New Insights: Practice-based Methods in Fashion Research

Notes From the Field is a recurring column written from behind the scenes by Fashion and Fashion Studies professionals across all disciplines. We highlight process, showing readers how it looks and feels to be blazing trails in this exciting new field.

For our second issue, we present alternative methods in teaching and consuming fashion, through the development of a design research course and the cultivation of a clothing swap community, respectively.

Fashion Research doctoral candidates Namkyu Chun and Julia Valle met at Aalto University School of the Arts, and became partners in scholarship to pilot a course that would inspire deep connections and reveal shared research objectives between seemingly unrelated programs. Prioritizing the possibilities of collaboration and the application of theoretical contemplation, Namkyu and Julia will take us on the journey of conceptualizing, developing, and leading their exciting new course, “Critical Thinking and Making in Fashion,” which we will deliver to you in an episode format in forthcoming issues. We hope that you will enjoy this adventure in pedagogy and stay tuned!

Cat Tyc is a Brooklyn-based fashion maker and thinker. For the past several years, Cat has been preoccupied with the ethics of consumption. What began as a documentary film about swap meets eventually evolved into a multi-faceted, multimedia project. Clothing swaps turned into installation art pieces, and poetry became a space in which Cat could think through her findings. Much like Julia and Namkyu, Cat stumbled upon new ways to forge deep connections with the practices of dress, exchange, and adornment, while conceiving new research methods that engage the self as body, community member, and author with fashion as the spark of invention. 

If you’d like to share the secrets of your research or let us in on how a project is developing in a future Notes From the Field feature, please get in touch!