14 research outputs found
Music and Dress in West Europe
Music and dress have played a significant role in the civilization process in West
Europe. Both being aesthetic fields meant to be performed and put into play by
human gesture, they have proved to be efficient tools for cultivating the movements,
postures and gestures of the body. The material, cut and shape of the dress has
manipulated the body to move in certain ways, as have rhythms and expressions in
music. Significant for West Europe has been a duality between spirit and body,
causing a division between high culture and popular culture, that has been reflected
in the way music and dress has been used as display of âcivilizationâ from the early
Middle ages to the Nineteenth century, and the way fashion and pop music
subsequently has been perceived as ephemeral, irrational or even immoral.
Following the democratization process, music and dress from early to late modernity
has formed a unique liaison in youth culture, with the notion of image as a unifying
concept. Here dress, gesture and pattern of movement emphasizes the underlying
bodily gestures indicated by the sounds and rhythms in various music styles, and in
this way encapsulates the identity of the individual participating in the manyfragmented
taste groupings in society. In the same sense, dress and music have
worked as a gate-opener to society for ethnic European outsiders like gays or
working class, or non-Western immigrants, that could define their position in society
through expressing themselves in hybrid subcultures
The Daily Selection
In
this
PhD
thesis,
The
Daily
Selection,
I
will
be
addressing
the
overall
question
of
how
research
on
wardrobes
can
contribute
to
a
more
effective
connection
between
the
production
and
the
consumption
of
dress
objects.
The
thesis
builds
on
exemplary
studies
of
people
in
their
wardrobes,
with
the
aim
of
focusing
on
theoretical
and
methodological
concerns
and
implications.
It
is
structured
in
three
parts,
each
of
which
consists
-Ââ
independently
-Ââ
of
its
own
introductory
framing,
its
own
literature
review,
its
own
methods
chapter,
its
own
field
work
study,
and
its
own
conclusive
reflections.
As
such,
the
parts,
when
taken
as
a
whole,
represent
an
evolving
process
through
which
my
overall
research
questions
are
being
filtered
and
reflected.
My
scholarly
approach
builds
on
the
fusing
of
fashion
and
dress
research
and
design
research,
in
this
way
closing
a
gap
between
dress
practice
as,
on
the
one
hand,
symbolic
discourse
and,
on
the
other,
as
an
embodied
practice
that
is
'physically
embedded'
in
the
material
capacities
of
dress
objects.
In
Part
I,
I
frame
this
view
by
addressing
the
concept
of
dressing
as
a
'bodily
situated
practice',
as
defined
by
Entwistle
(2000),
combined
with
a
processual
view
on
design
and
everyday
practices,
as
defined
by
Shove
et
al.
(2008).
Based
on
these
perspectives,
I
contribute
with
my
own
explanatory
frameworks
of
'sartorial
systems'
and
'sensory
anchoring',
on
which
I
base
the
entire
thesis.
In
order
to
operationalise
these
frameworks
in
my
field
work,
I
have
developed
a
personal
methodology
for
the
wardrobe
method
that
embraces
the
sensory
and
temporal
aspects
of
dress
practice.
In
Part
II,
I
filter
this
through
the
vehicle
of
a
collaborative
project
with
Danish
designer
Mads
Nørgaard,
wherein
I
observe
how
dress
objects
from
Nørgaard's
collection
are
appropriated
and
used
in
the
wardrobes
of
informants.
In
this
way,
I
point
to
discrepancies
between
the
production
and
the
dissemination
of
dress
objects
that
take
place
in
the
fashion
industry,
and
to
the
ways
that
people
use
and
experience
these
objects
in
their
everyday
lives.
In
Part
III,
I
conduct
a
series
of
âwardrobe
sessionsâ
with
informants
in
collaboration
with
a
designer,
in
order
to
explore
how
use
practice
might
cast
reflections
back
onto
design
processes.
In
my
concluding
chapter,
I
argue
that
my
thesis
contributes
with
a
more
facetted
and
reflected
set
of
thinking
in
relation
to
dress
practice,
and
that
this
way
of
thinking
could
potentially
bring
about
radical
changes
in
the
way
dress
objects
are
currently
produced,
disseminated
and
sold.
All
together,
this
thesis
shows
that
in
order
to
establish
a
more
tight
fit
between
the
production
and
consumption
of
dress
objects,
there
is
very
good
reason
to
look
into
the
dress
practices
that
are
taking
place
in
peopleâs
wardrobes