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CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES Clothing as a Border Organisers: Minna Uotila and Ritva Koskennurmi-Sivonen Raunio, Anna-Mari (University of Helsinki, Finland) CLOTHING: INSIDE OR OUTSIDE? SNAPSHOTS OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BOUNDARIES The main theme of the paper deals with the question of where to draw the boundary between clothing, the environment and the human being. The concept of boundary is intertwined with the ideal of individuality. In the context of everyday life, the role of clothing as a boundary is twofold. Clothing can set boundaries between the private and the public by underlining the change; on the other hand, by offering stability and predictability clothing can be the means of exceeding boundaries when moving between situations. The meaning of clothing as a boundary is thus simultaneously material and emotional, external and internal. Empirical examples of boundary construction and of exceeding it are presented. The empirical findings show that the subjective reflection of construction and exceeding boundaries with clothing is intended to create a controllable, individual place within collective space and time. The complexity of lived experience of internal and external boundaries is discussed. Uotila, Minna (University of Lapland, Finland) THE PHENOMENON OF INTELLIGENT GARMENTS IN CULTURAL CONTEXTS The design and implementation of so-called intelligent garments in recent years has progressed from wearable (cf. portable) computers toward wearable intelligence. Today, however, the interest in the field goes beyond merely placing electronics in a garment or its structure. The brisk development that has taken place in the field of fiber and material technology has yielded new opportunities and challenges for the design of intelligent interfaces such as garments and apparel in different areas, e.g., welfare, services, learning information work. In the future, the focus will shift to how intelligence can be made part of a garment. Will it take the form of an independent feature, support the traditional features of the garment, or create wholly new expressive, aesthetic and functional properties? It can be anticipated that the third-generation intelligent interfaces are also garment constructions in which both the material and electronics have been developed to conform on the terms of the clothing. In this case, neither the technical usability of an intelligent garment nor its feel, or comfort, will derive from the new technology; rather, these features will depend on the qualities of the product as a garment, that is, on users' experience of wearing it and the cultural memory of the body that underlies this. Nagrath, Sumati (University College Northampton, United Kingdom) TELLING TALES: TOWARDS AN ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF FASHION This paper calls attention to the need of bridging the gap that exists between the two strands of contemporary studies that look at the fashion industry namely those that look at production processes and those that concentrate on consumption habits. While the former concentrate on the political economic aspects the latter continue to be rooted in cultural studies. Although there has been the attempt to address the political economy of culture recently, they have has largely centred on the media industries, this paper argues that there is a need to look at issues of production, and ownership simultaneously with issues of consumption and cultural expressions even in the fashion industry. After providing an overview of the conceptual frameworks that have attempted to bridge the production and consumption divide, such as those of Arjun Appadurai (1986), Scott Lash (1997) and Paul Du Gay, Stuart Hall et al (1997), the paper then discusses the need to and ways of applying these frameworks to the fashion industry. Ling, Wessie (Department of Textiles Umist, United Kingdom) CULTURAL REPRESENTATION AND COMMUNICATION IN FASHION: PILOT STUDIES FOR CONTEMPORARY FASHION DESIGNERS IN PARIS Fashion communicates through cultural visualisation and embodiment. Locality takes identity into representation with distinctive characteristics, posing fashion in the significance of culture. Fashion designers employ cultural elements necessitated to define their native origin in their creations. Such practice is particularly flavoured by those whose establishment are located outside their native countries. Their attempt to attract wider audiences and better coverage is facilitated by media communicators. Identities of clothes, the designer and his /her native origin are thus transformed, and re-constructed. This paper will be made to produce an anatomy of non-French fashion designers whose establishment are located in Paris and at the same time vicissitude by globalising and localising their creations. This paper attempts to valorise cultural representation as communication for these designers by presenting them by case. In selecting individual designers/ firms for consideration, priority will be given to those that have a history of engagement in Paris, but that also have a presence in local markets in their home countries (several examples of this include Comme des Garçon, Yamamoto, Miyake, Chisato, Ji Haye, Lee Young Hee.). Koskennurmi-Sivonen, Ritva (University of Helsinki, Finland) PASSEPARTOUT CLOTHING THE BODY FOR SOCIETY Originally, the term passepartout is used in the visual world of picture framing. In the context of dress, passepartout is a metaphor for an outfit as a zone between a human being and social context. It epitomises a philosophy of dress which prioritises a human being over the dress as a creation while highlighting the aesthetics of the dress and its social meaning at the same time. Passepartout has emerged as an in vivo concept in an empirical study of fashion. In this paper, I continue to elaborate the concept by discussing other theoretical approaches to dress as a boundary, frame or rim, and their relation to passepartout. Furthermore, I broaden the concept from its couture origin to contemporary (Western) dress culture, design philosophy and fashion publicity. |