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Item Borderless fashion practice : contemporary fashion in the metamodern age : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Design, Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa(Massey University, 2021) Gerrie, VanessaTwenty-first century fashion practice has become increasingly borderless and pluralistic in the technetronic era, calling into question the very boundaries that define fashion in the Western cultural context. This doctoral project responds to this statement in light of contemporary fashion practices under what I call borderless fashion. Borderless fashion is a term that I conceptualise and use in this study to define contemporary fashion practitioners who work across disciplines through collaborations and communicate their work in a multitude of cross-platform ways. Borderless fashion practice describes practitioners whose work intersects with other creative disciplines and fields, such as art, technology, science, architecture, and graphic design. This is established through collaborative projects and conceptual fashion collections manifesting in the way in which they communicate their practice. This involves a movement from the physical to the metaphysical, transcending conceptions of the traditional runway catwalk show. It is fashion produced, communicated, and consumed in an expanded field. These practices are expanding the definitions of fashion as both material object and experience. As such, this thesis is driven by the following questions: Why are fashion designers working in this way? How has the consumer/audience’s relationship with fashion changed? To illustrate these claims I have conducted a critical visual and textual analysis through four case studies of fashion designers including Iris Van Herpen, Aitor Throup, Virgil Abloh, and Eckhaus Latta. The textual analysis is not that of material garments but rather that of the communication materials of the designer’s brand, which has been influenced by the democratisation of digital technologies. These designers work collaboratively with practitioners from other disciplines and utilise multi-disciplinary design principles themselves. They were chosen because they move between the commercial and the non-commercial fashion arenas through project-based fashion. I have mapped their practices against the philosophical and theoretical framework of metamodernism, a set of emerging frameworks that construct narratives and meaning around contemporary aesthetics and fashion design respectively.Item Kimono unfolded and reimagined : an exploration of Japanese aesthetics in Western fashion design : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Maruyama, YoshinoFashion is a strong visual language that transcends cultures, and in this globalised era, has increasingly become a place of conflict and contemplation. As a New Zealand born designer with Japanese heritage, cross cultural design, cultural misrepresentation and appropriation have become topics of interest in my fashion practice. Japonism, a late nineteenth century aesthetic movement affected the arts throughout Western culture. It opened up new design concepts to early twentieth century European fashion designers, and continues to influence contemporary fashion houses in the twenty-first century. In order to gain an insight into how Japanese fashion design is perceived by Western society, this research project looks into Japanese aesthetic principles and their impact on contemporary fashion. Late twentieth century Japanese designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo in addition to contemporary fast fashion brands such as Uniqlo have made their break into the Western market in an age where consumers are becoming more aware of the social and environmental impacts of fashion. The Japanese kimono continues to be worn and adapted by many people around the world and has also been a source of inspiration for many artists and designers. In this research project, the silhouette and structural form of the kimono are analysed alongside autoethnographic research methods, reflective practice, iterative design and sustainable design methods. These concepts are translated into Kiru, a contemporary fashion collection.Item Lolita Latina : an examination of Gothic and Lolita style in the Mexican environment : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Material Culture, College of Creative Arts, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Hardy Bernal, Kathryn AdèleThis thesis, completed for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Material Culture, Ph.D., examines the development of the fashion-based Mexican Gothic and Lolita movement, and its evolution from its subcultural Japanese roots. It asks, “What are the cultural conditions that encourage this movement to flourish in the Mexican environment?” In turn, “What does Mexican culture contribute to Mexican Gothic and Lolita style?” And, “What does Mexican Gothic and Lolita style say about Mexican culture, society, and beliefs?” The Gothic and Lolita movement is currently thriving in Mexico as an authentic, independent, creative, handmade fashion industry, yet to be co-opted into mainstream culture. With the do-it-yourself aspect of the movement comes its own, unique, cultural flavour. As such, it transforms and rearranges meanings of the original subcultural style in order to make new statements, which subvert the meanings, and understandings, of the Japanese Lolita identity. Analyses of Mexican Gothic and Lolita styles, in context with the Mexican environment, culture, and belief systems, as well as the operation of the Mexican Gothic and Lolita industry, are major focal points of this study. Also investigated are the ways the movement reflects, fits into, and departs from, the philosophies of the original subculture, especially regarding sociocultural and gender politics. These latter aspects are critiqued in context with “normative” gender positions, roles and hierarchies, within mainstream Japanese and Mexican societies.Item 'Mao' & me : thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in Fashion at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2012) Wei, AihuaThe intention of this narrative project is to journey through a process of practice-led design research while re-evaluating and reflecting upon my Chinese culture in New Zealand. My analysis begins with ‘Mao’s Jacket’, which was worn by Chairman Mao Zedong during his leadership of China. It is a symbolic piece of clothing that has a cultural/ political/social identity that expresses some core values and fundamental ideologies of order, harmony and power related to governance (Tsui, 2009, pp. 6-9; Wu, 2009, p. 123). This framework supports and is the agency of collectivism representing the group that the individual serves. The jacket is the agent that becomes the means of engagement, while disseminating the various voices that are speaking from a new environment. The deconstruction exercise of this research project involves dismantling of the jacket and its parts through steps of deformation and reformation to expose a number of conflicting issues. The term deconstruction is used in the fashion world, and is associated with the theories of the philosopher Jacques Derrida (Gill, 1998, p. 35). Deconstruction goes through certain social and political structures…to deconstruct traditional sanctions – theoretical, philosophical, cultural – effectively, you have to displace…I would say “solid” structures, not only in the sense of material structures, but “solid” in the sense of cultural, pedagogical, political, economical structures. (Derrida, 1988, as cited in Loscialpo, 2009, p. 2-3) My design research will grapple with contradictions that exist in my own pursuit of individualism, while staying true to the collectivist principles that I had rigidly defended. There was a need for resolve as I continued with my search for a personal equilibrium that will assist in moving forward with my personal and cultural identity. According to Catriona Mackenzie, there are three interrelated suggestions concerning self-definition: “Point of view” – your beliefs, emotions and desires; “values”– what you care about or what really matters to you; and “self-conception” – how you see yourself, the ideal future self (Mackenzie, 2005, p. 284). This increased understanding of my resolve provides a greater cultural acknowledgment and design position.Item Using design practice to negotiate the awkward space between sustainability and fashion consumption(The Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design (CLTAD), 2009) McQuillan, Holly; Rouse, ElizabethNo abstract availableItem The interior cinematic : beauties and horrors from the strange loop of self : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2010) Benson, FrancesWhen we are buffeted by extreme external or internal forces, the self may splinter and spiral in a psychological maze of disengagement and lost sovereignty. This trans-disciplinary design project responds – operating between fashion, performance and film – and acts out Elaine Scarry’s contention that pain can be constructively re-made. Functioning as a metaphorical problem-solving space where the textures of inner experience are explored, this project employs fragmented narrative and theatrical re-fashioning of the environment and body to attain greater social relevance. It asks how can we reconnect with the ‘sovereign self’ when our constitutional confidence has been eroded and how do we re-engage with the outside world once we have become psychologically estranged from it? The Interior Cinematic utilises cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter’s formulation of the self as a ‘strange loop’, and Louis A. Sass’ explanation of the dissociative and recursive features of schizophrenia as a point of poetic departure for understanding the damaged and dissociated self. The lost self may seem like an end - a horrific freefall out of normal life into madness and estrangement. But it is also a beginning; the pinnacle of sensory ascendency - a beautiful, lateral, life affirming state. Through The Interior Cinematic I construct an aesthetics of reengagement: an affective pathway between these contradictory and overlapping existential poles, contending that the lost self can, in part, be recovered through a rediscovery of sensation. This work is informed by Julia Kristeva’s assertion that alienation is the kernel for empathetic re-engagement with others, as well as by Arthur Frank’s theory of narrative as a strategy to reconnect with the damaged self.Item A sense of fashion : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2008) Prescott, SueAs an expressive language, fashion design has an innate capacity to engage a full gamut of sensorial responses. This research explores the contribution of synaesthesia to fashion design in an effort to highlight the positive aesthetic and intellectual impact of this integration. Such research advances my creative practice. The method of realising garments which address synaesthetic principles is an extension of personal interest in synaesthesia, driven from both an experiential perspective and a desire to gain a greater understanding into theories in relation to challenging the senses in a contemporary fashion world. If fashion includes novelty as a crucial and desirable aspect, and can be defined as an ever evolving and self rejuvenating art form, then the energy and frivolity of these components in association with multiple sensory stimuli and response will expose the consequence of the study through design-work. Recognition of the importance of sensory cross-overs in fashion design will reveal the quintessence of how humans position themselves and respond to a specific environment. If realisation of the senses is with regard to surroundings, and fashion becomes the surrounding which elicits multiple involuntary responses from stimuli, a conscious recognition has begun. Traditional theories on the organisation of sense modalities speculate that humans perceive their world with five senses, the most dominant generally being sight. The combined effect of these senses creates the environment in which we inhabit. The visual and tactile senses have long been the focus of the fashion product but, of all the senses, touch is most key to our species (Ackerman, 1990). Sound, taste and smell have been under-recognised as providers of ceaseless information about our environment. The investigation into the notion that fashion and other sensory systems are not separate entities assists with establishing the links between sensory integration and fashion design. The emergence of the synaesthetic paradigm has highlighted a unity between the senses rather than the traditional hierarchy of favouring the visual. The research on synaesthesia relative to fashion design occupies a parallel position to neurological theory and allows synaesthetic investigation to be a pivotal determining factor towards my outcome. I have engaged in critical self-reflection of my design process and production as a means of elucidating stimuli associated with multi-sensory perception.Item Double-dipping : crafting nostalgic resonance : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2007) Packer, GenevieveThis project contemplates where New Zealanders will turn to in the future for resonating, identity-based design, and explores two potential scenarios. The first scenario questions whether existing ‘classic’ motifs – currently enjoying pride of place on national identity T-shirts and accessories, and commonly used over the last century within the tourist souvenir industry – will still be relevant, and still resonate, if used in different ways. The second scenario questions whether a new round of more obscure, overlooked, ‘lower case’ and everyday domestic artefacts and experiences will resonate with New Zealanders. This project sets out to ‘craft nostalgic resonance’, through conceptual recycling from my own biography, in order to connect with viewers through personal recognition located within their own biography. It draws from experiences and artefacts specific and personal yet at the same time, inevitably, part of a larger collective story, in the creation of a new range of identity-based souvenirs for New Zealanders. The resulting body of work, and its successful public dissemination, proves that it is possible to craft nostalgic resonance through conceptual recycling, and that this approach could be extended to both a wider range of original artefacts and experiences, and a wider range of souvenir products in the future.Item ReFashion reDunn : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2008) Dunn, JanetThis study arises out of the researcher’s experience in the fields of costume and fashion. It develops, through design practice and reflection, a design process for fashion wear made from post-consumer recycled materials. Theoretical analysis provides global, historical, philosophical and design contexts within which to develop an ethos for this variant form of fashion wear designated ReFashion. Differences in design process between conventional fashion and ReFashion are detailed to highlight the significance of provenance of materials in the light of a perceived need to slow down clothing production and consumption. This perception is informed by scientific predictions that failure to engage with urgently needed changes to the prevalent economic paradigm will result in planet earth reaching a tipping point with potentially disastrous results for its inhabitants. Fundamental to the ReFashion ethos is preparedness for a speculative post-apocalyptic future that might render the fashion system unable to operate as it currently does, necessitating a more self-sufficient approach to clothing needs, with an accompanying shift in perceptions of what is deemed fashionable. The theme Survivalist Fantasy provides a lens to bring conceptual and material aspects of the work into focus. Informed by sustainability, Survivalist Fantasy recontextualises a failure of sustainable initiatives on a global scale and their adaptation on a local scale specifically in the arena of clothing.Item Not what we are : the (co)re-creation of self : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in Fashion at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2008) Deonarain, Jennifer IreneResearching through design, this thesis explores the implementation of an online kit as a means through which the postmodern individual can participate in the creative processes of home sewing. Through the development of a knowledge network that is built on co-creation, a new approach to the traditional producer/consumer relationship is investigated. This network is used to encourage the fulfilment of self through the process of re-creation, while targeting the contemporary consumer by combining electronic resources and social networking with the hands-on nature of creative process.