material workshop #1 : clothes swap & the language of fashion.

part 1 : pair up with classmate of approximately the same size as you.
part 2 : swap clothes.
part 3 : discuss the relationship we have with our clothes. did you feel different being dressed in someone else’s gear? if so, why?

Jacinta and I chose to work with each other, as we are relatively the same height. Upon realisation of the fact that we had to change clothes I was slightly worried as I am probably a size or so bigger than her. The top fit fine as it was a big baggy shirt. The jeans also fit to an extent but with very little stretch they didn’t do up. I felt uncomfortable with the fact that the jeans didn’t do up and I had to pull the shirt down to cover my undies but other than that I didn’t feel very different to wearing my own clothes, as Jacinta and I wear similar styles of clothing. I have actually worn a very similar outfit out of my own wardrobe before. So really the only thing I felt uncomfortable with was the fact an area of my body was exposed that is deemed and erogenous zone. If the clothing didn’t fit around the wrists or shoulders would I still have felt this uncomfortable? I doubt it.

Another thing I felt uncomfortable about was Jacinta wearing my clothes. I was worried she would think they smell or are dirty. That made me wonder, was she more worried about me in her clothes than being in mine? Because this is how I felt. Did everyone have different feelings towards swapping clothes? Or were everyone else’s quite similar?




Heres my description of what I was wearing:

A grey blue linen shirt hangs of the shoulders and flows loosely over the body. The varying lengths of hem fall softly around the hips. Four coral buttons down the centre front direct the eye to skin tight indigo blue denim jeans cuffed at the ankle. The feeling is both comfortable and uncomfortable, loose and restricted and cool and clammy.

^^^

I wrote this description in class before I even read the weekly reading of ‘The Fashion System’ by Roland Barthes. I think it ties in perfectly with the concept of written clothing and it pretty much describes what I am wearing down to some of the finer details such as button and the cuffed hem of the jeans.