Introduction
Methodology
Analysis
Bibliography
About me
Get in touch
💞💭 A visual research project for critical thinking + collective feeling on fashion 💭💞
What has inspired the project?We Can Be Both is a continuation of research I conducted in 2020 about the experiences of junior workers in institutional fashion workplaces, for my MA Gender, Media and Culture dissertation at Goldsmiths, University of London.
During my MA, I was very resistant to writing about fashion and my experiences in it, as I had enrolled on the course in the hope that it would offer me a way out of the industry which I was feeling increasingly let down by. However, during my studies, I was introduced to academic theory on the psychology and politics of the fashion workplace and felt deeply affected and seen reading about experiences that felt so relatable to my own through this analytical lens. For me, discovering this research and feeling that people outside the fashion industry cared enough to pay attention to the struggles experienced within it - a new feeling, as I had felt so unseen and uncared for in many of my working experiences until this point - was extremely validating.
I felt strongly that others working in the fashion sector could benefit from knowledge of this research but also understood that the often inaccessible format of academic writing can be a barrier to research reaching the people it is about. With this in mind, I developed the idea of expanding my writing into a visual format, that hopes to lighten the presentation of academic research in order to reach a broader audience.
What is the aim of the project? The project has two principal aims :
- to give a platform to the voices of fashion workers and their experiences within the fashion sector
- to present academic research about these experiences and workplaces in an engaging and accessible way
How is the research conducted?A series of interviews with fashion workers forms the foundation of the project. Interviews are informal and relaxed, questions asked in the interviews seek to learn more about the work of each participant and how they feel about it. Those being interviewed are also encouraged to ask questions, in the hope that conversations become reciprocal and the separation of researcher / researched can start to be broken down. Following this initial information gathering stage, themes in participant responses are identified and, where applicable, linked to existing academic research.
Primary research is edited with secondary academic and pop culture sources. These edits then become a series of films/instagram posts that analyse the experiences of workers alongside academic theory on the same themes.
Where does the title We can be both come from?The title We Can Be Both is taken from the introduction to my 2020 written research:
“[My] conversations [for this research] have helped me start to move away from the anger that I feel about still being stuck [in fashion] and understand the feminist lesson that we can be critical of and embedded in, angry with but interested in the spaces that we reside in and write about…it is through conversation that I have slowly come to accept that we don’t have to conform to limiting conceptions of either/or, we can be both”
Who are the research participants? Participants are a mixture of fashion workers and early career academics/journalists writing about fashion. Participants have been identified through personal and professional networks, with a focus on gathering as wide a range of voices and experiences as possible.
How is the project funded?The project is funded by DYCP funding from Arts Council England.
Are participants compensated?With the exploitation of workers in the fashion sector a key research theme, the project recognises the importance of paying all contributors fairly for their labour. Thanks to DYCP funding, participants are paid per hour.