On Textile Reuse : Recycling and Resource Management in the Long Eighteenth Century
Rasmussen, Pernilla LU
(2024)
- Abstract
- Reuse and recycling were important, but often forgotten, parts of managing the preindustrial fashionable wardrobe. Through researching diaries and extant garments from Swedish collections, the sources reveal everyday textile practices of costly textiles, mending, turning, altering, using old fabric or garments for new, change of parts or color, and reuse of textile material for new fabrics. The sources also tell us how reuse was planned by the tailor or seamstress, the importance of the laundry and private collections of fabric scraps and other materials. The discussion highlights the high value of fabrics and garments but also the temporality of construction sewing. Reuse as a concept allows discussions on fashion ideals contra material... (More)
- Reuse and recycling were important, but often forgotten, parts of managing the preindustrial fashionable wardrobe. Through researching diaries and extant garments from Swedish collections, the sources reveal everyday textile practices of costly textiles, mending, turning, altering, using old fabric or garments for new, change of parts or color, and reuse of textile material for new fabrics. The sources also tell us how reuse was planned by the tailor or seamstress, the importance of the laundry and private collections of fabric scraps and other materials. The discussion highlights the high value of fabrics and garments but also the temporality of construction sewing. Reuse as a concept allows discussions on fashion ideals contra material realities, notions of new and old, resource management, social expectations, legislation, class, gender, and age. The wardrobe can be understood as a collection, embodying change, continuity, and strong emotional aspects of memory and identity, but also part of a well-thought economic strategy. Production, consumption, and reuse were closely intertwined, as were the division of work between tailor, seamstress, and customer. Fashion consumption cannot be regarded as pure consumption or waste, but an ongoing process—an investment and a capital for the future, as all asset management demanding skill, knowledge, and creativity. The wardrobe could, if well managed over time, act as an alternative currency, a kind of saving or insurance—a guarantee for a fashionable performance for years to come. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Reuse and recycling were important, but often forgotten, parts of managing the preindustrial fashionable wardrobe. Through researching diaries and extant garments from Swedish collections, the sources reveal everyday textile practices of costly textiles, mending, turning, altering, using old fabric or garments for new, change of parts or color, and reuse of textile material for new fabrics. The sources also tell us how reuse was planned by the tailor or seamstress, the importance of the laundry and private collections of fabric scraps and other materials. The discussion highlights the high value of fabrics and garments but also the temporality of construction sewing. Reuse as a concept allows discussions on fashion ideals contra material... (More)
- Reuse and recycling were important, but often forgotten, parts of managing the preindustrial fashionable wardrobe. Through researching diaries and extant garments from Swedish collections, the sources reveal everyday textile practices of costly textiles, mending, turning, altering, using old fabric or garments for new, change of parts or color, and reuse of textile material for new fabrics. The sources also tell us how reuse was planned by the tailor or seamstress, the importance of the laundry and private collections of fabric scraps and other materials. The discussion highlights the high value of fabrics and garments but also the temporality of construction sewing. Reuse as a concept allows discussions on fashion ideals contra material realities, notions of new and old, resource management, social expectations, legislation, class, gender, and age. The wardrobe can be understood as a collection, embodying change, continuity, and strong emotional aspects of memory and identity, but also part of a well-thought economic strategy. Production, consumption, and reuse were closely intertwined, as were the division of work between tailor, seamstress, and customer. Fashion consumption cannot be regarded as pure consumption or waste, but an ongoing process—an investment and a capital for the future, as all asset management demanding skill, knowledge, and creativity. The wardrobe could, if well managed over time, act as an alternative currency, a kind of saving or insurance—a guarantee for a fashionable performance for years to come. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5a2f02c1-f8bb-45ea-9c8d-a4cf1895b5ae
- author
- Rasmussen, Pernilla
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-11
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- fashionable wardrobe, wardrobe management, textile resource management, reuse, recycling practices, textile value, early modern period, object-led studies
- host publication
- Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion : Volume 10: Global Perspectives - Volume 10: Global Perspectives
- editor
- Eicher, Joanne B. and Tortora, Phyllis G.
- pages
- 5 pages
- publisher
- Berg Publishers
- ISBN
- 978-1-8478-8859-4
- DOI
- 10.2752/9781847888594.EDch102604
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 5a2f02c1-f8bb-45ea-9c8d-a4cf1895b5ae
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-30 21:19:28
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:01:30
@inbook{5a2f02c1-f8bb-45ea-9c8d-a4cf1895b5ae,
abstract = {{Reuse and recycling were important, but often forgotten, parts of managing the preindustrial fashionable wardrobe. Through researching diaries and extant garments from Swedish collections, the sources reveal everyday textile practices of costly textiles, mending, turning, altering, using old fabric or garments for new, change of parts or color, and reuse of textile material for new fabrics. The sources also tell us how reuse was planned by the tailor or seamstress, the importance of the laundry and private collections of fabric scraps and other materials. The discussion highlights the high value of fabrics and garments but also the temporality of construction sewing. Reuse as a concept allows discussions on fashion ideals contra material realities, notions of new and old, resource management, social expectations, legislation, class, gender, and age. The wardrobe can be understood as a collection, embodying change, continuity, and strong emotional aspects of memory and identity, but also part of a well-thought economic strategy. Production, consumption, and reuse were closely intertwined, as were the division of work between tailor, seamstress, and customer. Fashion consumption cannot be regarded as pure consumption or waste, but an ongoing process—an investment and a capital for the future, as all asset management demanding skill, knowledge, and creativity. The wardrobe could, if well managed over time, act as an alternative currency, a kind of saving or insurance—a guarantee for a fashionable performance for years to come.}},
author = {{Rasmussen, Pernilla}},
booktitle = {{Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion : Volume 10: Global Perspectives}},
editor = {{Eicher, Joanne B. and Tortora, Phyllis G.}},
isbn = {{978-1-8478-8859-4}},
keywords = {{fashionable wardrobe, wardrobe management, textile resource management, reuse, recycling practices, textile value, early modern period, object-led studies}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Berg Publishers}},
title = {{On Textile Reuse : Recycling and Resource Management in the Long Eighteenth Century}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/9781847888594.EDch102604}},
doi = {{10.2752/9781847888594.EDch102604}},
year = {{2024}},
}