporating significant periods of change in textile and garment production, both industrial and domestic. The selected historical garments have been reconstructed from one wearable style to another, exemplifying sewing and adaptation techniques pertinent to the culture which re-fashioned them.

The case studies act as agents to inform the practice. The garments were studied in an archival setting following Jules Prown’s material culture methodology, applied and adapted for the analysis. Historical re-fashioning techniques relevant to today’s clothing culture were identified and realised into contemporary garments. The resulting research garments demonstrate that historical re-fashioning techniques, can be reinterpreted and developed for use within the craft of present day garment construction, as a provision for sustaining and pro-longing the life of redundant or surplus clothing. The viability of the research was evaluated by conducting a series of workshops with students from the London College of Fashion.

The study of the historic garments uncovered narratives of re-fashioning techniques and skills that demonstrate the ingenuity and resourcefulness of past makers. The practice-led studies develop these narratives of skill by applying a design process generated from the research, for use in the construction of contemporary clothing.