Fashion design-as-practice : a case-study of Johannesburg fashion designers

M.Tech. (Fashion)Abstract: Studies pertaining to fashion naturally evolved from early documentation of costume and dress for museums and fashion history books to wanting to understand the influence social changes have had on fashion. This foundation paved the way for further studies around fashion as a social, material and cultural commodity. The relationship between society and clothing thus became the focus of studies in fashion. Although this is an ever-evolving subject, the relationship between the fashion designer and their clothing designs has been a neglected topic, highlighting a need for more research and empirical studies to be conducted on fashion design-as-practice. Fashion ‘design-as-practice’ refers to the communal practice of expert designers, by describing their design activity from idea formulation to final execution. The aim of this study is to describe the design practices of expert fashion designers in Johannesburg by observing the design activities of selected fashion designers through components of the activity system model, which originated in Activity Theory. Activity Theory is a theoretical framework that uses ‘activity’ as a basis for studying, describing and understanding human practices in the real-world. To this end, the research question is as follows: What are the practices of Johannesburg fashion designers, as demonstrated through their design activity? Activity Theory is used as a framework to conduct a multiple-case study, through observing and analysing the relationship between the subject of the activity (the designer) and the tools (the design method) that he or she uses to achieve the objective (the design problem) of the activity. The activity system also includes the community, as it influences, or contributes to, the activity, the division of tasks amongst labourers and the rules governing the activity. Activity Theory postulates that all activities are orientated around their objective. The findings of this study confirm this idea as both the role of the designers in the study and the methods they used were developed to help them navigate through the design problem (the design objective). Because fashion design-as-practice has been a neglected topic, this study looked at design research from related fields over the past sixty years to find a taxonomy with which fashion design-as-practice can be described..