The Daily Selection. What we know about what we wear.

By PhD fellow Else Skjold, Designer

Through her PhD programme, Else Skjold has helped to develop the wardrobe method, which combines studies of the everyday clothing practices of individual users with greater societal understanding. It is the result of this work that is presented in the thesis: THE DAILY SELECTION.

Central to Skjold’s PhD thesis is the question of how people develop their taste preferences over time and how these preferences are rooted in their own personal life story, the bodily sensations of clothing, as well as 'external' influences from close relationships and greater social structures.

As relatively little is known about this area, the project uses so-called 'exemplary research', whereby a relatively small group of people is studied in depth. These studies were then compared with research in related areas – design research and consumer research in particular – focusing on the interaction between people and design.

The contribution of the project is to demonstrate how fashion's consumer understanding is relatively limited in relation to the wealth of facets that actually affect people when deciding what to wear every day. This view of the consumption of fashion and clothing asks questions about the skills and values that are passed on in fashion design programmes and the fashion industry today – questions that very much involve the discussion on sustainability, as well as the professional skills of the designers.

Partners
ECCO, Mads Nørgaard