Browsing by Subject "Clothing"
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Item Bloomer : a magazine promoting sustainable fashion(2017-05) Peeva, Nevena Boteva; Gorman, Carma"Seasons” in the fashion world have little to do with temperature. Fashion’s increasingly rapid turnover is meant to boost producers’ profits and respond to consumers’ desire for novelty. On the down side, “fast fashion” comes with grave environmental and social costs. Bloomer is a magazine and an online platform that aims to slow down the conversation around fashion, and offer a platform for reflection and appreciation. In a throwaway culture, what does it mean when someone rebels by keeping and cherishing a garment for years? What makes people value some garments more than others? Is it the labor value in its creation, or sentimental value gained through lived experience, or the status value in its brand identity? The aura of a garment is a complex intersection of market forces, cultural ideals, and metaphysical subtleties. Rather than scolding or guilting people into adopting more sustainable wardrobes, Bloomer takes a positive approach to sustainability by featuring glamorous Austinites wearing their own clothes, sharing their stories of sustainable consumption, and promoting local thrift shops and sources of high-quality “slow fashion.” The first issue of Bloomer features a series of photos documenting how a variety of people practice sustainable fashion. Using the visual and written language of advertising and fashion, is it possible to cultivate an appreciation for the garments we already own, and for sustainable wardrobe practices? The goal of Bloomer as a magazine about sustainable fashion is to show pictures and tell stories of people who have unique and meaningful relationships with their clothes, and encourage the rest of us to ask ourselves “What is my relationship with my clothes?”Item Dressing the dead : social practices of clothing and adornment at the historic Head and Adams Cemeteries in central East Texas, 1850 to 1900(2019-05-09) Basse, Karissa Anne; Franklin, Maria; Strong, Pauline; Rodriguez-Alegría, Enrique; Anderson, Nesta; Ramey Berry, DainaI explore social identity as mortuary displays of age and gender during the period of 1850 to 1900 in the historic, rural community of Headsville, Texas. I contend that material remains of clothing and adornment aid in the interpretation of social expectations of dress and presentation according to prevalent nineteenth-century ideologies of maturity and gender. Building on multiple lines of evidence, including artifacts recovered from the relocation of the Head and Adams Cemeteries, I outline clothing artifact assemblages related to gender during the life course informed by nineteenth-century dress history and socio-political movements within the context of an emerging, rural European American frontier community. I examine dress artifact types, materials, frequencies, sizes, and proveniences to systematically compare inferences of clothing from similar groupings of artifacts within known burials to unknown burials. I identified a male artifact assemblage and a female and gender-neutral non-adult artifact assemblage. Diagnostic artifacts within the male assemblage suggested burial in pants, shirts, jackets, and waistcoats and, within the female and gender-neutral assemblage, one- to two-piece dresses in adult burials and children’s gowns and diapers in juvenile and infant burials. I conclude that individuals were buried in their daily dress, work clothing, and Sunday’s best attire. Pants were the most archaeologically accessible trait of male clothing, which served to reaffirm masculine ideals in boys as young as the age of three years. More elaborate male ensembles, specifically cuff and collar closures, were reserved for older men indicating a status linked to the longevity of manhood. Adult female and children’s clothing were much more nuanced, and I assert that commonalities in closure means might have represented a subtle link between femininity and childhood; however, landmarks in the maturation of female dress through childhood were inaccessible without the presence of textiles. Additionally, adult female clothing lacked many of the extravagant constrictions of women’s clothing such as corsets, which I assert speaks to the limitations of burial and the pragmatism of women living in a rural, farming community. My categorization and exploration of dress provides a foundation for analyzing dress remains not only from other cemeteries but also other archaeological contexts.Item “Ethnic” and fantasy : exploring responsibility, respect, and integrity in the design of culturally significant costume for theatre(2020-05-07) Fisher, Stephanie Mae; Glavan, JamesCostume designers must acquire the knowledge and flexibility to understand characters and clothing from diverse cultural backgrounds. This project explores the responsibilities of a costume designer in creating work relating to cultural backgrounds that are not the designer’s own. It seeks to define important academic terms that are not directly a part of costume design research, but form a basis for interrogation of the costume design process for potentially sensitive cultural material. An extensive literature review was conducted first, creating a broad backdrop of knowledge that could be applied to a design process. Using Cinderella stories from China, Japan, and Korea as a vehicle for the investigation, this study examines one designer’s process of designing one character whose qualities remain similar across much of the world, but whose clothing must change depending on story origins. Extensive research was conducted into the clothing for each of the originating cultures, and the designer used this new knowledge along with new understandings of how to engage with culturally significant material to design the “transformation” look for the various Cinderella characters. The study concludes with reflections regarding integrity, understanding, and the importance of engaging with diverse cultural material as a way of building community across the globe.Item An exploratory analysis of textile fabric soil content through ozone reaction(2013-05) Rajaganesh, Shamini; Krifa, MouradCleanliness is one of the most essential virtues needed for a healthy lifestyle. While there have been several attempts made to characterize the cleanness of food, water and air by quality monitoring, there has been very little attention given to the cleanness characterization of clothing. Clothing worn next to the skin is easily contaminated by solid particles and fluid substances picked up from the surrounding environment and the skin surface. The fluid contamination could be either aqueous or oily in nature. Human sweat and sebum are one of the major constituents of oily organic soils found in worn clothing. Studies show that oily organic contaminations tend to remain in the clothing even after laundering, thereby creating malodors. While there are several industry established standards to evaluate visible solid contamination such as dust, dirt and colored stains, measuring the amount of invisible oily contaminations has been difficult. Moreover, many of the cleanness evaluation methods are subjective. This exploratory research aimed at measuring the level of sweat and sebum soiling in textile fabrics. Due to the affinity of ozone towards the unsaturated components of sebum, the feasibility of using the reaction rates of ozone as a metric to quantify the level of organic soiling in clothing was tested. The fabrics selected for this study were representative of the commonly used fiber composition in activewear and innerwear. The sweat and sebum used for fabric soiling were synthetic in nature. The fabric swatches were soiled with synthetic sebum at two extreme levels of soiling (0.3% and 1% of the fabric weight). A lab built four-chamber ozonation equipment was used for the experimentation with ozone. The reactivity of ozone with the soiled fabrics was measured in terms of ozone concentrations in ppb. The data obtained was plotted against time and the slopes were recorded. The plots showed a significant difference in the slopes indicating that the rate of ozone reactivity varied with the level of soiling. The slopes were steeper for higher levels of soils, particularly in the cotton samples. There was also a marked difference in the reaction rates between the cotton and polyester fabrics at the same level of soiling. The results obtained from the study fulfilled the hypothesis and looks promising for developing an objective method of measuring cleanness of clothing. Moreover, an adjunct qualitative study was conducted to assess the sensitivity of the human odor sensor to acknowledge the difference in the level of soiling through sensory analysis. The results from the study substantiated the need for an objective method of cleanness measurement.Item Good Girl/Bad Girl(2013-05) Aylward, Kaitlyn Marie; Mickey, Susan E.Good Girl/Bad Girl asks women to define the good girls and bad girls in respect to their clothing. Participants are women who live in either New Mexico or Texas and identify as one or more of the following groups: New Mexican, Mexican, Native American, Sorority women, and Cowgirls. Participants with interviewed and photographed in their homes and places of work. Good Girl/Bad Girl was exhibited during the 2013 The Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival. A selection of twenty-one images were displayed in addition to audio from the interviews.Item p-Dichlorobenzene and naphthalene : emissions and related primary and secondary exposures in residential buildings(2013-05) Guerrero, Priscilla Annette; Corsi, Richard L.p-Dichlorobenzene (p-DCB) and naphthalene are compounds classified as Group C carcinogens according to the USEPA. Sources of p-DCB and naphthalene include moth repellents and deodorizers typically used in closets, garment bags, and toilet bowls found in pure form. In this study, laboratory, closet, and garment bag experiments were used to determine emission rates of p-DCB and naphthalene from consumer products (closet air freshener, toilet bowl deodorizer, and moth repellent). Emission rates varied considerably between products that contain p-DCB, primarily due to product packaging, and were generally suppressed when the product was used in a closed closet or garments bag, relative to products placed in well-ventilated chambers. Experimental mass emission rates were used in conjunction with a well-mixed reactor model to predict indoor p-DCB and naphthalene concentrations for a range of reasonable residential scenarios. Results suggest that exposures under worst-case scenarios could lead to excess lifetime cancer risks of greater than 20,000 in a million (2%) for those who use consumer products that are pure p-DCB, a risk that dwarfs any reported environmental cancer risks over large segments of the US population. Since such products are typically used where clothing is kept, significant chemical adsorption onto clothing is possible following sublimation from the solid product. Chamber experiments were used to determine the amount of p-DCB and naphthalene mass that adsorbs onto selected clothing materials made of cotton, polyester, or wool. Cloth specimens were kept inside a chamber through which an air stream containing p-DCB or naphthalene was passed for one month. After this time, p-DCB or naphthalene were chemically extracted from the cloth specimens. Polyester was determined to be the most adsorbent material, while cotton was the least adsorbent for each chemical. Equilibrium partition coefficients of 0.01 m³/g for p-DCB and 0.02 m³/g for naphthalene were determined experimentally for wool. Desorption rates were determined in both laboratory chambers and a closet in a test house. Results suggest prolonged persistence of p-DCB and naphthalene on polyester and wool, e.g., half-lives of 12 to 20 days after a moth repellent is removed from the clothes storage environment. An exposure scenario was also carried out to compare the inhalation and dermal exposure risks associated with contaminated clothing.Item Robes for the heart : exploring love and devotion through sartorial symbolism in Urdu literature(2017-06-22) Parvaiz, Saleha; Hyder, Syed Akbar; Shirazi, FaeghehThis paper explores the aesthetics of love and devotion in Urdu literature vis-à-vis sartorial symbolism. I analyze the ways in which love and devotion are constructed, imagined, and experienced through clothing by surveying selected examples from different genres such as the ghazal (lyric), qawwali (devotional songs), hamd (praise of God), na’at (praise of Prophet Muhammad), and nasr (prose). I map the thematic development of sartorial references and elucidate their aesthetic and discursive functions within and beyond written and oral texts. I question to what extent the different roles and meanings of clothing are reused, expanded, or problematized across genres. In doing so, I illustrate how discourses of love and devotion for one’s self, beloved, family, community, nation, and religion are formed and performed through clothing.Item This Emotional Closet : women's relationships with clothing(2015-05) O'Bannion, Mercedes Bron; Mickey, Susan E.; Isackes, Richard; Buchanan, JasonClothes are objects presented in society to be experienced and translated by others. This thesis identifies three female stereotypes found in literature: mother, virgin, and whore. By addressing the historical and social context that exist in American culture, I can begin to explain how these three stereotypes are dependent upon appearance perception. In exploring the identities that clothing can communicate, I hope to contribute an understanding of the phenomenological aspects in everyday dressing. This thesis will also discuss how my research informed my choices in the development and creation of an immersive theatrical experience, This Emotional Closet.Item Uniformly speaking : how rhetoric and clothing addresses materiality at work(2022-12-05) O'Connor, Erin Ann; Brummett, Barry, 1951-; Gunn, Josh; Ballard, Dawna; Davis, DianeThe question guiding this dissertation is: what do we manage with uniformity of clothing? More specifically, how does uniformity of clothing (including actual uniforms) manage our sensing, feeling bodies, our sense of self (subjectivity), and social interaction (intersubjectivity)? Through theory, method, and analysis, my work here collapses dualities of mind and matter, object and subject, body and clothing, not merely as an intellectual exercise but as a development of a potential site of negotiating ethical action. I examine fast food worker uniforms at three restaurants and contrast those to various forms of self-adopted uniformity of dress. The analyses conducted in both case studies highlight the power of style as a experience of materiality of thinking.Item White ladies : defining myself through the language of costume(2016-05) Day, Andrea Jeannine; Mickey, Susan E.; Buchanan, Jason; Isackes, RichardAs an artist who studies costume, I am fascinated by the way that people represent their personalities through their clothing choices. Clothing creates a sign system that indicates to outsiders details about self-expression, insecurities, and perspective. In this project, I studied my own self-expression through clothing by creating an art installation consisting of self-portrait photography. The self-portraits consist of four fictitious characters, which are each representations of four different versions of my potential future self. Each character contains specific characteristics derived from my own personality. The characters are named, “The Artist,” “The Hermitess,” “The Hobbyist,” and “Real Estate Mom.” Each of the characters was created using clothing, accessories, makeup, posture, expression, and physical location. Through the creation of each of these characters, I analyzed my own personality traits and how they express the way that I represent myself through clothing. Through this process, I learned to find a better voice and understanding for my artistic choices.