Fashion Design Commons^™

The State Of Traditional Albanian Kilims, Their Motifs And Narratives, Alexis Zoto

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Albania is a cultural crossroads. Its history is rooted in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. It has been part of the Republic of Venice and part of the Ottoman Empire. It has maintained its own identity and language in spite of many occupiers. Like many of its neighbors, it also has a rich weaving tradition influenced by hundreds of years under Ottoman rule. However, the knowledge of the old ways of this craft is quickly dying out. There are splits in knowledge and documented information between pre-communist Albania and Communist Albania and post-Communist Albania.

In the mid twentieth century …

Four Artists: My Angels And Mentor, Polly Barton

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Interwoven into my life at the loom are the stories of four women: a weaver, a painter, an embroiderer, and a fiber artist. Their histories have guided and pulled me forward in my own growth as an artist. Yet it is to their art that I feel a heartfelt, visceral, and almost spiritual resonance. I would like to present to the TSA conference in 2020 my research into the lives of Sumiko Deguchi (1883-1952), Helen Frankenthaler (1928- 2011), Adya van Rees-Dutilh (1876- 1959), and Pat Hickman (b.1935).

As an artist who has wound, tied, dyed, and woven silk into contemporary …

Intertwining The Past And The Present Through Textiles, Experiences In The Communities, A Vision From Peru, Rommel Angeles Falcón

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In recent years in Perú, a number of initiatives have been independently developed by collective groups, taking prehispanic textile heritage as a reference and beginning to replicate and teach ancient techniques. These initiatives were born from diverse interests, in many cases based on the experiences of weavers from the Andean highlands, textile traditions of the coast and a notable interest on the part of young people. Resist dye techniques, warp-faced weaving and tapestry have been most fully developed. This presentation reviews the principle initiatives developed in the Lima region, the ‘norte chico’ region and the far north coast.

Contemporary Oneida Beadwork: Revitalized Identity Through An “Adopted” Art Form, Beverly Gordon

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

A relatively new type of raised beadwork has “become a way of life” for the Oneida people of Wisconsin. “Beading extravaganzas” are important social events, and beadwork adorns ritual objects such as graduation stoles. This examination of contemporary Oneida beadwork functions as an intriguing update to Ruth Phillip’s 1990 TSA paper, “Moccasins into Slippers: Traditions and Transformations in Nineteenth-Century Woodlands Indian Textiles.” Phillips documented how indigenous forms “morphed” into objects made for sale to non-natives at sites such as Niagara Falls. While even tourist art was part of native cultural identity, its greatest significance was as a source of income …

Ecological Art Exhibition As Transformative Pedagogy, Stacey Skold

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Environmental degradation is considered one of the biggest issues facing humankind. The problem is deep and global with fast fashion playing a significant, yet underrealized role. Scholars have established that developing the sustainable behaviors necessary to mitigate the effects of environmental degradation is a complex process, that knowledge of environmental degradation alone is insufficient to develop sustainable behaviors, and that both attitudinal and behavioral transformations are necessary for global environmental action and stewardship. As a result, researchers have called for new approaches to environmental education to promote transformative learning.

Art experiences can function as a powerful tool in learning and …

Enigmatic Mediterranean Silk Quilts, Kathryn Berenson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Nearly two dozen centuries-old, corded quilts and fragments made of jewel-toned silks rest in North American and European collections. Expertly designed, they are variously stitched with imagery of ships sailing over waters that teem with fish, musicians who play amidst animals that gambol and prance to their music, armed hunters and their dogs in pursuit of boar, wolf, and even lion, and arcaded galleries where half-dressed women pose beneath the arches. Double-headed eagles, a symbol of both political and religious significance, and roundels featuring profiles of men wearing turbans or crowns, are also common motifs.

Each quilt is completely reversible; …

People, Landscape And Wool Weaving In Venezuelan Andes, María Dávila, Eduardo Portillo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Wool weaving has been practiced in the Venezuelan Andean region for centuries, specifically at the Paramo ecosystem. This activity was introduced by the Spaniards and shaped by the relation of its inhabitants with the environment, warm clothing needs, climate, and the isolation of the place. Blankets and ruanas have been made traditionally on elementary handlooms by weavers who still use handspun wool, cotton, and natural dyes. Beauty in simplicity has built a singular aesthetic to be worn within the mist of the mountains. This paper intends to share a personal encounter of the authors with the community of weavers, spinners, …

Coming Together Again: A Case Study On Persian Silk Woven Textiles, Tayana Fincher

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Spanning well beyond the parameters of the Middle East, Islam has always had a global reach. It has adapted to numerous cultures and ancient histories encountered over the past 1,400 years. But, due to the prevailing Eurocentric purview in American museums, little has been recorded about the artists and makers of Islamic textiles. Many of these objects were produced by collective, royal workshops with unnamed contributors, or were intended for devotional use inside domestic spaces. With colonial ventures, too, many passed through the hands of collectors and dealers solely interested in the object’s material or aesthetic value.

A group of …

Transformative Power Of Stitchery: Sashiko From Cold Regions Of Japan And Embroidery Work Of The Nui Project, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper seeks to reveal the transformative power of stitchery by examining textile practices in Japan and articulating how a threaded needle can be viewed as the co-agent of stitchers, infusing their materials with properties in a “processual” and relational manner that reflects the currents of their lifeworld.^[1] I will contrast and compare two practices, one ancient and one modern, one responding to life’s necessities and the other simply to the act of stitching. In the ancient world, stitchery was essential for human survival, and later in rural Japan, sashiko stitchery was a medium that connected textiles with daily …

Where Can Objects Take You? The Case Of The World War Ii Japanese Airman's Suit, Madelyn Shaw, Trish Fitzsimons

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

“Dad always said that ‘It’s made out of Australian wool,’ and I thought that was just a joke because you couldn’t see how the Japanese would get hold of Australian wool during the war…. But it is a fine material…. They weren’t scrapping for something to wear.” —Wally Lanagan

In December 1942, the Yokosuka Military Department manufactured, surely among hundreds of others, a flying suit, which may or may not have ever been worn by a Japanese pilot. It did, however, end up on display at the Pioneer Park Museum in Dalby, a small town in rural Queensland, Australia. It …

Textile Memory In Colchane: Weavers Revitalizing The Aymara Tradition, Soledad Hoces De La Guardia

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In Aymara culture, textiles have played a fundamental role as highly valued community possessions and significant media for ritual and tradition. In Chilean territory, the Colchane community has been fortunate, because they have here retained, with fidelity and vigor, their culture and traditional textile practices. However, the average age of active weavers is rising and those younger do not have the technical expertise of their elders, which has led to the loss of a significant part of traditional technical knowledge.

To not forget the “handwork” became an urgent concern for artisans in the community, members of the Aymar Warmi association, …

Viscacha: Luxury, Fate And Identification In Precolumbian Textiles, Elena Phipps, Caroline Solazzo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Since the sixteenth century, references by Spanish chroniclers to the use of chinchilla hair (Andean rodents of several species including viscacha) by Andean weavers indicate that the fine hair of these animals had been incorporated into textiles. Their fine soft hair, often mottled in color, has distinctive characteristics which vary and, as a result, make them difficult to identify. Some archaeological finds, primarily in Chile have reported viscacha skins and fur bags, but few if any reports have identified the presence of textiles or spun yarns that incorporate this special fiber. The depiction of the animal takes on special meaning …

Unseen, Unheard, Unnamed: The Matchless And Unsung Heroes Of The Textile Art And Craft Of Rajasthan, Simrita Singh, Anu H. Gupta

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Rajasthan is known for its exquisite handicrafts, especially the textiles. In spite of having the most vibrant and glorious traditions, this sector has been grossly unorganized due to the poor socio-economic status of the artisans. The educational background of the artisans also is not satisfactory; hence, they lack public relations skills. They are totally dependent on big traders and middlemen for marketing purposes. Moreover, in this era of labels and designers, the artisans, however skilled or endowed they may be, have to work under some renowned brand or name to have a regular livelihood. However, not all artisans are lucky …

Artistic Philanthropy And Women’S Emancipation In Early Twentieth-Century Italy, In The Life And The Work Of Romeyne Robert And Carolina Amari, Ruggero Ranieri

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Romeyne Robert, married as Ranieri di Sorbello, started an embroidery school in 1904 in Umbria, at the family’s country estate of Pischiello. Her goal was to teach young peasant women to emancipate themselves by learning the craft of embroidery. She was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in America and by contemporary programs developed in settlement houses along the East Coast. Their aim was to help the emancipation of immigrant women from Italy by fostering the recovery of artisan skills. At the Sorbello Embroidery School, Romeyne rediscovered the Renaissance technique originally called the punto Umbro, later renamed punto Sorbello. …

Tribal Textiles And The Mingei Circle In Japan: Muneyoshi Yanagi’S View On Carpet, Yumiko Kamada

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Tribal carpets and textiles have been enthusiastically collected by connoisseurs and ordinary people in Europe and the United States for years. Along with a number of publications on tribal carpets and textiles, several recent exhibitions such as Portable Storage: Tribal Weavings from the Collection of William and Inger Ginsberg at the Metropolitan Museum of Art indicate a keen academic interest in the West. In contrast, tribal carpets and textiles did not gain the attention of the majority of Japanese. However, some Japanese, especially Yanagi Muneyoshi and his friends in the Mingei circle, notably Hamada Shoji, Serizawa Keisuke, and Tonomura Kichinosuke, …

An Evaluation Of Sustainability In Consumption: The Behaviors Behind Purchase, Care, And Disposal Of Apparel, Ana La Rosa

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Fashion trend cycles have become increasingly fast-paced and unsustainable due to competition and consumer demand in the apparel sector. Despite having sustainable apparel choices available, consumers seem reluctant to adopt sustainable changes in their consumption habits due in part to the market allure of rapid turnover of goods, better known as ‘Fast Fashion’. Paired with aggressive marketing campaigns that encourage increased consumption beyond need, the apparel industry keeps expanding at alarming rates around the world. Although it has been identified that consumers increasingly care about the unethical behaviors in the industry that negatively impact the environment, this feeling does not …

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 31:2—Fall 2019, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Letter from the President

TSA News:
Announcing the 2019 Fellows of the Textile Society of America
New Professionals Convening: Envisioning Textiles Futures
Observations of New Professionals Convening: Envisioning Textiles Futures
Board Workshop with artEquity
Announcing Research Travel Grant Recipients
Textiles Close Up: Textiles Old and New in Detroit’s Cultural Center
Cooper Hewitt’s Object of the Day Blog Hosts TSA Members for NYC Textile Month

In Memoriam: Marion Coleman

In Memoriam: Archie Brennan

TSA Symposium News
17th Biennial Symposium: Hidden Stories/Human Lives
16th Biennial Symposium Workshop Review: Rediscovering the Potential of WARP(S)

International Exhibitions

Featured Article
A Land of Light and …

Millennials' Acceptance Of Voice Activated Shopping, Katelyn Nicole Sorensen

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The rise of voice technologies has changed the way individuals complete tasks and interact with their devices. Retail companies are now offering voice features to shop for products, but there is a gap in literature about consumers’ acceptance of using voice technology to make purchases. Previous studies have compared the different brands of voice technologies, investigated privacy issues, or explained the acceptance of voice technology. Millennials’ acceptance and shopping through voice technologies have not been researched before. Kääriä (2017) calls for future studies to focus on voice technologies, since the technology is constantly improving, and new forms are entering the …

From Lace To Chains. The Making Of A Print, Alison G. Stewart

Zea E-Books Collection

How have printed works of art changed over time? Do printmakers today work with the same materials and techniques that printmakers used centuries ago? And does printmaking involve the same motivations, concerns, or methods of distribution today as it did in the past?

These were questions asked by University of Nebraska–Lincoln students in a history of prints class in the School of Art, Art History & Design taught by Hixson-Lied Professor of Art History Alison Stewart during fall semester 2018. For this curatorial project, students selected one set of old master prints (pre-1850) and one modern (post-1850) print from Sheldon’s …

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 31:1—Spring 2019, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Letter from the President

TSA News:
Textiles Close Up: Andean Meets Anni in Chicago
R. L. Shep Ethnic Textile Book Award 2018 Nominees
Special Issue of JTDRP [Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice] Published
TSA Seeking a Newsletter Editor
International Report

In Memoriam: Sandra Alfoldy

TSA Symposium News
TSA Symposium 2020: Call for Submissions
Report from Student and New Professional Awardees

Book Reviews
The Art and Science of Natural Dyes: Principles, Experiments, and Results
Call for Submissions: Textile Month

Featured Exhibitions
Anni Albers
TSA Members at Fiberart International 2019
Contemporary Muslim Fashions

Member News

Sins Against Our Soles: The Morality And Hygiene Of Nineteenth-Century Women's Shoes, Nicole Rudolph

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Our understanding of the Victorian woman has long centered around the idea of the “Angel in the House,” made famous by Coventry Patmore’s 1854 poem. This mythical ideal to which a middle-class woman should endeavor can be found in endless numbers of nineteenth-century texts and has become an oft-referenced concept in modern historiography. Representations of the attributes of the ideal woman circulated widely in society, pictured in etiquette books, medical journals, and especially advertisements. They were an ever-present reminder to women of the social norms governing their roles and life trajectories. As consumers, women were responsible for the presentation of …

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 30:2 — Fall 2018, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the President

TSA News
Welcome New TSA Board Members
Our Focus on Diversity: Vision Statement
R. L. Shep Ethnic Textile Book Award
Diedrick Brackens Honored with 2018 Brandford/Elliott Award

International Report
Featured Exhibitions
Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT)
Opportunity
The University of North Texas to Close Fibers Program by Spring 2019

TSA Symposium
The Social Fabric: Deep Local to Pan Global in pictures
TSA Members' Exhibition
Reports from Student & New Professional Awardees

A Long-Delayed Professional Conversation

Book Reviews
Art, Honor, and Ridicule: Fante Asafo Flags from Southern Ghana
Polychromatic Screen Printing …

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 30:1 — Spring 2018, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Letter from the Senior Editor

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the President

TSA News:
From the Nomination Committee
Slate of Candidates

TSA "Meet Up" at the Textile Museum, Washington, DC

R. L. Shep Ethnic Textile Book Award 2017 Nominees

Textile Society of America 30th Anniversary
A Personal Connection to TSA

Call for Submissions: Textile Month

RE: Gender Bend: Women In Wood, Men at the Loom

Coping with the Perils from Apparel

Book Reviews
Women Artisans of Morocco: Their Stories Their Lives
From Tapestry to Fiber Art: The Lausanne Biennials, 1962-1995
Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen …

This Book Is Valuable: An Anthology Of Essays On Design And The Perception Of Value In Luxury Fashion Objects, Carlos Velasco

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This Book is Valuable seeks to analyze how different concepts related to design and culture have influenced the apparent and perceived value of luxury fashion objects. This question is explored in different contexts to provide clarity and observation to the contemporary construction of value through systems of design.

This thesis is an anthology of three essays. The first essay is about immaterial capitalism, a system of knowledge, skill and imagination based capital. The second essay is about the strategy of artification, using fine art as a way to link systems of value together. It is also about how luxury conglomerates …

The Future Of Textiles: Disruption And Collaboration, Susan Brown, Matilda Mcquaid, David Breslauer, Suzanne Lee, Anais Missakian, Abby-George Erikson, Salem Van Der Swaagh

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The textile field, while not “local” in the geographic sense, is a community: a group of people with a shared language, history, and practices that date back thousands of years. As deeply-rooted as those materials and practices are, textiles is also an area that has historically experienced enormous disruptions due to changing technology and globalization. In the 21^st century, we are undergoing something like a second Industrial Revolution. Advances in digital and robotic technologies and shifting labor markets are driving a revolution in where and how things are made. Global climate change, lack of food security for much of …

Timberline Textiles: Creating A Sense Of Place, Annin Barrett

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Timberline Village holds an iconic place in popular culture, serving as a symbol of Western U.S. mountain tradition. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining was filmed there, dozens of ski-wear advertisements feature it as background, and it has even been used for an immersive horror game setting. During the early 20^th century, other great mountain lodges were built in the West, but what makes Timberline unique is its textiles. It receives almost two million visitors a year who come from around the world to admire this handcrafted building perched at 6000 fee elevation on Mt. Hood in Oregon. The Lodge was …

Wrapped In Wool: Coast Salish Wool Weaving, Vancouver’S Public Art, And Unceded Territory, Alison Ariss

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Coast Salish blankets, lovingly woven with hand dyed, home spun, and commercially produced yarns, adorn the walls of an international airport, museum, universities, and national broadcasting studio, and a mixed-use development project in Vancouver. All of these publicly accessible sites are located in unceded Coast Salish territory, upon which this city exists. These weavings present a conundrum. Simultaneously viewed as public art and symbols of cultural revitalization, their recognition as fine art has been limited, as most discourse about Coast Salish blankets has occurred outside of the discipline of art history. How then, have these weavings found their way into …

Schoolgirl Embroideries: Integrating Indigenous Motifs, Materials, And Text, Lynne Anderson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Hand embroidery was an integral part of female education in Europe, America, and their colonized territories until the late 19^th century. All girls embroidered at least one sampler and many stitched more than one. Because needlework was part of the school’s curriculum; a sampler’s composition, technique, and text communicate a great deal about the teacher’s goals, as well as community and family expectations, including those of indigenous students. This presentation explores ways in which indigenous motifs, materials, and text were integrated into schoolgirl samplers and other girlhood embroideries, leaving visible evidence of cross-cultural accommodations. Motifs are recurring patterns or …

Eliza Calvert Hall, A Book Of Hand-Woven Coverlets, And Collecting Coverlet Patterns In Early Twentieth Century Appalachia, Philis Alvic

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In her 1912 book, Eliza Calvert Hall describes looking out of her window and seeing coverlets thrown over tobacco wagons on way to market. She would run out and try to bargain with the owner for the coverlet. She collected coverlets, their design names, and their patterns. Since Hall supported herself with her writing, she counted on her coverlet book appealing to the wide audience of people interested in the Colonial Revival in home decoration. Although hall published the book, she was just the more visible of those interested in coverlets during the early twentieth century. Throughout Appalachia, there were …

Chilean Arpilleras: Writing A Visual Culture, R. Darden Bradshaw

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper highlights a recent inquiry into the contemporary visual culture of the Chilean arpillera from a cross-global perspective. This art form derived from political, social, and economic conditions of the times yet contemporary manifestations do not address these origins. Arpilleras, historically created in the home and sewn by hand, are constructions in which bits of discarded cloth and burlap were used to compose pictorial narratives. The art form arose in Chile during a period of intense political oppression. This manifestation of women’s fiber art has and continues to serve as both seditious and reconstructive forms of visual culture. While …