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No description available.

The focus of this degree work is on material interaction within the field of knitwear. Material combinations are often seen in fashion as a decorative effect to add shine, transparency or blocks of colour. The materials are put together as one flat material. This work embraces the different qualities and explores the possibilities to use material interaction as a way of creating form on the body. To achieve this, material experiments have been made to find combinations that had a big impact on each other. The materials that were found to be most suitable for this were the combination of metal and lycra yarn. This combination showed contrast in both volume and in density. The result is a collection of seven examples that is based from square knitted pieces where the interaction changes the form of the material and the garment. Creating form from material combination could lead to a new method of creating garments with larger form possibilities than is seen today in ready to wear knitted garments.

This work explores how the idea of collage as ”components put together to create a new whole” can be used in the creation of garments and visual expressions in fashion design. As collage in fashion often is reduced to mere decoration in e.g. print design added to predetermined shapes, this work wishes to have the collage be the dominant factor in the creation of the garments in this collection. By two-dimensional material collages this exploration aims to investigate composition of material, colour, surfaces and shapes in dress. The technique of fusing is used to attach the different materials to each other using the material Vliesofix and heat. The garments are created flat with the possibility to enter in-between the layers of the materials and give shape on the body. By collaging with materials this work tries to bring the creation of material and construction closer together in the design process as well as bring the sketch closer to the final result by sketching directly in the material. The potential of having the material development be present in all the design steps is that it creates a greater relation between the material and shape. The result is a collection of eight outfits proposing new ways of constructing garments at the same time as exploring materials and the technique of fusing. The garments are somewhere in-between sketches and final results and the collection can be looked upon as a fashion collection or as a series of examples of possible outcomes from working with this method.

This thesis investigates the complexity of cultural translation of visual language, considering writing systems both a profound shaping force and microcosmic reflection of the central elements of its culture. It focuses on the case of Chinese pictogram in Western everyday fashion; fashion is treated here as a site where the conceptual, aesthetic and cultural dynamics vividly interact with one another. This work probes what tensions are lost and added to the pictograms' cultural meaning in the process of translation, bearing in mind the two different aesthetic philosophies underlining Western and Chinese calligraphies. Seeing the complexity in the change of tensions, the thesis argues that nothing remains "authentic" in cultural translation, but the value of the encounter lies in the possibilities for each culture to reconsider itself in the corrective mirror of the Other.

Thesis(M.I.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.161-162).

Thesis--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-119).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007.

The current fashion textiles industry is based on an outdated, exploitative system that encourages fast consumption, generates huge amounts of textile waste, creates toxic impacts to ecosystems and causes significant social impacts to production workers. The move towards a more sustainable industry is a complex challenge and will be based on circular and social systems that prioritise values, collaboration and empathy for the environment and all stakeholders. This research defines the move towards a more sustainable fashion textiles industry as a transition that operates across environmental, social, and human domains. At the human level, the transition is an emergent process that involves both ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ dimensions (Maiteny & Reed 1988). For fashion textile designers, this process will demand new ways to practice and engage with the sustainability agenda, including the ‘outer’ dimensions of better materials or more ethical production models; and the ‘inner’, reflective dimensions of values and the self. This research proposes new roles for designers in these transitionary contexts, through craft-based fashion textile design practice. The practice projects presented in the thesis demonstrate three new roles that evolve through the sustainable design continuum to the highest level of Design for Social Equity (Manzini & Vezzoli 2008), where designers will support all stakeholders towards systemic, sustainable change. The practice projects reveal a collaborative and inter-disciplinary approach to fashion textile design practice in industry, local communities and the global supply chain. The research draws on a range of literature from sustainability theory, design/craft thinking, and psychology. The mixed methodology includes an action–research phase of collaborative practice projects, facilitation of workshops with designers in industry, and a reflective phase of textile making and writing. A model for the Transitionary Textile Designer is presented as a final outcome. In order for fashion textile designers to practice in transitionary contexts ‘beyond the swatch’, the research presents new methods and tools to connect individual values to social values inherent in the transition towards sustainability.