Dr Philippa Jackson

Contribution to a Leeds Becket collaboration with Fashion Revolution. Sewing the Seeds explores fashion activism through articles, photography and illustrations created by the Leeds Beckett University students & staff, and designers, makers & innovators around the north of England

For Drawing Articulations, I present a time lapse video-work of the beginnings of my project, Expressions of Fashion Identity in the North; fashion illustration and experimental apparel developments. This project extends upon my practice-based PhD research in its focus on the dressing motivations of people. In this new project, I extend upon previous expressive drawing methods to communicate the vibe of individuals as fashion illustration in full scale or bigger. My project begins with projecting imagery of Leeds fashion leaders onto large scale paper and drawing into the image to create full size fashion sketches. I am interested in individuals who are making statements with their looks; day or night. This is a DIY fashion culture, and is expressive and experimental. These behaviours make reference to the fashion attitudes of the 1980’s Blitz Kids, and are most commonly aligned with queer communities and expression of identity. Stage 2, to come later, is to extract shape from the illustrations to create experimental fashion looks; the beginnings of garment designs, will be taken from shapes occurring in the illustration.

Derived from the participant enquiry of the researchers PhD, this paper uses first hand insights about how a woman’s personal identity can conflict with cultural expectations regarding female (Butler, 2006), and how this along with collective identity can be motivational factors for women when dressing. The discussion will connect with the idea that bodies are how people can be understood in the world (Negrin, 2016), therefore how we choose to adorn the body is a signifier of how we wish to be viewed. Significantly, the paper will pay particular attention to a case study of a 53-year-old woman who wears men’s clothing and her choice motivations with respect to these topics. This case study was one of ten women participants between the ages of 20-52 answered a call for women who wear men’s clothing. The qualitative method of semi structured interviewing was implemented to allow participants to speak freely about their clothing choice motivations. The woman’s individuality instigated a push-back against expectations for her as an ageing woman. Motivational triggers for dressing highlighted conflicts and developments with covering and exposure of the body, cultural gendered expectations, and how these can be connected with age; issues were situational and could be linked to cultural expectations for the female body, and the sexualisation of the female body. In this case study, practicality and a deeper sense of personal style was found through menswear styling, and this was seen to be connected to the woman’s age and the work culture in academic arts. Connections with practicality, ease and personal style, were echoed by the unique stylings of the Victorian Pit Brow Women (Edge, 2016). The paper concludes that the hangover of cultural expectations for the female body and gender norms still act a social control, impacting the way in which women choose to dress.

This paper, derived from the researchers PhD, aims to evidence how qualitative interview findings from 10 women who wear men’s clothing, were used to establish design concepts for the development of experimental garments. Archival research into Victorian menswear created links to the establishment of traditional menswear. It evidences that menswear still resembles the styles established in this era, as such it mirrors the persistence of social attitudes to gender as binary. As a designer my interest lies in menswear shapes and detail, and oversized fit. Detailed observation of the proportional cut and intuitive construction of the Victorian square cut shirt, referenced these interests. This pathway provided design inspiration and theoretical input from an era identified with inherently split gender roles. The clothing preferences of the women participants were comfort, shape, space, coverage, practicality, and function; the overarching need was for feelings of wellbeing. Women expressed how these attributes abated feelings of sexualisation and provided freedom, and in this sense, they felt powerful. The women used the qualities of large size and men’s clothing, to achieve power and control through freedom to move, function, and to take ownership of their bodies. Responsive design concepts originated in haptic exploration, and drawing on the archival research, grew from the designers deep-seated need to empower by remaining loyal to these findings and to the women’s needs. The participant enquiry method was rigorous, fostering a familiarity with each woman which forged this sense of duty for meeting her needs. The study argues that women can gain a sense of power through the clothes they choose to wear. In turn, by prioritising wearer well-being, clothing designers can both empower women and create thoughtful and considered outcomes. Keywords – Gender, practice, responsive, power, design.

This paper analyses implications for body and attire in creating clothing for performance art which challenges normalcy of the feminine. Jackson and Dyson will discuss their interdisciplinary research collaboration in designing garments for Dyson’s performance artwork Bare Bones. The research considers cultural standards for and expectations of the feminine. Through experimentation of material construction with movement and voicing, they ask: Why does somatic interaction with this clothing contribute to deconstructing our understanding of functional and aesthetic garments, thus troubling the activity and ‘beauty’ of the body? Dyson’s practice-based-research is of conditions of menopause, building on concerns with the uncanny feminine, performing with inanimate objects to establish unnerving familiar and unfamiliar conditions. Jackson’s garments are assembled through a Responsive Making method, responding intuitively to Dyson’s work, with respect for the will of materials. This method is underpinned by post-human theory of intra-action (Barad 2007): experiential, haptic, tacit knowledge as key to the process (Bugg 2006). Repurposed waste garments reveal softness, slackness, fold, and flow, whilst presenting supportive yet constraining property. Materials prompt or lead the performer, generating sculptural and sound content, thus contributing to construction of meaning in relationship to the female body. Paradoxically, research led to reconsideration of the naked female body. Cutting into garments revealed sections of flesh. Thus garments ‘fail’; societal assumptions about gendered body ideals are questioned (Svendsen & Irons, 2006; Butler, 2006). ‘Clothes rewrite the body, give it [different shape and expression]. This applies not only to the clothed body but also to the unclothed; or, more precisely, the unclothed body is always also clothed’ (Svendsen & Irons, 2006:77). Jackson and Dyson argue this ‘partial garment’ foregrounds ‘aesthetics of ugly’ (2005: 130). Intersecting with the body boundaries, the body is masked but remains integral to understanding the garment: one cannot exist without the other (Negrin, 2016).