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Subject: search.filters.subject.330315 Textile and fashion design

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    Stitching stories, singing roots : Pashtun cultural revival in diaspora : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Ahmad, Maimoona Fawad
    Pashto, the second most spoken language in Pakistan and the national language of Afghanistan, is an essential marker of Pashtun identity. However, in the Pashtun diaspora, particularly in Aotearoa New Zealand, cultural and linguistic disconnection is increasingly evident among the second generation. This research responds to the concerns of cultural erosion by integrating Pashto calligraphy and tappay (folk poetry) on embroidered velvet fabric by fusing traditional embroidery techniques with digital fabrication methods such as laser engraving. In doing so, this study seeks to create a contemporary platform for Pashtun cultural expression. Central to this research is Pukhtunwali, the informal Pashtun code of conduct that governs social and moral values. Pukhtunwali encompasses principles such as bravery, love, spirituality, nationalism, hospitality, resilience, and women’s empowerment, making it a significant framework for cultural identity. During two workshops conducted as part of this project, 43 tappay and 9 Pukhtunwali codes were shared with eight participants. From these, 23 tappay were identified as most reflective of the code of Pukhtunwali. The workshops were designed to create an immersive cultural experience, featuring Pashto music in the background and the serving of traditional food, fostering a sense of community and cultural nostalgia. Through two interactive Pashtun community workshops in Palmerston North, this project engages the Pashtun diaspora in cultural dialogue, gathering insights into their perceptions of identity, language, and heritage. The workshops explored stylized Pashto calligraphy and embroidery techniques as a means of cultural preservation. These community workshops were inspired by the concept of relational aesthetics suggested by Bourriaud and also by the work of Māori designer Dr. Johnson Witehira, a New Zealand artist, whose work is considered as pioneering in preserving Māori language. Thus, based on the concept of relational aesthetics and the work of Dr. Witehira, this research positions design as an active tool for cultural reclamation. This study updates traditional artistic practices using modern design methods. It helps explore how diaspora identity, cultural traditions, and indigenous art can stay relevant in the contemporary world. This thesis not only highlights the significance of Pashto calligraphy and tappay but also demonstrates how art and design can bridge generational and cultural divides, fostering a renewed sense of belonging within the Pashtun community in New Zealand.
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    Selling dreams not dressing : in the AI era sustainable fashion : a photography design study : presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Wang, Tianyi
    Given the environmental crisis generated by fashion creation and communication, it is urgent to transform the current workflow towards a sustainable future. Research on sustainable fashion has primarily focused on promoting fashion design and production methods to reduce environmental impact. From the perspective of clothing design, we strive to solve material recycling issues and reduce consumption and resources by improving the various processes in the supply chain. The role of fashion photography has largely been ignored in the field of sustainable fashion despite playing an important role in current fashion communication. This study aims to explore how AI generation tools can reduce the environmental impact in the fashion photography production stage and effectively convey virtual clothing and virtual scene shooting for sustainable brand designers. This study is based on the potential of AI software to reduce production costs, improve the time efficiency of advertising production, and facilitate the realization of sustainable design schemes. In this process, sustainable fashion clothing imagery is used to promote communication and iterations between fashion designers and photographers while meeting design needs and innovating visual effects. This research provides a novel fashion photography process for sustainable fashion brands. It helps reduce obstacles caused by an insufficient advertising budget that plagues many slow fashions and smaller-scale producers. Looking forward, AI fashion photography can contribute to the design stage and embed the visualization strategy at the beginning to aid waste and resource problems. This could reconcile the contradiction between visual effect creativity and production, achieving sustainable goals.
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    Blue threads : a design exploration into uniform apparel systems : an exegesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. EMBARGOED until 14th March 2027
    (Massey University, 2025) Riordan, Finn; Mora-Hill, Finn; Shepherd, Ryan
    Uniform apparel for the New Zealand Police (NZP) plays a significant role in the visual identity and legitimacy for both officers and the public, while improving functional performance and safety for frontline staff. Currently the uniform is developed without a formal process to understand it at a systematic level. This collaborative design research project proposes a product architecture-based methodology to support the New Zealand Police’s operational capability group. This mixed methods approach visualises and responds to the needs of the uniform as a system, allowing adaptive improvements of existing garments, implementation of new garments into the uniform system and speculative outcomes to prepare for potential future contexts. This proposal is validated by three design interventions used as case studies which result in designs. These include, patterns and construction samples for an improved men’s trouser and new knit long sleeve base layer, and conceptual design visualisations for future uniform options. These designs respond to the innovative product architecture mapping, and iterative technical design developments. This design strategy highlights design opportunities to help the New Zealand Police transition towards a more effective uniform apparel system, informing and assisting the management of procurement processes.
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    The flowerers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024) McGill, Rebecca Joy Lipsey
    The Flowerers engages with ideas of tangible and intangible familial threads, driven by the impact Alzheimer's disease has had on my maternal bloodline. I aim to preserve lost memories by translating them into material objects, bringing together my two design disciplines, fashion and photography, to develop a process for creating multidisciplinary works, contributing to a legacy project. The approach to the work has been a way of processing my grief and reconnecting with my family heritage. As my grandmother recounts stories of her own and other family members' pasts, recurring floral motifs emerge as a prominent theme, shaping the focus of the project. Employing sustainable and alternative photographic processes such as lumen, cyanotype and phytogram printing, the abstract characterisations convey visual metaphors, symbolising life and death, portraying stories of four generations of women from my mother's side, concluding with myself. These images are printed onto dead stock fabrics and constructed into garments using minimal waste fashion processes, embodying the tradition of dressmaking passed down through my maternal lineage. Photography is integral to The Flowerers, serving as both its inception and conclusion. It delves into the intricate nuances of memory and the hybrid interpretations woven throughout the project. The constructed garments are exhibited in highly conceptualised fashion photographs, to contextualise the complex inter-generational story of my family tree.
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    Clothed connections : a transition design-led ideation of a holistic future fashion system : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024) Day, Katie
    The fashion system exists within an intricate and dynamic network of interconnections that span ecological, sociological, political and economic systems. As these global systems interact with the behaviours of an anthropocentric, consumer capitalist, pro-growth, outcome-driven twenty first century society, more is being taken from the environment than is being regeneratively restored. Resultant, is a global climate emergency, evidenced by sustained earth temperature rise and biodiversity loss. Without repair through urgent system transformation, the pathway ahead is one of irrevocable environmental damage. A mindset shift of our thoughts and behaviours regarding fashion, may guide systems change. This research proposes a mindset shift through a transition design-led, multi-level perspective ideation of a sustainable future fashion system, integrating theories of everyday life and human need, to challenge the western fashion system at its core. Mixed methods and a reflective research approach synthesises future fashion system conception with design practice. Concepts of holistic future fashion systems are analysed and synthesised to develop a proposed Emergent Fashion Design Process Model with a Sustainable Design Criteria as outcomes for this research. These are applied through a participatory fashion design process, intended to facilitate stronger engagement between a wearer and their garment. A connective pathway forward is actioned and tested through this renegotiated fashion design process. A wearer-experience informed fashion design process, conducted two interconnected case studies that explore a circular practice of creation and reflection, through experience and connection. This exegesis offers a contribution to the growing body of scholarly thought, acknowledging the value of dynamic change in society’s engagement with fashion and clothing. A circular, connective, and generative pathway forward is proposed, further contributing to the evolving conversation of environmental conservation throughout fashion, and wider system transformation.
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    Reflective design practice : re-thinking Pākehā participation in mātauranga Māori-based research to support positive contributions from a Pākehā positional context : an exegesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirement of the post graduate degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024) Hope, Julia
    In acknowledging the historical, cultural and relational Indigenous-settler contexts of Aotearoa, it is understood that in collaborative research based in mātauranga Māori, Pākehā are outsiders. Therefore Pākehā are constantly in an open state of listening and learning tīkanga, values and placed-based cultural conventions of research. By actively participating in the research, Pākehā inherit the responsibility to critically reflect on identity, positional context, world-view and understand how this affects thinking, intentions, decisions and consequences. These orientations are necessary when making an active commitment to improving participation and contribution. An invitation to participate in the project, Te Muka Taura - A site-based exploration of harakeke for dye extraction and muka colouration to advance understanding of regionally specific plant dye colourants, provided the ideal conditions for active self-reflection. The project, in partnership with Ngāti Tukorehe is a collaboration between textile researchers, Māori practitioners and scientists to advance knowledge of the colouration of muka towards sustainable textile practices (Kilford et al., 2024). Based in mātauranga Māori, the research was generated in the relationships within the group and with the natural environment, through exchanges of dialogue, knowledge and actions. Auto-ethnographic reflective practices within textile design, following the principles of Care Ethics, can develop understanding of how to make positive and effective contributions from a Pākehā positional context. ‘Reflectivity’ and ‘Deep-listening’ modes of self-inquiry seek to expose what is behind, surrounding, and in-front of any expression of self. The accumulative self-awareness accelerates accountability and unlearning of counterproductive cultural habits inherent with personal positional context. Making reflections in audio captures the emotion and tensions within self-inquiry. Audio reflections are revisited, reliving emotions and tensions, to re-reflect and develop reflections into visual representations of lessons and changes in self. Textile practices of colonial weed hand-dying and wool felting are employed to develop the drawing reflections into physical form that communicate the lessons and changes in self. Repetitive physical making facilitates the embodying of knowledge through connected learning between mind and body. Through the making, form, and materials used, the textile outputs advocate for increased awareness and conversation around work needed within the Pākehā community of researchers participating in collaborative research based in mātauranga Māori. The time and care spent developing reflections into textile forms, whilst continually reflecting on self, practice and broader contexts, embodies personal transformation to realise non-colonial ways of being, researching and practising.
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    Bone, blood, skin : an experimental fashion process connecting culture, craft and identity : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Li, Yifan
    Cultural and personal identity is an everchanging negotiation of values and learned social patterns. In this practice-led research my focus is to explore how culture and thinking impact, and expand my identity as a Chinese fashion designer. This reflective fashion design process explores traditional Chinese crafts to create experimental pieces, evaluating how traditional culture and identity can evolve creative thinking and responses. This exploratory design process is led by metaphorical translations of bone, blood and skin as a framework. A reflective method can help inform a greater understanding of self-identity and cultural impact. Identifying a changing identity, highlights that everything has two sides, even the culture through fashion design.
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    Breast cancer rehabilitation : a holistic approach to wearable product design : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. EMBARGOED until futher notice.
    (Massey University, 2023) Grunfeld, Lucy
    Breast cancer is a devastating disease that affects millions of women worldwide, often resulting in traumatic experiences with lasting physical and emotional consequences. A significant challenge for breast cancer patients is finding well-fitting bras that accommodate their unique shapes, sizes, and healing requirements. Despite being one of the most engineered and patented ready-to-wear garments, functional bra designs still leave much to be desired, particularly in postoperative care. In addition, the current focus on functionality over emotional connection neglects their unique physical and physiological healing requirements, resulting in a lack of suitable options and exacerbating feelings of self-consciousness and anxiety. This Master of Design research drew on the intersections between appraisal theories, co-design processes, and empathetic design methodologies to develop a comprehensive understanding of how to design bras that address breast cancer patients’ physical and emotional challenges. The method employed a multi-stage human-centred co-design practice to ensure original quantitative and qualitative insights and validations provided by all stakeholders throughout the design development. It highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary design incorporating fashion, textiles, design, and manufacturing processes to create a more personalised and effective solution that addresses the complex needs of the user group—combining innovative technologies, 3D body scanning, 3D knitting, 3D printing, and wearable technology, alongside specialised CAD software allowed for an iterative design process that streamlined development and manufacturing workflows. Contextual research compared, contrasted, and identified the gap between contemporary and traditional bra fit and design methods. In addition, it considered the challenge of innovating a product ingrained in our daily lives, aiming to inform future developments and increase engagement and awareness surrounding the wearers’ rehabilitation, identity, and individual fit. Design, in addressing these challenges, can provide a more holistic approach to patient rehabilitation and lead to improvement in their quality of life.
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    Responsibility – the new sustainability? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Creative Enterprise in Fashion Design at Massey University, College of Creative Arts Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) McNab, Rhyana Elizabeth
    Sustainability is a confounding term, with no one definition or meaning, leading some brands to ditch the term altogether. As the term sustainability becomes more widespread and accepted in the fashion industry, it is getting harder to distinguish between brands that are genuinely working towards a responsible business as opposed to those with a marketing strategy centred on sustainability despite unecological business practice, commonly known as greenwashing. Therefore, this thesis aims to develop a responsible business that balances brand ethos and identity with economic and environmental prosperity. Within the field of fashion studies, academics discourage the idea that the fashion industry can be sustainable due to its emphasis on economic growth. This view predominantly aligns fashion with the fast fashion model of business. In contrast, this work is lensed from an small to medium enterprise (SME) perspective and understands that fashion designers can limit environmental harm and remain economically viable when acting responsibly. Adopting a pragmatic approach to data collection, research is conducted through qualitative data collection and a mixed methods approach explored in two parts: A) communicating a responsible brand and B) the design and creation of a non-seasonal collection 'RHYANA'. Part B adopts an iterative approach, enabling constant re-assessment and tweaking of garments based on stakeholder feedback and demand and desirability execution. The findings of part A facilitate a collective understanding of what constitutes ideal brand communication in terms of importance placed on language and transparency, subsequently informing the brand identity and market positioning. Overall part A and B inform the overall branding of RHYANA through visual imagery and tone of voice, whilst considering the overall operations of the business and how it is to function responsibly through a start-up perspective.
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    Antigender fashion : the boundless possibilities of gender-fluid fashion design : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Design, Toi Rauwharangi College of Creative Arts, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University, New Zealand. EMBARGOED until 11 May 2026.
    (Massey University, 2023) Beyer, Judith
    Gender fluidity plays an increasingly important role in today’s fashion industry and Western culture, calling into question the very boundaries of gendered fashion. This doctoral project focuses on the incorporation of non-binary fashion in contemporary fashion design. Expanding on what Vicki Karaminas and Justine Taylor termed antigender fashion, this study investigates how contemporary fashion design can challenge and critique norms of gender identities and their representation. Like anti-fashion, which opposes and challenges fashion, antigender fashion seeks to dismantle and confront binary gender signifiers. Fashion is then understood as more than a mirror of society; rather, it is a phenomenon that reflects, absorbs, and visualises broader social and cultural shifts. The focus is therefore on fashion as a system of signification, analysing contemporary fashion imagery and design via a critical visual and textual analysis. To illustrate the various ways in which antigender fashion can expand the gender binary, the thesis takes a multiple case-study approach, discussing the contemporary designers JW Anderson, Gucci under the direction of Alessandro Michele, Art School, and No Sesso, investigating the ways in which they challenge, blur, and critique traditional gender boundaries in the context of fashion and culture. This study seeks to highlight the relevance of fashion in constituting and renegotiating contemporary forms of masculinities and femininities.