designing and making activities are fully integrated and intrinsic to each other. The qualities of an object made through this process are directly related to the intention of the maker and the materials and processes they use to explore that intention.”278 The Layered Top (Figure 4.24) prototyped in the second phase of the study, tests the suitability of the redirected design values from earlier lower-body garment prototypes constructed from woven fabrics in an upper-body garment of knit279 fabric construction. Further, it explores the potential of modular design in fashion (whereby parts can be removed and replaced) identified through the contextual review. It is described briefly here as an example of designing through making as action research and is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4,
The Living Wardrobe.
An initial design concept sketch for this top shows a close-fitting, long sleeve top with contrast fabric cuffs, hem and collar and detachable sleeves, transforming the style from long sleeve to short sleeve at the discretion of the wearer (Figure 3.4). The sketch is rudimentary, serving to prompt the recall of an idea rather than specify a detailed concept. The details of the design are developed through patternmaking, as I reflect on the initial idea as it appears on the paper in front of me.280 Patternmaking is a slow process (manual patternmaking especially), comprising many laborious and repetitive actions that provide ample space for reflection-in-action:281 fleshing out the design (plan), noting how the
277. Dormer, "The culture of craft: status and future.", p.173
278. Katie Bunnell, "Designing through Making," The Design Journal 3, no. 3 (2000/11/01 2000), https://doi.org/10.2752/146069200789390114, p.1
279. cut and sew construction, not fully fashioned
280. This is not usual practice in a commercial fashion business where patterns are produced patternmakers who draft patterns according to exacting sketches. In that context patternmaking is a problem solving task of geometry and design interpretation.
design transitions from concept to reality (observing) and comparing the realised design to the initial design intention (reflecting). These reflections modify on-going action as necessary, perpetuating the action research cycle.
FIGURE 3.4. DESIGN SKETCH FOR THE LAYERED TOP
Sewing the prototype is a similarly reflective stage of the fashion design process. While the cut pieces of fabric prescribe the form of the outcome, reflection during construction invariably leads to changes to some aspect of the garment’s design that may see pieces re-cut or the whole toile abandoned, unfinished. There are several toiles and part toiles of this garment that document the difficulty encountered in resolving the detachable sleeve mechanism. These toiles are numbered and dated (Figure 3.5) and when examined as a series, exhibit the evolution of my thought processes as I endeavoured to realise my design intent in the garment. The patterns are similarly catalogued, each amendment is dated and drafted in a different coloured pencil to distinguish the revised lines from the original lines (Figure 3.6). Each pattern variation can be matched to each of the toiles. The patterns and toiles are carefully archived for future reference, where reflection-on-action282 may draw out useful information as yet unnoticed.
FIGURE 3.5. TOILES ARE LABELLED TO MATCH THE ANNOTATED PATTERN CHANGES.
FIGURE 3.6. PATTERNS ARE LABELLED TO PRESERVE THEIR CHRONOLOGY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GARMENT PROTOTYPES.
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Fashion design is a professional practice that is at present aligned with Schön’s concepts of 'reflection- in-action' and 'reflection-on-action’, concepts taken from The Reflective Practitioner, how professionals
think in action (1983). Reflection-in-action refers to the way in which a practitioner employs knowing-
in-action (expertise as tacit knowledge) to the design activity in progress. Schön describes the design act as a 'reflective conversation with the situation' in which the designer responds to the "talk back" of the design process as it unfolds, modifying actions accordingly.283 This is necessary because of the uncertain nature of design, that the outcomes of design activity may be other than anticipated and require correction, or potentially, the reframing of the problem. Reflection-in-action has shaped the way the practice investigations in this study were performed, consistent with the methods of my existing design practice. In this regard, my design process remains unchanged by the study as reflection-in- action equally serves redirective practice. At the same time as reflecting on my designing as I design, I reflect on the question: What will this design, design?284
The opportunity for reflection-on-action arises as the garment prototypes are completed. At this point, they may be evaluated with the aim of improving future practice. When I operated my fashion label, this evaluation was formalised in a fit test prior to volume manufacture. Once the style had been produced and sold to boutiques, a further evaluation of the garment would be conducted in response to sales figures and retailer feedback. These data informed whether the style was repeated and whether changes to fit, fabric, colour were needed. In this study, the garments prototyped are methods as much as they are outcomes of the research, therefore the design process is not as formal nor as neat and tidy. Instead, throughout this study, reflection-on-action has been undertaken at many stages, notably at the completion of the many design investigations that comprise the first phase of the research, and throughout the design-through-making process of the second phase of the study, where the completion of a toile or pattern punctuated the design process with a moment for reflection on the activity just undertaken.
283. Schön, The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action., p.79 284. Fry, Design futuring: sustainability, ethics, and new practice.
REDIRECTIVE PRACTICE
Understanding the directionality of design and its potential to be “a pathfinding means to sustain action countering the unsustainable while also creating far more viable futures”285 has been critical to the framing of this research project. Once design is understood to give or negate time, to have consequences both intended and unintended and thus that design is essentially always unfinished, practicing sustainable fashion design necessitates far greater change to established processes than the selection of eco-fabrics and ethical production facilities. Fry argues that for design to take the lead in securing a future, design, including all design practices, must be re-designed.286 Fry rather emphatically calls for “…taking back the power of design and redirecting it.”287
Redirective practice requires a deliberate transformation of practice that commences with a self- reflective analysis of existing practice, its origin, composition and impacts in the world, followed by a re-making of that practice which may require some practices to be let go and new ones learnt, before the redirected practice is employed to engage with the world with ‘specifically directed transformative intent’.288 Within practice, the research activities are undertaken through cycles of action-reflection, but always in response the question, ‘what will that which has been designed design?’,289 drawing attention to the consequences of the design activities. By repeatedly asking this question during the research study, and especially as each garment was prototyped, forethought of the future impacts of the garments I bring into being, has been embedded into my existing fashion design practice.