Themes of the conferance
The aim of this conference is to create a forum for clothing, fashion and textile researchers from various fields and institutions.
The themes of the conference are
- materiality
- technology and distribution
- clothing, fashion and textiles journalism
- visualisations of clothing
- fashion and textiles
- environmental concerns and ethics.
Technology and materials form the basis of all production within the field. The two following themes are concerned with the ways in which concepts about clothing, fashion and textiles are communicated through text, advertising, art, film and photos.
Environmental challenges are an important aspect of all production and consumption, posing problems for the ways textiles are produced, utilised and discussed.
It is intended that each subject will be introduced by an internationally renowned ‘keynote speaker’.
Materiality
Materiality is an important concept in a number of fields. Researchers who in the past showed little interest in specific materials now realise that they are significant both empirically and theoretically. By contrast, for us ‘textile researchers’, materials have always been at the very focus of interest, the one element that we all have in common.
The newly awakened interest within neighbouring disciplines presents challenges and new opportunities – what can we learn from the new theories and perspectives currently being developed? What can we, with our focus on materials, contribute to this discussion? What is the significance of textiles for our textile research?
Technology and distribution
Textiles are often associated with women, although their production has always required advanced technology. It is no accident that the forerunner of the computer was linked to the loom, and that the processes of industrialisation often originated within the textile industry.
The textile trade is as old as textiles themselves and continues to be one of the most globalized. We want to focus on the relationship between technology and the finished products and also on the way these products are traded. What kinds of technological quantum leaps are taking place within the industry today? What consequences do they have for the way we utilise and understand clothing, fashion and textiles? How were innovations and developments received in the past? And in what way have technological breakthroughs influenced the design, economics and organisation of production, distribution and consumption? Advanced technology is often associated with men. Is this also true of technology within the field of textiles – is this similarly dominated and defined by men?
Clothing, fashion and textile journalism
Major newspapers continue to report the shows of prestigious fashion houses. However, this genre is no longer particularly dynamic. Neither do fashion houses have the same influence on fashion as they did in the past and demands have grown for the media to show a more critical gaze and more independent thinking.
But what else is written about clothing, fashion and textiles? What agendas do journalists and other players have? What is and what has been good fashion journalism? What kinds of truths are being rehearsed, and not least, what kinds of truths do not make it into print? How is this subject dealt with in connection with other related subjects? Where do we find critical evaluation of fashion shows and exhibitions of clothing and textiles?
Advertising is important in spreading ideas about clothing. This is a genre that is usually only discussed when it oversteps boundaries. How is clothing referenced and presented in contemporary and past advertising? What does advertising tell us about what is taken for granted?
Visualisations of clothing, fashion and textiles
Images are crucial to the way we describe, understand and utilise clothing. Such images are found in advertising, catalogues, art, film, fashion photography and fashion illustrations.
As their primary source material, most clothing researchers refer not to the clothes themselves, but to various representations, images, photographs or texts. We wish to discuss the relationship between clothing and representations thereof, and how these mutually influence each other? What is the significance of the actual media through which we study clothing? What is the connection between the clothing of a particular period and perceptions of that same clothing in the respective period? How is clothing represented today, and what kinds of images of clothing do we try to emulate in our own ways of dressing?
Environmental concerns and ethics
The consumption of textiles in the West raises a number of ethical dilemmas. Manufacturing is pursued partly under conditions that compromise workers’ health and safety. Both production and the transport of the goods produced have major impacts on the environment.
In the West there is a steady accumulation of barely used clothes. The region attempts to resolve the problem of waste by exporting it to poorer countries or by implementing various reuse and recycling strategies. We invite the submission of papers that illustrate the ethical and environmental challenges within the textile sector. How can we develop patterns of consumption that are less burdensome? How can industry, trade and consumers contribute to environmentally favourable development? How can we ensure longer use and product life of textiles and greater recycling of textile waste?