{"title":"Exploring planet cosplay: Book review of Planet Cosplay: Costume Play, Identity and Global Fandom, Paul Mountfort, Anne Peirson-Smith and Adam Geczy (2019)","authors":"Therèsa M. Winge","doi":"10.1386/cc_00047_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00047_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: Exploring planet cosplay: Book review of Planet Cosplay: Costume Play, Identity and Global Fandom, Paul Mountfort, Anne Peirson-Smith and Adam Geczy (2019)Bristol: Intellect, 308 pp.,ISBN 978-1-78320-956-9, h/bk, USD 49.00","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48338291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Two ends of the same thread: Reimagining the boundaries of personal and professional labour in eighteenth-century needlework and twenty-first-century crochet","authors":"Jessica Banner","doi":"10.1386/cc_00044_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00044_1","url":null,"abstract":"As a researcher I have always maintained a firm boundary between my professional work and my personal hobbies. One of my most recent academic projects has traced the development of techniques and styles of needlework pictures and pictorial samplers made by young women in eighteenth-century\u0000 England, while in my spare time I have increasingly turned to crocheting clothing and toys for friends and family. However, following recent developments in material culture and archival studies, which have encouraged reframing conceptions of authorship and resituating objects within larger\u0000 networks of connection, it seems foolish to suppose that my work on needlework in the long eighteenth century is unaffected by my investment in crochet (and vice versa). This article aims to initiate discussions around the relationship between personal lives and professional research and seeks\u0000 to explore how my practice of crochet and my research of textiles from the long eighteenth century are intimately connected.","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48581509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spatial distancing and social closeness: The work of creative professionals during the pandemic","authors":"Zemfira Salamova","doi":"10.1386/cc_00037_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00037_1","url":null,"abstract":"As a complete recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis does not seem possible in the near future, the survival of many creative professions is under threat in Russia and other countries. Strict anti-pandemic measures were introduced in Moscow at the end of March 2020 and lasted for\u0000 a little more than two months. One of the main requirements was to work from home and go outside as rarely as possible. Most Russian creative professionals such as photographers, makeup artists, actors, musicians, stand-up comedians and television hosts found themselves in very unfamiliar\u0000 conditions since their work presumes physical contact with other people. However, even artists who usually work alone like jewellers or designers met with came across practical and psychological difficulties as well and had to adapt to the new order. This research focuses on two examples of\u0000 creative work during the COVID-19 pandemic: Russian jewellery designer Katia Rabey’s project ‘Quarantine Rings’ and the participation of Russian makeup artist Yulia Rada in virtual commercial photo-shoots. I am interested in how the artists perceived the changes introduced\u0000 as a result of the pandemic and how these changes emphasized the digital side of contemporary creative labour. Despite the differences in the challenges that the two artists met, both of them stressed the importance of social closeness.","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46567225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Loss and revival of visual identity: Inner work with clothing","authors":"Agata Zalewska","doi":"10.1386/cc_00040_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00040_1","url":null,"abstract":"Lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic meant an adieu to formal wear. ‘Oh no! How to be me?’ ‐ I panicked, facing an identity crisis, as suits that visually defined me were irrelevant. I allowed clothes to lead the way through the crisis and here present a qualitative\u0000 research, based on self-ethnography of wardrobe and inner, psychological work with clothing as per guidelines of processwork psychology, involving two ways of thinking: logical and experiential. The objects of the research are formal suits (defining pre-pandemic, ‘normal’ visual\u0000 identity), sweatpants (a threat to the identity) and overalls (the lockdown outfit). Logical work uses interpretation, association, memory, intellectual understanding of individual, cultural and social perception of clothing and body. Experiential work notices body responses, examines posture,\u0000 movement and sensory experiences, explores visual images, shapes, colours, textures, details and their appeal. The loss is approached as a death of a certain part of self (formal, official, busy), which gives way to a new, emerging way of being, as specific features of clothes provide a hint\u0000 of continuity and a link to revival. Dissection of judgement (e.g. lazy) gives access to transformative qualities (idle, effortless). Integration of these qualities means making the unknown known and finally my own. The article remarks on changes in dressing practice, e.g. in styling, care,\u0000 which reflect the transformative lockdown experience and their impact on social interactions.","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46900214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Food service uniforms and the symbolism(s) of wearing a mask","authors":"H. Akou","doi":"10.1386/cc_00033_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00033_1","url":null,"abstract":"When the COVID-19 pandemic began, ‘essential workers’ in the United States ‐ including nurses, delivery drivers, grocery clerks and waitresses ‐ bore the brunt of extreme scepticism over public health measures such as lockdowns and wearing facemasks. Conflicting\u0000 messages from the president, the Centers for Disease Control and state and local governments turned mask mandates into political battles. Some businesses chose to require masks for employees and/or customers, but others refused to allow them as part of the uniform. This article focuses on\u0000 a specific category of employees ‐ food service workers, typically women and people of colour ‐ in order to highlight how employers made decisions about masking early in the pandemic and how individual workers were affected by the turmoil. In the United States, employers have\u0000 tremendous power to decide how employees are (and are not) allowed to dress. For many businesses, uniforms are part of the company’s brand identity. When employees at Starbucks wear their iconic green aprons with the Starbucks logo, they embody the company in their interactions with\u0000 customers; changes can be made, but they happen more slowly than changes in mainstream fashion. Testimony at public hearings on mask mandates has revealed deep concerns about religious freedom, government intrusion, scientific knowledge and the cost of medical care (since the United States\u0000 does not have universal healthcare). When businesses decide whether masks should be required, allowed or forbidden as part of the dress code, it is not just a public health decision but a branding decision with short-term and long-term consequences. Even before the pandemic, face coverings\u0000 were largely associated with criminals, political activists (such as Occupy and Antifa) and ultra-conservative Muslims.","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48494733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The future of outfits after the staying-in trend: Home wear, digitization and cultural shift","authors":"M. Skivko","doi":"10.1386/cc_00038_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00038_1","url":null,"abstract":"The article explores key fashion transformations during the lockdowns of 2020 and emphasizes the main problems that have to be solved as a result of these changes. The world of fashion with production processes, markets, marketing and consumer interactions is facing a critical demand\u0000 for transformations that reflect the global situation on one hand, and local issues on the other hand. The pandemic and related restrictions and new rules at work and home determine new fashion patterns and establish a new system of fashion values and standards. Consumers have enough time\u0000 to reassess the meaning of fashion itself and various fashion items in their own wardrobes, along with their quantity and quality, as well as brands’ input regarding the discussion around sustainability. Firstly, the article describes the influence of the lockdowns on the fashion system,\u0000 in particular concerning its values, standards and behavioural practices. Secondly, the article offers three ideas as the results of those reconsiderations. Finally, the article promotes fashion predictions about the potential for further developments in the fashion industry.","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43721479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Virus chic: Facemasks and their usage","authors":"R. Brett","doi":"10.1386/cc_00034_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00034_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article was written in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic during its early stages of summer 2020. During this time the facemask became a controversial object of debate, but also an ideological apparatus and a performative sign. Indeed, the facemask was one of the last restrictions\u0000 to remain in place after many others were lifted. This phenomenon prompted the following reflection upon the cultural history of the facemask and its place within fashion paradigms. In consideration of diseases throughout history, it is possible to meditate on the categorization of how health\u0000 has acted upon the body, which in turn is housed in fashion. Starting with the various plagues throughout history and the functionality of the facemask, we can start to interrogate just what a mask is in practical and conceptual terms. Is it a theatrical prop, fashion accessory, a conduit\u0000 of magic or PPE? All such ideas can be viewed through theories of power. What this article attempts at highlighting is how this power is used to moralize and chastise the working classes.","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42999841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Crafting comfort: Constructing connection during a pandemic","authors":"Emma Louise Rixhon","doi":"10.1386/cc_00036_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/cc_00036_1","url":null,"abstract":"While the world has been in varying forms of lockdown due to a global pandemic, people have turned to fabric. This article explores how material crafts have provided individuals with tactile intimacy during a pandemic defined by isolation, drawing on ideas of touch and sewing as forming\u0000 both metaphorical and literal connections. The act of crafting provides relief and comfort to the maker, through simple, repetitive actions defined by laws set by the desired product as well as the materials used. It also creates connection through gifting, solidifying bonds between people\u0000 even when they are a minimum of 2 m apart. People, however, do not only share their crafts as gifts, but also as social media posts, generating online communities providing positive feedback. This phenomenon became so ubiquitous during lockdown that it became evident that people craved productivity\u0000 during a time where all non-essential work was paused or confined to the home. Whereas crafts as hobbies are usually a separation from feelings of productivity, during the pandemic they became many people’s only means of feeling useful, providing another dimension of comfort and security\u0000 in a time of instability and isolation. While the popularity of craft making may ebb and flow, this article demonstrates how its benefits are fundamental to human creativity and connectedness.","PeriodicalId":53824,"journal":{"name":"Clothing Cultures","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44387261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}