One Dress: Shaping Fashion Futures through Utopian Thinking

This position paper draws upon and expands the research presented in the special issue of the journal Utopian Studies ‘Utopia and Fashion’, guest edited by the author. The issue examined the under-researched relationship between fashion and utopia through the lens of Ruth Levitas’ concept of utopia as method for exploring alternative scenarios for the future. With reference to key lines of enquiry in ‘Utopia and Fashion’, this paper demonstrates how utopian thinking can be a helpful tool for examining some of the dilemmas and ongoing challenges in the current discourse on fashion and sustainability. Focusing specifically on reducing fashion consumption, the paper builds on empirical evidence provided by author’s current practice-based research on emotional durability of clothing. The metaphor of One Dress, a utopian vision of one garment for life, then helps to examine the possibilities as well as the boundaries of attempts to radically reduce the number of items in our wardrobes. The overarching argument here is that the inherent complexity of our relationship with fashion and clothing requires stronger activist agendas in both design thinking and user behaviour. To direct our actions to solutions that address the core issues of unsustainable consumption rather than its symptoms, we need a shift in focus from materials and product development to everyday experiences of people who wear clothes while facing an entangled world with numerous and often contradicting demands. This paper aims to further the discussion on the potential of utopian thinking to re-imagine and inspire better and more sustainable futures of fashion.