Evaluating the Role of Cultural Studies in BA (Hons) Degree courses in Art

& Design at Northbrook College

Deconstructing Fashion Design: Integrating Theory and Practice in Design

Education

Richard Walker and Steven Dell

Date: Friday 29th August 2008
Acknowledgements

We would like to express our thanks to the Sussex Learning Network for
funding our research and in particular to Chris Baker for his advice and Adam
Stewart for his assistance. We would like to thank the staff at Northbrook,
especially Jac Cattaneo, Catherine Redknap, Simon Ives and Jenny Stead for
encouragement and help administering our project. We are grateful to all the
supporting staff and visiting lecturers who contributed to the project: Gayle
Atkins, Anna Pugh, Joseph Cifuentes, Mary Hassett, J.J. Hudson (aka Noki)
and Robert de Niet. Most importantly we would like to thank all the students
who took part for their inspiration and enthusiasm.

Richard Walker and Steven Dell

Contents

Introduction Page 1
Historical Context Page 2
Contemporary Context Page 3
Institutional Context Page 4
Art Schools & Dyslexia Page 4
Current Initiatives: Writing Purposefully in Art & Design Page 5
Summary of Background & Context Page 5
Project Aims Page 6
Integrating Theory & Practice in Fashion Design Education Page 6
Rationale for Applying Deconstruction Theory Page 6
Derrida & Deconstruction Theory Page 8
Deconstruction & Design Page 9
Project Development Page 10
Presentation Slides Page 11
Illustrations of Reader Page 13
Deconstruction Project Studio sessions Page 14
Project Outcomes & Evaluation Page 15
Feedback and Documentation Page 18
Conclusions Page 21
Bibliography Page 25
Bibliography of Reader Page 26
Appendix i: Extract from Project Brief Page 27
Appendix ii: Deconstruction Glossary Page 33
Appendix iii: Student Abstracts Page 39
Appendix iv: Project Assessment Feedback Brief Page 45
Evaluating the Role of Cultural Studies in BA (Hons) Degree courses in Art
& Design at Northbrook College

Deconstructing Fashion Design: Integrating Theory and Practice in Design

Education

This project arose from an initial proposal to conduct a broad study evaluating
the role of Cultural and Supporting Studies (CASS) in BA (Hons) Degree
courses in Art & Design at Northbrook College. The basic aim of this proposal
was to examine how Cultural and Supporting Studies was delivered across BA
programmes on courses catering to different disciplines and consider how this
aspect of study could be most effectively integrated into design education at a
degree level. The project was intended to explore issues familiar to practitioners
in this area concerning the relevance of academic studies and how best these
can be integrated into courses whose students are principally engaged in
practical and creative fields of design.

Whilst these topics have remained a central concern, it was decided early on in
the project to narrow the focus of this research and concentrate on a specific
collaborative project between CASS (Cultural and Supporting Studies) and
Studio Staff.

This has been focused on the collaboration between myself, Richard Walker, as
the tutor responsible for the level one student’s CASS input, and Steven Dell,
who is the Course Leader of BA (Hons) Fashion Design Course. Our aim has
been to plan and assess strategies intended to integrate theory and practice in
the delivery of teaching on this course.

This project was funded by the Sussex Learning Network. Initial findings have
been presented at their annual conference Three by the Sea: Learning From
Research on June 25th. Subsequently we have also arranged to disseminate
the research, both at a Furthering Scholarship event at Northbrook on July 9th
and at the Centre for Learning & Teaching Conference: Social purpose and
creativity: integrating learning in the real, held at Brighton University on Friday
11th July, 2008.

Before looking at the specific details of the project we used as basis for this
research, it will be helpful to outline some of the context in which we work and
how this contributes to the issues we are seeking to address.
Historical Context

The Coldstream Report and the role of Art History in Art Schools

The questions of the relationship between theory and practice in art and design
have been part of an ongoing discourse since the Coldstream Report was first
published in 1960. In reforming art and design education, William Coldstream’s
committee proposed implementing a three year Diploma in Art and Design
which would provide an equivalent level of education with the University sector.
In order to ensure this standard the report insisted that ‘the history of art should
be studied throughout the course and should be examined for the Diploma’
(Coldstream, 1960). In summarizing these proposals Malcolm Quinn notes that
‘the report recommended that each student should engage with the general
history of major arts, the history of their chosen practice, and complementary
studies’. (Quinn, 2006)

In his paper, Art History and the Art School - the Sensibilities of Labour, Quinn
observes that the model for this was originally based on the programmes of
lectures at the Slade School given under Coldtstream’s professorship and in
some senses this model has provided the basic template ever since.
Nevertheless, there was contemporaneous criticism such as an editorial in the
Burlington Magazine in 1962 which questioned both the practicalities as well as
the intellectual and pedagogical rationale underpinning these proposals. As
Quinn remarks, the editorial challenged the ‘lack of fit between the
epistemological frameworks of Courtauld Art history and the rough and ready
environment of British art schools.’ (Quinn, 2006 commenting on the Burlington
Magazine editorial, 1962).

Later criticism came from Raymond Durgnat who opposed the passive
consumption of the canons of art history and suggested that rather than
replicating the ‘dream like unreality’ of the middle class ethos of universities, art
schools, with their ‘continual, anguished, messy search’ were in a prime position
to respond to the social contradictions of the times (Durgnat, 1969). What such
students required was ‘a language or theoretical matrix in which these
contradictions could be defined and debated’ (Quinn, 2006 summarising
Durgnat, 1969). By this time, both the radicalism of the Paris events of 1968
and the home-grown sit-in at the Hornsey College of Art had begun to affect
both staff and students in British Art schools. Consequently the curriculum of art
history and cultural studies began to be shaped by ideas drawn from sociology,
social history, anthropology, psychology and philosophy. Moreover the debates
that had begun in the fifties about what the idea of ‘culture’ represented and the
relationship between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, resulted in the influential critiques
of ‘British cultural studies’ from academics such as those of the Centre for
Contemporary Cultural Studies, in Birmingham. (see for instance Hebdige,
1990).

By the 1970s then, art history and cultural studies had been expanded and
revised by a variety of theoretical perspectives such as continental philosophy
and the political interventions of feminists, Marxists and the critiques of post-
colonialism. The advantages of this have been to broaden the basis of
theoretical and historical input in the Art & Design curriculum away from a series
of narrow canonical ‘survey’ lectures, the content of which could be criticised for
its bias towards a male, Eurocentric and elitist emphasis. However, it could be
argued that the diversity of these components has resulted in a plethora of
approaches and students often find themselves bewildered by a baffling range
of theoretical terminology drawn from writing which seems to have little
relevance to the actual production of images and objects. Moreover the
specialist knowledge such theory relies on can contribute to divided teaching
culture of researching and teaching as well as academic and practical staff.

The questions remain then, if art and design studies are to be accorded parity
with other awards of higher education degrees, as to what theoretical input
should be taught, how this can be productively and beneficially applied in
students practical work and how might this best be assessed.

The Contemporary Context

The QUAA

Formed in 1997, the QUAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education) is
the body charged with ensuring the standards of Higher Education. The QUAA
benchmarks recognise that many institutions have shifted from a traditional
model of historical studies and towards a greater range of approaches which
attempt to integrate theoretical knowledge with practical outcomes. Benchmark
3.5 states;

In the 20th century, a knowledge of the history of art and design was deemed essential
for students primarily concerned with their own practice in an art or a design discipline.
This component of their course was frequently taught and assessed as a separate
subject. … Latterly, institutions have explored a range of alternative ways to engage
practitioners in the historical, theoretical and critical dimensions of their discipline(s).
Other contextualising and theoretical constructs have been introduced into programmes
of study alongside the historical to achieve the appropriate integration of practice and
theory required to reinforce practitioners' critical and intellectual engagement with their
subject. Many art and design programmes have also broadened their curriculum by the
inclusion of, for example, business, marketing, modern languages and other professional
contextualising subjects.

A number of points are of interest here. Not only is the recognition of

importance of theory to practice relevant in this context, but also the
acknowledgement that these aspects of teaching have often been maintained in
isolation. Also the emphasis on professional and commercial contexts is worth
noting since it is in keeping with the current climate of the political aspirations of
government for higher education, which as Quinn remarks is ‘directed once
more towards the re-education of labour for the urgent demands of capital
growth and national advantage’ (Quinn, 2006, p3).

So the nature of this debate continues to change, as educational institutions

respond to changing social contexts as well as the educational goals and
policies which governments pursue.

Current educational policy has facilitated a widening participation in further and

higher education, which has resulted in greater numbers of students applying
for degrees and encouraged further education colleges to implement degree
programmes. Northbrook College, where this project has been undertaken, is
typical of this trend.
Institutional Context: Northbrook College

Northbrook College is an FE College in Sussex, which has for over 10 years

developed an expanding HE provision. This is part of the move to a widening
franchise in continuing education, which serves a constituency of students with
a variety of needs and abilities including; mature students returning to
education, students for whom English is a foreign language and those in need
of additional learning support. At Northbrook, as in Art and Design courses in
general, we teach students with a range of academic abilities, many of who
need additional help particularly given the high percentage of students with
dyslexia in this area.

Art Schools and Dyslexia

Widening participation to higher education has necessitated both removing

barriers to entrance and providing assistance to those students who in need of
additional support in achieving academically. Whilst there is increasing
awareness of this in higher education as whole, it is a particularly prominent
feature of art and design education.

In her discussion paper confronting the issue of Designing effective curriculum

for dyslexic students within Art and Design in Higher Education, Heather
Symonds notes the overall increase in dyslexic students in HE has risen from
1,679 in 1994, to 11,865 in 2005. She goes on to remark that ‘Art led Higher
Education institutions should also be aware that the Creative Arts and Design
subject areas attracted the highest percentage of dyslexic students at 5.59%’.
She suggests that this may in part be due to students selecting routes to
subject areas with as little writing or traditional exams as possible and also that
admission to these courses ‘has always centred on the portfolio’. (Symonds,
2005).

Organisations such as the National Working Party on Dyslexia in Higher

Education (see Dyslexia in HE: policy, provision and practice, 1999) have
recommended that the best way to help dyslexic students is to look at courses
themselves and Symmonds suggests higher educational practitioners adopt a
‘new paradigm’ by raising pertinent questions as to:

‘Who are my students? What learning style suits them best? What is it that needs
adjusting? What are our expectations of students from entry to exit? Are they still
appropriate? What needs changing?’ (Symonds, 2005).
Current Initiatives: Writing Purposefully in Art & Design

Symond’s discussion paper is amongst resources collected as part of an

initiative started in 2002 funded by HEFCE titled Writing Purposefully in Art &
Design. Led by Goldsmiths College, Central Saint Martins College of Art &
Design and the Royal College of Art the project has recognised the problems
common in this area of teaching and has sought to promote and disseminate
innovative projects, which ‘encourage the use of writing as a valid tool for the
reflective practitioner’. (Writing PAD, 2002)

In the conferences and online resources Writing PAD have organized the
project provided a forum to discuss these issues. Their introductory primer
acknowledges ‘an enforced split in A&D schools between the studio practice
and written theory’ which dates from the conditions established in 60s as
discussed above and that since there was ‘no traditional writing model for artists
and designers, the traditional model, derived from the scientific tradition, was
applied.’

And this is where we find ourselves, as educators in A&D, today; working with a split that
has resulted in a mismatch between how our students learn and reflect in studio and how
they learn and reflect on theory. Indeed, this can be seen though many recommendations
made in course information to endorse a certain kind of linear thinking. This may come
through criteria or assessment requirements. As a result, though A&D students may
‘read’ many kinds of ‘texts’ 10, the book, the printed matter, which may be the least
commonly referred to by student-practitioners, is privileged in how students may
encounter theory and what is required of them through academic writing. Furthermore,
students tend to develop practical skills in studio by doing -a kinetic mode - in contrast to
the learning of writing skills - a much more ‘static’ and linear mode. These modes require
the adoption of completely different and diverse learning styles, which some students find
impossible to negotiate. Moreover, the activities of research, reflection and analysis that
are part of studio work may not be balanced with the research and linear analysis that is
required of formal writing. Though common elements could be shown to exist between
the two practices, this may not be how students encounter them. Further, traditional
writing and time-bound writing constraints may not allow space for the ‘reverie’ and free
association used by A&D students when generating ideas. There may also be a
‘repression of ambivalence’, which may be important to some A&D practitioners. Part of
this split is to show the binary opposites that all A&D students face, strengths and
weaknesses with which students on other types of courses simply do not have to engage.

Summary of background and context

Ever since the Coldstream report and the inception of degrees in studio based
art and design courses, the role of academic input has continued to be an
issue.

Conventionally ‘art history’, ‘cultural’ or ‘critical studies’ have been included in

curricula, almost as an afterthought -a supplementary activity which is divorced
from studio practice in terms of teaching style and delivery. Moreover lecturers
in this area are familiar with the perception from students that this may be
irrelevant or of low priority in comparison to their practical work. These issues
have become prominent in Art and Design education and have been the focus
of pioneering studies undertaken by projects such as Writing Purposefully in Art
& Design. The problem of how to make academic research, reading and writing
relevant to studio practice is the key issue this project seeks to address.
Project Aims

In order to engage with problems arising from the issues outlined above, we
have set out to examine the following:

How can we better integrate theory and practice?

How can we encourage students to engage with theoretical ideas, from textual
sources and apply these concepts in their design?

How can we use reading, writing and discussion to explore the relevance of
these ideas?

What kind of design practice are we aiming for?

How can we encourage students to become innovative and creative designers?

How can we improve our own teaching practice to ensure our students continue
to improve as designers?

Integrating Theory and Practice in Fashion Design Education

Although our ultimate objective is to comprehensively fuse the CASS

components with design studies on the course, the first part of our project to
integrate the elements of theory and practice in the curriculum has been
focused on a design brief entitled Fabric Initiative: Deconstruction. This is
essentially a studio-based project encouraging students to find innovative ways
of constructing garments, whilst at the same time developing their familiarity
and awareness of the use of fabrics.

The projects theme draws on the ideas of Deconstruction Theory as proposed

by the French Post-Structuralist philosopher Jacques Derrida, whose strategies
of literary and philosophical 'deconstruction' have been applied to avant-garde
fashion by designers such as the Belgian group the Antwerp Six and Martin
Margeila.

Rationale for Applying Deconstruction Theory

There are both pros and cons in setting out to introduce this particular branch of
theoretical ideas to students. We would be the first to admit that these ideas are
difficult to understand. Derrida’s writing, reflecting, as it often does, on the
relationship that words have to meaning, is full of unusual terminology and
neologisms. Furthermore these ideas relate to philosophical notions apparently
far removed from art and design history or practice.

However as mentioned above there is already a precedent of the application of

these ideas in design practice, given the considerable extent to which they
influenced not only fashion designers such as the Antwerp Six, but also had an
earlier impact on architectural design. The term ‘Deconstructivist Architecture’
has been applied to the work of Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaus, Daniel Liebeskind
and Frank Gehry and originates from an exhibition of same name held at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1988.

Therefore, introducing the topic provides an opportunity to show students

instances of contemporary fashion design practice and make connections, both
with their theoretical reference points as well as examples of the congruence of
practice within other design fields such as Architecture. This was neatly
demonstrated by the recent exhibition 
 Skin+Bones: Parallel Practices in
Fashion and Architecture held at Somerset House in London.

A number of problems arose in relation to context of the curriculum of the

course as a whole. Both the CASS component of the course and the units
devoted to practical skills workshops and design studies already contributed to
a packed timetable and devoting time to the Fabric Initiative: Deconstruction
project ran the risk of diverting hours from existing studies. Moreover the fact
that Deconstruction can be best understood within the conceptual framework of
‘Post-Structuralism’, meant that it was advantageous to first introduce the
students to ‘Structuralism’. Though this was possible to do since in the first year
students are introduced to the structuralist theory of ‘semiotics’ as this is applied
to analysing visual codes, the students were consequently given a challenging
amount of theoretical input within a short time in their first semester. Although
such complex ideas might have been easier for the students to assimilate by
their second year on the course, we hoped to show that the advantages of
providing students with this extent of theoretical input, provides them with a
strong conceptual basis from which to approach creative design as they
progress throughout the course.

Although our concerted approach to this project was new, Steven Dell had been
running the project on a less ambitious scale for the last two years and the
results from student work and the way in which these students were applying
ideas to design in their final collections, was already beginning to bear fruit. The
rationale for this project was also influenced by the more practical outcomes the
project aimed to achieve in developing students knowledge and awareness of
how to select and incorporate fabrics within their designs. (see Brief in Appendix
I).

A final rationale was in the nature of deconstruction as a creative process in

itself. Just as Derrida’s ideas were developed out of a political critique and
presented a challenge to overturn the moribund nature of literary analysis, a
Deconstructive approach to fashion design encourages students to think
critically about the fundamental assumptions about what clothing and fashion
consists of and to subvert conventions or tease out multiple meanings,
ambivalence and ambiguity.

Despite the difficulties inherent in focusing on deconstruction, we feel this has

provided plenty of scope for introducing students to theoretical ideas, which
they have been encouraged to apply imaginatively to constructing, or
'deconstructing', fashion garments.

Before moving on to look at our project and its outcomes it may be helpful to
briefly summarise some key points about Derrida’s philosophy and how this has
been adopted within design practice.
Derrida and Deconstruction Theory

Although it is not possible to provide a comprehensive account of Jacques

Derrida’s ideas here, it may be worth briefly summarising some of the main
ideas he has become associated for the sake of clarifying the concepts which
form the central basis of this project.

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) was born in Algeria and from a Jewish

background, Derrida was expelled from his school on the basis of anti-semetic
quotas and after initially failing his entrance exam he enrolled to the École
Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he studied philosophy and became friends
with Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. He would also teach at the university
as well as at the Sorbonne. In Paris he became associated with the Tel Quel
group, as well as studying and lecturing in America at Harvard and John
Hopkins University, where after a lecture in 1966 his work began to attract
international recognition. This reputation was consolidated by his first three
books; Writing and Difference, Speech and Phenomena, and Of Grammatology.
However he was reviled as much as acclaimed, most notoriously when
academics at Cambridge University protested at his being awarded an honorary
degree.

Put very simply, Derrida’s writings question the assumptions which underpin the
metaphysical foundations central to the traditions of western philosophy.
Originally writing at a time when structuralist ideas were beginning to take hold,
Derrida questioned whether it was possible to understand structures, without
comprehending their genesis or history. Moreover, he argued that such a
beginning cannot be a purity, simplicity or unity, since otherwise, a complex
structure could not follow from it. This distances his approach from
Structuralism, though his work extends from its influences and sources (such as
his analysis of de Saussure), and accounts for the way in which he has become
associated with post-structuralism.

...the entire history of the concept of structure, before the rupture of which we are
speaking, must be thought of as a series of substitutions of centre for centre, as a linked
chain of determinations of the centre. Successively, and in a regulated fashion, the centre
receives different forms or names. The history of metaphysics, like the history of the
West, is the history of these metaphors and metonymies. Its matrix [...] is the
determination of Being as presence in all senses of this word. It could be shown that all
the names related to fundamentals, to principles, or to the centre have always designated
an invariable presence – eidos, archē, telos, energeia, ousia (essence, existence,
substance, subject), alētheia, transcendentality, consciousness, God, man, and so forth.
"Structure, Sign and Play" in Writing and Difference, (Derrida, 1978 p. 353.)

More importantly perhaps is the method Derrida began to employ and which
has come to be known as ‘Deconstruction’. This entailed a careful interrogation
of texts, through which Derrida sought to unravel their contradictions rather than
their consistencies. Through a deconstructive reading, Derrida looked for the
absence behind presence, what was ambiguous, ambivalent or marginalized
within a text. Fundamental ideas were often based on dichotomies, for instance
between ‘god’ and ‘man’, ‘mind’ and ‘body’, ‘writing’ and ‘speech’. Implicit in
such ‘binary oppositions’, was a hierarchical relationship in which some
concepts were ‘privileged’ whilst others were ‘subordinated’. One strategy
Derrida adopts is to reverse this relationship by ‘overturning’ the terms.
However he is not intent on simply replacing one hierarchical relationship with
another, so much as destabilising the assumed interrelation and producing a
‘free-play’ in which the meanings shift and vacillate, they are ‘undecidable’ and
do not divide easily into categories.

As part of our supporting materials we have produced a glossary explaining

some of these key ideas and the terminology associated with Derrida’s writing,
which is included here in the appendix in order to help clarify these concepts
further (See Appendix ii).

Deconstruction and Design

The link between these apparently esoteric philosophical discussions and

design is not immediately apparent, however since these ideas began to
circulate in the 70s, they have had an impact outside of philosophical circles
and entered the realm of broader arena of discourse including design practice
and critical writing on visual culture. As mentioned above the initial application
of these ideas was through the kind of architectural projects featured in 1988
exhibition Deconstructivist Architecture at MOMA in New York. In fact Derrida
himself had collaborated in 1982 with Peter Eisenman and Bernard Tschumi,
architects featured in this exhibition, on an award-winning project at the Parc de
la Villette in Paris.

The reflexive and critical nature of a deconstructive approach to architecture,

which would subsequently influence Fashion as well, is well summarised in
John A. Walker’s definition of term as it applied to design.

‘Deconstuctivist Architects were said to use the critical tactics of Deconstruction in order
to question accepted architectural notions of form, function, permanence, harmony, order,
meaning and beauty’ (Walker, 1992).

Just as Derrida questioned the fundamental metaphysical notions which

provide the foundations or ‘grounding’ terms of western philosophy, it is easy to
see how designers in any field might seek to question the essential fundamental
assumptions underpinning their own disciplines.

Since its impact on Architecture in the 70s and 80s, Deconstruction has had an
invigorating influence on Fashion in the 80s and 90s, as designers sought to
interogate the fundamentel precepts underpinning clothing and fashion. This
has entailed examing formal aspects of construction (seams, hems linings, -
‘inside’ / ‘outside’, ‘underwear’ / ‘outerwear’ etc.), the conventional generic
categories of dress (‘formal’ / ‘informal’) as well as essential relationships
signified through clothing such as codes of gender, status and origin. Morover
the reflexivity of such practice often sets out to critique the very nature of
Fashion and its relation to our social relations and modes of production.

As Alison Gill observes in her dicsussion of the correspondence between

fashion and philosphy prompted by the intervention of Deconstruction theory:

Deconstruction in fashion is something like an auto-critique of the fashion system: It

displays an almost X-ray capability to reveal the enabling conditions of fashion, the
concepts of ornamentation, glamour, spectacle, illusion, fantasy, creativity, innovation
 and the principles of its practice through form, material, construction, fabrication, pattern,
stitching, finish. (Gill, 1988, p27)

In addition to the aforementioned Antwerp Six (Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann

Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkemberg, Marina
Yee) and Martin Margheila, notable exponents of this approach have been Rei
Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons,Yohji Yamamoto, Helmut Lang and Victor
and Rolf.

As well as providing a helpful pathway of reference points to a significant trend

in contemporary practice, introducing Deconstruction theory, provides a
framework of critique through which students can recognise structures inherent
in fashion and clothing as a system of meaning and also a strategy through
which they can derail and reconfigure these signs and structures.

Project Development

The project has been planned through a series of meetings between myself as
CASS tutor, and Steven Dell, as both the Course Leader and tutor for the
project. We have revised the original project brief and prepared additional
materials to provide support and reference for the students. These included
PowerPoint briefing presentations from Steven. Steven’s presentation focused
more on the application of deconstruction theory to design, whilst my own
presented an art historical and theoretical overview. These presentations have
now been made available as an online resource (see figs. 1.a & b. and 2. a &
b).

In addition to the brief content, which includes a schedule and details of project
requirements, we have provided a supplementary Glossary of critical
terminology (see Appendix ii). We have also compiled a 'reader' including a
selection of secondary texts on Derrida and Deconstruction as well as articles
relating to the application of these ideas in a fashion design context (see
Appendix Y for bibliographical contents). Bearing in mind the visual bias of our
students, these have been selected with the aim of providing relatively
accessible short segments of reading, which are also prominently illustrated
(see figs. 3 and 4) In both these instances we are hoping to encourage students
to understand theory through presenting it in a visually stimulating way. As the
Writing PAD primer observes; ‘can there be more integration of the visual -
which can be ‘read’ with the writing?’ (Writing PAD, 2002).
Figs. 1.a and 1.b; Slides from Steven Dell’s Presentation
Figs. 2.a & b. Slides from Richard Walker’s Presentation
Fig. 3. Supporting material for the Deconstruction Project (above).

Fig. 4. Illustration in an extract in the reader, taken from Philosophy for

Beginners (Osborne,1992).
Deconstruction Project Studio Sessions

Studio sessions featured visiting lecturers such as J.J. Hudson (aka Noki) and
Robert de Niet, who is a senior lecture in Graphic Design at Espom and who
helped students preparing digital illustrations of design ideas.

J.J. Hudson & Noki : Radical Recycling and Reconstruction

Originally trained as a fashion designer in Edinburgh, J.J. Hudson went on to

work in retail outlets such as Benetton before working as a stylist on MTV.
At MTV he became increasingly disenchanted with negotiating between brands
who wanted product placement in videos and the TV station’s reluctance to
allow free advertising. This led to logos on clothes being covered with gaffer
tape and these alterations led in part to J.J.’s later work.

Like his clothes the name for J.J’s company; Noki makes an iconoclastic
revision of existing elements (-i.e. the name reverses the word ‘ikon’). Finding
used and disfigured branded clothes, J.J. reconstructs, reconfigures and
recombines these into recycled one-off garments that subtlety subvert the brand
image.

Working with the students directly on blocks, (dressmaker’s mannequins) J.J.

helps students reconfigure discarded garments from sources such as charity
shops. By presenting recycling, deconstruction and reconstruction as a radical
and subversive strategy, J.J. provides a practical example of how students can
apply the theoretical aspects of deconstruction to undermine expectations about
design and constructing of clothing.

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Fig. 5.a . J.J. Hudson, masked, in with one of his garments and; fig. 5.b his
collection, NHS (Nokia House of Sustainability) on the catwalk London Fashion
Week in 2007.
Project Outcomes and Evaluation

One of the initial tasks students were asked to complete for assessment was to
present a visual illustration of their ‘Design Concept’ accompanied by a brief
written abstract of the themes and the ideas these referred to. These
illustrations on A2 sheets (see figs. 6.a & 6.b), were scanned so the students
could use the data projector to show them to staff and students during seminar
presentations.

Figs. 6. a and 6. b; Rhea Field’s Design concept boards.

These sessions have been supplemented by tutorial and seminar input from
Steven and myself, some of which have been documented on video. We have
conducted tutorials with students so they may consolidate, reflect and evaluate
their progress with the project. As well as the final designs, which are the
practical outcomes of the project, these tutorials have been focused on refining
a short statement, or abstract, elaborating their theoretical approach to their
completed designs (see Appendix III). We have also asked the students to
reflect on the relation between these different aspects of their work.

Outcomes

Both Steven and myself have been very pleased with the standard of work that
has resulted from the project. As usual the assessment of student work has
resulted in a range of grades, however the overall standard has shown a high
degree of technical accomplishment and creative design. Formative
assessment has been based on the evidence of research, documentation,
development and preparation before the final production of garments. Therefore
students are not simply assessed on their completed design but on the design
process involved in finishing it. In assessing the work Steven has provided
comprehensive written feedback on assessment sheets (see Appendix iv).
(Examples of the finished designs are illustrated in figures 7-10).
Figs. 7.a, 7.b, 7.c & 8; Student Deconstruction Project from Jodi McGee; Warphenia,
exploring the oppositions between the fashionable, subcultural style of the Mods, and
the uniformity of Military garments.
Figs. 9.a, 9.b, 9.c & 10.). Student Deconstruction Project from Anna Moxon; You’ve
Got Sole, based on ‘overturning’ the relationship between costume and accessories,
‘grafting’ the functional qualities of the training shoe onto a shirt as decorative
elements.
Feedback and Documentation

The final phase of this part of the project has been giving the students a
questionnaire to assess their response and engagement with project and their
familiarity with the theoretical ideas we have introduced. Another aspect of
documenting and reflecting on the student’s experience of the project has been
a series of video interviews with a selection of students who participated.

Questionnaires

Feedback from the questionnaires shows that students have been happy with
the presentation of the project and the supporting materials, though as one
student remarked ‘there was a lot to take in’. However whilst they have found
these ideas and concepts challenging and hard to understand they have found
them productive in stimulating. Another student remarked;

‘even though there was room for improvement I tend to remember the terms which I
found interesting and sparked ideas’

Moreover most students have stated that the project has changed their
approach to designing in the future and given them a more analytical framework
for creating inventive design outcomes;

‘I wasn’t familiar with the concept of deconstruction, it allows room for experimentation’.

The fact that students had overcome the difficulty of the material in the project
and become acquainted with the terms has been made most evident by the way
in which they have discussed their work in the interviews we conducted. For the
sake of brevity, I will summarise two of these responses as sample case
studies, though all of those we interviewed had interesting comments to make.

Student Case Study 1

Dela Nahvi

Dela picked up on ‘binary oppositions’ as the basis for her research,

unsurprisingly perhaps since this is one of the more easily understood and
obviously demonstrated, concepts prompted by the material on Deconstruction.
As she remarked:
‘…that’s what I really like …about that whole theory, -the really basic idea of-, ‘dirty’ /
‘clean’ or ‘black’ and ‘white’ –those opposites, which is such a simple idea really…’

Though as with the thematic choices made by some of the other students, it
wasn’t always immediately apparent what linked the two categories they had
chosen to establish as opposites. Dela’s themes contrasted the functional,
anonymous and utilitarian, qualities of Soviet revolutionary costume with the
individually expressive flamboyance of 1970s Glam Rock. Although this seemed
an arbitrary conjunction, given the historical and cultural distance between
these styles, Dela’s choice allowed her to explore some stimulating ideas in a
productive way. As well as prompting some worthwhile historical research (on
Rodchenko and other Constructivists), she drew some thoughtful insights from
the way in which these very different phenomena had exploited the powerful
iconic appeal of figureheads, through worshipping personalities.
Figs. 11.a. b. & c; showing Dela’s Design Concept and final design (middle).

As Dela remarked:

‘…another similarity between them was they are both worshiping Lenin to a certain
extent, or Stalin, and it’s the same with the music side as well, where they are
worshipping Bowie. Propaganda statues as well; these socialist realist statues
everywhere around the city, which are images of working class people, Stalin or Lenin,
pasted all over their buildings. So in a way they do want to be worshipped –don’t they? Its
so high, on such a high building that people have to look up. It’s the same idea with the
poster of people looking up to Bowie, being on the stage.’

Perhaps a more important comparison, or distinction between these categories,

which contributed to Dela’s final design was the contrast between the uniformity
of a totalitarian society and individuality of pop culture. Dela’s reversible jacket
embodied the idea of a layer of glamour, concealed beneath an anonymous
surface appearence.

‘The idea of being hidden, about not being able to see what is underneath, about being
able to reveal yourself…The freedom of choice to express yourself, to show your own
style and creativity, its all hidden underneath. With this uniform, this mask, with a ‘this is
the function you will perform’ idea to it, but you can reveal it [-the other side] whenever
you want.’

Figs.12.a., b. & c; Details of Dela’s final design, revealing the shirt’s inner lining.
Case Study 2: Helena Terhani

In selecting her themes of life and death and the way in which these have been
variously signified in through costume in Eastern and Western culture, Helena’s
notions of oppositions were more obviously connected. As she explained her
choice;

‘The title for my project was Steps Before Life and Steps After Death, the themes I used
for basis of my project research were; funerals and birth, christening gowns and…things
associated with life and death…The concepts I used from the deconstruction work were
binary oppositions using colour; black and white as a main focus and also with the
materials using Ava lace incorporated into my work, as opposed to making into a funeral
garment and predominantley black. The oppositions I used were black and white and life
and death. I used the Chinese tradition of reincarnation as one of my main focuses,
because they use white at their funerals with the opposites of the Western Culture, which
uses black.’

Fig. 13. Helena’s Fabric Board.

In common with the other students, as well as engaging with Deconstruction,

Helena was demonstrating here, a more elementary theoretical concept, as
stated in semiotic theory, that images and objects, even the choice of materials,
can carry symbolic connotations. Encouraging such sensitivity to materials and
the ideas they might convey, through choices in the design process, was one of
the main aims of the brief.

Although her conclusions about the implications of Derrida’s theories of

Deconstruction as regards the metaphysical aspects of life and death, could be
challenged, it is nevertheless notable that Helena was considering how to
explore and express philosophical questions through her work. For her, the
interpretation of these ideas implied that…

‘life and death doesn’t just stop at life and death, it is just a cycle, its the life cycle, it has
to be accepted’
Helena’s response to the brief and her remarks during our interview confirmed
an unexpected bonus to encouraging students to consider theoretical aspects
of research to this extent. Helena explained that her design work had a
personal and emotional significance:

It was a personal project for myself, because I had lost someone close to me and they
were quite young when they passed away… It was my grieving and I wanted to bring it
into a project for myself… Deconstruction… actually helped that mourning process
because it tells you than life and death doesn’t just stop at life and death, it is just a cycle,
its the life cycle, it has to be accepted…it helped that little bit more…it was good to bring
it through to the project. It became more of a relief for me as opposed to just working on a
project. At the beginning I didn’t really do work with feeling into it…but I think since this I
have put a lot more of my feelings and personal stuff into my work. Which is a little bit
scary because then youre pieces become a part of you, which I never really did before. I
thought that’s your work and then you have your personal life. But my work is me now…

Finally, Helen was amongst other students who articulated our most ambitious
aim in this project, that by incorporating theory and practice, students can
develop a conscious strategy for designing which helps them explore ideas
creatively.

‘I think theory and practice is like the phenomenal foundation, of the whole thing. If you
don’t incorporate both theory and practice, I think, for me, I wouldn’t have been able to
have done what I did and now be approaching and developing my abilities any further
because I wouldn’t actually have that foundation.’

Interestingly those students who created the most satisfying design solutions
have not always found it easy to articulate their ideas in words, though there
understanding is evident in the work. Conversely those students, who have
clearly explained their application of theoretical terms, have not necessarily
produced the most successful designs. However, all students seemed to have
achieved a greater analytical approach and better understanding into the
relationships between theory and practice, and its application within their own
personal work.

Conclusions

In terms of documenting and evaluating the project, the video interviews have
been surprisingly rich source of reflection and discussion between students and
staff. Providing insights into particular students work but also the issues raised
by the project and its implementation.

The feedback provided in student video interviews has highlighted several key
benefits for the integration of theory and practice:

The deconstruction project has enabled students to make connections

between what might have been haphazard, visual juxtapositions and
provided the theoretical framework to interpret what these things might
signify and begin to communicate meaning themselves. Students have
gained confidence and an increasing ability to ‘read’ design and critically
analyse meanings within fashion and clothing.
 Students have been encouraged to read more as well as understand the
importance of reading, especially where visual research is supported
through greater knowledge of chosen research / subject themes.

The project has provided students with a solid foundation of theoretical

and analytical approaches that can be developed and applied to new
projects.

The project has also highlighted and fostered a personal and emotional
culture within the students approach to both theory and practice.

Arising from these interviews and a consideration of the finished designs and
the students’ own written evaluation and reflection, we arrived at following
recommendations for improving the project in future.

We would like to build on our existing framework, whilst further revising

the integration of the CASS curriculum around a series of staged goals
focused on studio projects.

The delivery and implementation of the deconstruction project can be

separated further into smaller tasks and undertaken at key stages to
allow time for reflection on prior learning.

To include further seminar discussions around key concepts and

assigned readings in small groups taken from the reader.

Students suggested further practical sessions to explore how theoretical

approaches can be applied and enable further experimentation within the
design studio environment.

Some students also suggested integrating level 1 written assignment

with the project to provide a further opportunity for unifying theory and
practice.
Deconstructing Fashion: Reflections on the Project

In concluding the project, evaluating its outcomes and preparing material to

disseminate our findings, Steven and I have been struck by a number of ways
in which we can use the kind of theoretical methods we have encouraged
students to explore, to reflect on the relationship between theory and practice
as this is taught in art and design education in an institution such as ours.

We have included these thoughts in a figure we used to conclude our

presentation of findings.

It is worth noting that one of Derrida’s preoccupations was with the value
accorded to speech over that of writing. From Socrates and Plato to Saussure
there has been a bias towards speech as a more authentic representation of
ideas than writing. Derrida questioned the extent to which ideas were prioritised.
He explored the way in which philosophy has placed ultimate faith in ideas as
the essential experience of an external reality (logocentrism). In traditional
philospy, ‘speech’ is a preferred expression of this experience (phonocentrism),
an utterance (or ‘outerance’ ) of this primary perception, but it is still an
expression, or copy of an original thought. Moreover ‘writing’ is seen as a copy
of a copy (therefore derivative, lacking or corrupted). However, Derrida points
out the flaws in such a simplistic opposition. The relationship between the two
forms of expression is complex and interdependent. In fact, speech is as much
dependent on writing as writing is on speech.
As we have seen in the summaries of art and design education above, in order
to elevate the qualifications of such course, academic studies have been
implemented in the curriculum. These subjects have often been taught in
isolation, often in different teaching environments, with different staff and
different outcomes. Wherein, in contrast to philosphical traditions, the written
word, particularly as it can be examined through academic writing such as
essays and dissertations, is given priority over verbal expression.

In this project we have sought to narrow the gaps between the activities of
thinking, speaking and writing with that of making. In many senses we have just
scratched the surface. However in the attempt to integrate these activities we
are learning from our students. An unexpected and rewarding byproduct of
these efforts has been the video interviews with students. These bridge a gap
between formal and informal reflection on the students work and have provided
a form of documentation we hope to use as examplars for the next cohort of
students. It is one instance of the way in which the methodology of our research
practice has changed the nature of our teaching.

In our future practice and in collaborations on further research we would hope

to challenge the established relationships between the conventional
oppositions, represented in the figure above. We would seek to question these
false dichotomies, by ‘overturning’ the apparently natural character of their
heirarchical relationship and in so doing, provide new avenues for both students
and staff to explore creative and imaginative projects.
Bibliography

‘Art History in Art Schools’ The Burlington Magazine no 716 Nov 1962, p. 451

Coldstream, William M. (1960) First Report of the National Advisory Council on Art
Education, HMSO, London.

Derrida, Jacques. (1978).Writing and Difference, trans. Alan Bass, Routledge, London.

Durgnat, Raymond (1969) ‘Art Schools: the Continuing Malaise’ in Art and Artists vol.
4 no. 7 October, pp 6-8 and vol. 4 no. 8 Nov 4-6.

Gill, Alison. (1998) Deconstruction Fashion: The Making of Unfinished,

Decomposing and Re-assembled Clothes, in Fashion Theory, Volume 2, Issue 1.
London

Hebdidge, D. (1990) Hiding in the Light, Routledge, London.

Osborne, R. (1992) Philosophy for Beginners, Writers and Readers, New York.

Quinn, Dr. Malcolm. (2006) Art History and the Art School - the Sensibilities of Labour,
Association of Art Historians Conference, Leeds 7 April 2006.

Raatz, Christoph & Project Team, (2002) ‘Primer report’, Writing Purposefully in Art &
Design, http://www.writingpad.ac.uk

Symonds, Heather. (2005) Designing effective curriculum for dyslexic students within
Art and Design in Higher Education, Discussion Paper for Writing Purposefully in Art &
Design

http://www.writingpad.ac.uk/index.php?path=photos/20_Resources/07_Discussion
Papers/11_Designing effective curriculum for dyslexic students within Art and Design in
Higher Education/

Walker, J. (1992.) Glossary of Art, Architecture and Design since 1945, G.K. Hall,
Boston.

Exhibitions

‘Skin+Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture’ (organised by The

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles) exhibited in Somerset House, London,
2008.

‘Deconstructivist Architecture’, Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1988.

Bibliography for Deconstruction: Derrida the reader

Selected readings from:

Belsey, C. (1988), Critical Practice, Routledge, London.

Collins, J. & Mayblin, B. (2005) Introducing Derrida, Icon Books, Cambridge.

Evans, C. (1998) The Golden Dustman: A Critical Evaluation of the work of

Martin Margiela and a review of the Martin Margiela: Exhibition (9/4/1615) in
Fashion Theory, Volume 2, Issue 1. London

Gill, Alison. (1998) Deconstruction Fashion: The Making of Unfinished,

Decomposing and Re-assembled Clothes, in Fashion Theory, Volume 2, Issue
1. London

Kaat, D. (2007) 6+ Antwerp Fashion: Ghent, 2007.

Lechte, John. Fifty Key Contemporary Figures: From Stucturalism to

Postmodernity, Routledge,

Osborne, R. (1992) Philosophy for Beginners, Writers and Readers, New York.

Powell, J. (1997) Derrida for Beginners, Writers & Readers Publising Inc,
London.

Robyn, H. (1996) Couture to Chaos: Fashion From the 1960s to Now, Nat.
Gallery of Victoria. Australia

Townsend, C. (2002) Rapture: Art's Seduction by Fashion Since 1970, Thames

& Hudson, London.

Wilcox, Claire.(ed.) (2002) Radical Fashion, V & A, London.

Appendix i

Extract from the Fabric Initiative: Deconstruction Project Brief

Appendix ii

Deconstruction Glossary
DECONSTRUCTION GLOSSARY

Binary Oppositions: Binary Oppositions provide one of the most basic ways of
categorising the world by making ‘either / or’ distinctions between things; ‘life’ or
‘death’, ‘day’ or ‘night’, ‘male’ or ‘female’. These are a fundamental part of all
thought and philosophical ideas have relied on the simple logic that something
is one thing and not another, it is ‘decidable’. Understanding the cultural
importance of these categories was part of the work of ‘structuralist’
anthropologist Claude Lévis-Strauss. Such oppositions form a basis of myth
and belief (‘good’ and ‘evil’ etc.) and realised that not everything divides easily
into categories. These ‘anomolous categories’ fall between simple oppositions;
‘dusk’ comes between ‘day’ and ‘night’, ‘angels’ are neither ‘man’ nor ‘god’,
‘vampires’ or ‘zombies’ are not ‘alive’ or ‘dead’. This is important for Derrida as
he suggests somethings are ‘undecidable’. Philosophy has tended to ‘privilige’
the ‘presence’ of ‘speech’ over the ‘absence’ of ‘writing’, but for Derrida this
distinction is misleading and questionable, a false dichotomy (-division, split).
‘Speech’ depends on ‘writing’. In relation to clothing we might make binary
oppositions between ‘Menswear’ and ‘Womenswear’, ‘Formal’ and ‘Informal’ or
‘Casual’, ‘Underwear’ and ‘Outerwear’, ‘structure’ and ‘decoration’.

Logocentrism & Metaphysics: ‘Logocentrism’ is the emphasis or bias that has

been placed on the primacy or importance of ideas. Derrida’s works (such as Of
Grammatology, a book about writing) challenge the basic assumptions of
Western philosophical traditions, in particular metaphysics. Metaphysics are
concerned with the foundations, on which systems of knowledge are based.
These ‘foundational’ concepts are so intrinsic that they assumed to be beyond
question. In religious thought the basis of belief is ‘god’. For science however it
is ‘nature’ and the rules of nature, which determine the laws of physical
existence. In philosophy it is use of ‘reason’ which is presupposed to be
beyond question. These foundations are laid through using binary oppositons
e.g. ‘being’ / ‘non being’, ‘god’ / ‘man’. In such oppositions, one term is
privileged as the positive, ‘groundly’ term (e.g. ‘being’) wheras the other is
subordinated as negative (e.g.‘non being’). Derrida questioned the extent to
which ideas were prioritised. He explored the way in which philosophy has
placed ultimate faith in ideas as the essential experience of an external reality
(logocentrism). Speech is a preferred expression of this experience
(phonocentrism), an utterance (or outerance) of this primary perception, but it
is still an expression, or copy of an original thought. Writing however is seen in
much philosophy, as a copy of a copy (therefore derivative, lacking or
corrupted). Ideas and speech are accorded a special or ‘priveleged’ importance
in philosophy, wheras writing is seen as a debased form of expression.
Derrida’s close examination of these philosophical texts revealed that speech
and thought depended on writing, which affected speech and the way in which
we thought. A logocentric tradition of thought then, places the value of one term
over another (privileged and subordinate); it emphsises unity over difference,
external over internal, origin over dissemination; spoken word over written, etc.
It also sets out to ground truth in a single ultimate point or origin. (Logos
=Derived from Greek for logic).

Privilege: to give priority to, -‘the first term’ (or ‘groundly’ term. The ‘voice’ is the
privileged ‘medium of meaning.’ (e.g. In the ‘presence’ of a court, a verbal
‘testimony’ is given presidence over written evidence). In binary oppositions one
term is usually valued over another e.g. ‘good’ is preferable to ‘bad’. Such
distinctions are often value laden e.g. ‘male’ is privileged over ‘female’, ‘white’
over ‘black’ etc.

Subordinate: ‘the second term’ is negative and deficient to the first term.
(‘writing is derivative, it merely represents speech.’) ‘Underwear’ is subordinate
to ‘overwear’.

Overturning: It is possible to overturn a metaphysical binarism e.g. ‘god’ /

‘man’, ‘mind’ / ‘body’, thereby reversing the heirachical relationship in the binary
opposition, so that the subordinate term becomes privileged. Derrida’s
philosphy is concerned with exploring what is excluded or marginalised, what is
‘complex’ rather than ‘simple’, ‘absent’ rather than ‘present’, ‘marginalised’
rather ‘central’. (See ‘undecidability’).

Undecidability: Although Derrida challenges the heirachical relationship in the

binary oppositions, his intention is not simply to replace them, since this would
reinforce the isea of such opposition. Instead Derrida undermines the
opposition by showing how such ideas relate to one another, playing against
each other, neither fixed or determined, but unstable and fluctuating. Arguably
such an approach undermines the certainty and fixity of western metaphysics.
(See also ‘displacement’)
Displacement: to destabalise and displace the either / or structure of
opposition or to disturb their hierarchical relationship and therefore emphasise
its doubtable operation. Ways of destabilising or displacing the boundaries
between categories – e.g. cloth / seam or function / decoration.

Trace: shows the presence or absence at the origin of meaning - an

interweaving movement between what is there and not there. These relate to its
historical context or construction method or origin. The play of trace is a kind of
deforming, reforming slippage - an inherent instability. Semiotics established
that language arises from differences within structures (e.g. between big and
pig) for Derrida words depend on the absence of these other sounds which are
not present, but are necessarily absent and therefore present by there absence
(pig, is not peg etc.)

Repeatable / Repetition: in order to be able to identify things we have to be

able to repeat them so that they become legible, recognisable. Repetition can
be used to reaffirm familiarity or significance or meaning. Multiplicity or
polysemy (i.e. having many meanings) can arise when contexts are changed. A
quality of writing is that is Iterable (it is repeatable, through print) but changing
the context in which it is read can alter its meaning.

Supplement: both addition and replacement - extends and or / replaces. A

‘supplement’ to the diet is both an addition to something which is complete, yet
it cannot be complete if it needs an addition. In studying the contradictions
inherent in philosphical texts, Derrida points out paradoxes or aporia (a logical
disjunction or internal contradiction). He observes that whilst Rousseau
privileges ‘nature’ as an ideal, he concedes that ‘nature’ is often deficient (e.g. a
mother may run out of milk), therefore it needs to be supplemented (or added
to) yet this means it cannot be self suficient. This reveals flaws in terms of
identity, that is what we think of as whole and complete. Whilst we need the
mediation of language as a mirror to know ourselves, this impure derivative of
experience is exlcuded from the process of knowledge. In terms of fashion, this
is analogous to the way in which clothing both conceals body in order to reveal
it at the same time.

Différance: ‘Différance’ is related, though not the same as the French word
‘Différer’ meaning to ‘defer’ or ‘differ’. It can refer then to space (objects differ
from one another) or time (e.g. decisions are ‘deferred’ or ‘put off’). ‘Différance’
is a new term (or neoligism) coined by Derrida which teases with our
understanding. In speech it is impossible to tell distinguish between ‘difference’
and ‘Différance’ so ‘Différance’ privileges writing over speech. ‘Différance’ is
neither verb nor noun and plays between ‘thing’ and ‘doing’, ‘entity’ and ‘action’.
It plays between ‘signifier’ and ‘signified’, between ‘sensible’ (that which is
sensed) and ‘intelligible’ (that which is understood). A good example of
‘Différance’ is the way in which a dictionary defines a meaning by providing a
number of comparable terms. Language is always established in a series of
relations to other words, an endless chain of signification and deferred
meaning. Fashion thrives on distinctions between what has gone before.
Aspects of dress have no meaning in and of themselves, rather they carry
meaning in terms relative to other forms of clothing.
Citation: lifting a sequence of words from a written tract.

Grafting: inserting stolen sequences.

Structuralism. ‘Structuralism’ refers to an approach to understanding the

world, by considering in terms of structures. Natural forms (e.g. the body),
physical entities (clothing), cultural forms (art, literature, fashion) or social
systems (e.g. the state) might all be viewed as structures. Stucturalism has
informed a number of fields from Philosphy, Linguistics and Literary theory
to Anthropology (Claude Lévis-Strauss was a Structuralists Anthropologist).
A ‘Structuralist’ approach to understranding the world is different from an
‘empirical’ approach (using measurements, observation and experiments to
test ideas). It is not that Structuralists don’t believe in an external reality,
however they don’t believe it is possible to access this external reality other
than through the structures imposed by language and belief. These will vary
according to cultural and historical perspective.

Semiotics. ‘Semiotics’ or ‘Semiology’ is the study of ‘signs’. It was proposed

as an analytical framework by Ferdinand de Saussure, a linguist. Saussure
shifted the study of languages from an enquiry into how they developed
over time (diachronically) to focus on them as a system of meaning at one
time (synchronically). This is a structuralist approach. Saussure argued that
language was arbitary, conventional and relational. Although there is
nothing intrinsic which fixes a word to that it represents (-there is nothing
‘doggie’ about the word ‘dog’), we understand ‘dog’ to mean a furry four
legged animal that urinates on lamp posts, because that is a social
convention we have become accustomed to. Furthermore we use words in
relation to one another to make distinctions between things; e.g. ‘big dog’,
‘small dog’, ‘smelly dog’ etc. A sign can be understood as an image, object
or sound which stands for a concept, vision or idea. A sign can seperated
into two parts: the signifier: i.e. the image, object or sound. Signifiers exist
on the plane of denotation: i.e. what is denoted, written, drawn, spoken,
photogragphed etc. The other part of the sign is the signified: i.e. the idea,
vision, or concept that is communicated. Signifieds reside on the level of
connotation: i.e. what is understood or meant by the sign. According to
Roland Barthes who developed this analysis further, these signs combine
to make more meanings at a secondary level of signification. His study of
the Fashion System, revealed the way that Fashion operates both as the
manufacture of garments and images and text which represent these
garments and assign values and ideas to them. The study of signs in this
way can reveal the way in which social or ideological beliefs come to be
expressed and naturalised.
Appendix iii

Student Abstracts
STUDENT ABSTRACTS: DECONSTRUCTION

Rhea Fields: Conflicting Sides

Firstly for my deconstruction design brief I am intending to research and look to

deconstruct uniforms, focusing mainly on military and armed forces clothing and
their webbing and accessories used for combat. I will be considering the current
style wear which includes the camouflage and dress wear as well as the
uniforms dating back to the world wide war one and two, focusing on British
uniforms most. For this I have decided to us tracing as my main focus and
consider the idea of ‘war’ and ‘peace’ the ‘privileged’ and the ‘subordinate’ as
my methods of deconstruction, working with the idea war is stronger then
peace, or peace is stronger then war and using this to influence and inform my
design concept. I am also considering bringing in the use of displacement as I
have noticed the stitching and detailing on the inside of uniforms to be rather
detailed as well as the craftsman ship and pattern cutting skills used. What I
found interesting about uniforms is the way every thing is a details as well as a
function, I am intending to use this in my design work.

Jodi McGee: Warphenia

By under going a wide range of research for my Deconstruction project I chose

to use critical methods on mod’s, World War 2 and RAF clothes, I named my
collection Warphenia, by looking into a lot of depth in what mod’s used to wear I
was inspired by watching Quadrophenia, the layering of the clothes and the
parker coats with the hoods and fur, I mainly used the shape and hoods from
the mod’s into my designs.

While looking into world war 2, I went to many different museums in London
which I got most of my inspiration from as you can actually see the texture and
shaping of the clothes, the objects the I was most inspired by were the belts
and all of the commando equipment, for example, Bergen rucksack, carrying
harness and the skeleton assault harness with pouches which has a frog for a
bayonet and in its second pattern, straps for the attachment of an entrenching
tool I enjoyed putting these different commando equipment into my designs as
these parts are very fitted to the feminine body and you can tell by looking at my
designs that I was influenced by World War II. I mainly collided the clothes
together making them look as if they have been deconstructed but wearable at
the same time. I enjoyed this project as I like designing unusual clothes and by
deconstructing my designs that’s just what I am getting. I found myself using a
lot of structure to my designs and you can see by looking at them that there are
parts that also have a lot of volume. I was influenced by a various of designer
like Bless, Rick Owens, Robert Cary-Williams, Victor and Rolf and many more,
they all showed all different aspects of deconstruction that showed me fashion
can be anything as long as its wearable but shows you how unique, the designs
really are and you will always stand out from the crowd. By using your
imagination and looking into a lot of depth in deconstruction you can design
anything you want as people enjoy wearing things that have a meaning to it.
Anna Moxon: You’ve Got Sole

Using footwear as my form of clothing and accessory to deconstruct, I will focus

mainly on flat soles such as trainers, converses and sneakers. My plan is to
take inspiration from the shapes, forms, colour and fabrics and interpreting
these into my design ideas. In my design development I will be grafting footwear
details, such as lacing, out of context and displacing onto the clothing. By
overturning hierarchy of clothing over footwear, the footwear then becomes the
privileged as opposed to subordinate. I may take part of the shoe away and
reconfiguring these parts into to new and contemporary fashion statements.
Fashion designers I will be looking at include; Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake,
Yohji Yamamoto and Victor & Rolf. Another method of deconstruction that may
appear in my design work would be repetition and multiples. After looking
closely at detailing (such as shoe fastenings, stitch detail, sole and panel detail,
patterns and the construction of the shoe) I will be taking these detail ideas and
using them in repetition to create new shapes and interesting forms to
incorporate into my design development.

Dela Nahvi: Painting the Iron Curtain

I researched and evaluated two contrasting (sub) cultures (these being

communist Russia and Glam Rock of Great Britain), I am able to understand
their individual agendas and motives for their fashions and styles in relevance
to the cultural, political and social situations.

The clothing of communist Russia is directly dictated by the government,

eliminating decision and freedom of choice, thus the political environment in
which the people live. There were strict ideals of function in every aspect of
Russian life which meant that there was no room for flamboyancy. This
considerably contrasts with the bourgeois-extravagance of Glam-Rock,
individually styled with bright feministic colours and displacement of size and
shape in favour of decoration and aesthetics. By the 1970’s Britain had become
very comfortable with the idea of individuality, rebellion and exercising their
freedom of expression and liberty of human rights that had been won for them
during the Second World War, and were willing to test the boundaries of
tolerance, dragging acceptance a few paces behind. For example; the flared
out trousers, Marc Bolan’s over-sized top-hat, glittering face-paint of Wizard,
women’s make-up of Lou Reed and the combination of all of the above
displayed on the ‘fascia’ of privilege that is David Bowie. Pitting his decedent
individuality against the communist utilitarian uniform, Bowie is the
personification of glamour Vs austerity demonstrating form without obvious
function and even now he remains unmatched in his unique rejection of
collaboration.

Understanding relevant principles behind deconstruction, I applied certain

theories to my work, such as grafting, trace, binary oppositions and repetition. In
the later stages of my design work grafting and trace became the main features.
The idea of picking a peculiarity and adding it to another garment; making it a
focal point. When choosing fabrics for the focal point/ main feature of the outfits
I decided to use silk fabrics specially used for men’s ties, giving the designs an
edge of masculinity for a women’s wear collection veering towards a slight hint
of the dandy (inspired by Bowie). On the other hand for the opposite (industrial
side), which was generally the main body of the garment I chose a variety of
cottons with different textures and weights but all in the same charcoal grey
colour.

Helena Tehrani: Steps Before Life and Steps After Life

In undertaking this project I have understood ‘Deconstruction’ to mean literally

to take apart or dismantle. However through a detailed analysis of the
deconstructionists and the theories they adopted, I have come to realize that
deconstruction is far more than the lay man’s definition.

With reference to Jacque Derrida I have considered binary oppositions and I

chose to focus on ‘life’ and ‘death’ as my deconstruction theme as these topics
were currently of personal importance to me. My final outcome consisted of raw
edges inspired by Martin Margiela and binary oppositions with respect to the
philosopher Jacques Derrida.

My visual research has explored the way in which funeral garments, bridal wear
and christening robes have signified ‘life’ and ‘dearth’ through colours of black
and white. I sourced materials linked with the theme such as lace, cottons and
muslins, which are largely used in funeral veils, bridal dresses and baby gowns.

By overlaying black lace on top of white cotton on the lower torso of my final
design, I aimed to overturn the conventional use of the ava lace. With the use of
pleating I wanted to signify the life cycle and the steps throughout. I wanted to
overturn the preconceived ideas of death as being the end however the start of
the lifecycle. Through this project I wanted to further my knowledge in
deconstruction and gain a better understanding of how some of the most
renowned designers in industry work. I looked at Yohji Yamamoto who uses the
use of grafting different garments together and fusing one element to the other
to enable a justified reason for it’s existence. Martin Margiela was a great
influence in deconstruction and through his use of raw edges and quirky ideas I
learnt that not everything has to conform.
Appendix iv

Project Assessment Feeback

 BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Student Name Rhea Fields Level One

Project Brief Deconstruction Project Tutor Steven Dell

Excellent Very Good

Good Satisfactory Fail
70-100% 60-69% 50-59% 40-49% 0-39%
A B C D R/F
1. Research
2. Analysis
3. Creative Development
4. Technical
5. Market Awareness
6. Design Realisation
7. Presentation
8. Personal Development
9. Evaluation

Tutor’s Comments
Research (1): You have grasped the principles to deconstruction theory well and utilised the
oppositions of war and peace as your main deconstruction theme. Excellent collection title and witty
play on words! You have sourced a very good range of primary and secondary research into your main
theme of military uniforms, though there is less visual or text based research into references associated
with your peace theme. As a result, some of your design work primarily focused upon the military theme
and there could have been opportunities to add something extra to the design mix by incorporating
more of your peace theme. Do consider your research concept undertaking further reading and text
based research to underpinned your design work with theory for future projects as well as developing
your knowledge and understanding into your main research themes. Analysis (2): There are some
strong visual references with interesting details and information to inform your design ideas, especially
through your use of collage which has been very successful in the development of details and
silhouettes. Continue to utilise the use of collage as well as working from your research by sketching
and developing initial design ideas in your sketchbook prior to working on your design developments as
this will form the foundation for your design concept. Creative Development (3): You have gained
confidence within your design abilities and explored some very creative ideas in your design
development, especially where you have combined the two themes together. You design work shows a
strong attention to detail and silhouette, as well as displaying excellent technical knowledge through
inventive construction and garment detailing. Presentation (7): Your final presentation boards have
been very successful through your board designs and page layouts, with a good use of CAD software,
and your fashion illustration and working drawing skills continue to develop. Keep practicing your
drawing techniques and colouring methods in your sketchbook through initial designs and observational
drawings. Technical (4): You have shown a very good level of fabric knowledge through your sourced
materials evidenced within fabric file, fabric board and used within your final designs. A sensitive
selection of fabric qualities have been considered and used to create your final six outfit collection, well
done. An excellent final shirt that shows your increasing technical abilities through inventive detailing,
trimmings and quality of finish. Personal Development (8): Very good self evaluation which shows
your developing reflective practice and personal development to date. As stated in your action plan you
should continue to structure your time and utilise your independent study to continue with your personal
development and allow time to achieve strongest outcomes. All round an excellent project!
 BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Student Name Jodi McGee Level One

Project Brief Deconstruction Project Tutor Steven Dell

Excellent Very Good

Good Satisfactory Fail
70-100% 60-69% 50-59% 40-49% 0-39%
A B C D R/F
1. Research
2. Analysis
3. Creative Development
4. Technical
5. Market Awareness
6. Design Realisation
7. Presentation
8. Personal Development
9. Evaluation

Tutor’s Comments
Research (1): You have grasped the basic principles to deconstruction theory and utilised the notion of
‘grafting’ and ‘displacing’ military uniform detailing onto sub-cultural mod influences as your main
deconstruction theme. Excellent collection title and witty play on words! You have sourced a very good
range of primary and secondary research into your main theme of military uniforms and mod references
to support your design process, though your sketchbook work is limited in experimentation and
observational sketches. You should also consider researching through further reading and text based
research to underpinned your design work with theory for future projects as well as developing your
knowledge and understanding into your main research themes. Analysis (2): There are some strong
visual references with interesting details and information to inform your design ideas, especially where
you have studied military uniform construction which has successfully enabled you to develop detailing
and silhouettes within your design work. As mentioned, there is a limited amount of analysis evident
through experimentation and sketching in your sketchbook or even the use of collage to explore new
ideas and this has lead to ideas not being fully explored as they might have been. Continue to utilise
the use of collage as well as working from your research by sketching and developing initial design
ideas in your sketchbook prior to working on your design developments as this will form the foundation
for your design concept. Creative Development (3): You have gained confidence within your design
abilities and explored some very creative ideas in your design development, especially where you have
worked directly from your military research and even your recycling. Again, there is limited level of
exploration within your design development, which is a shame as you have the potential to really excel
if you put the work in much earlier in the project. That aside, your design work shows a strong attention
to detail and silhouette, as well as displaying excellent technical knowledge through inventive
construction and garment detailing. Presentation (7): Your final presentation boards have been very
successful through your board designs and page layouts, with a good use of CAD software, and your
fashion illustration and working drawing skills have really developed. Keep practicing your drawing
techniques and colouring methods in your sketchbook through initial designs and observational
drawings. Technical (4): You have shown a very good level of fabric knowledge through your sourced
materials evidenced within fabric file, fabric board and used within your final designs. A sensitive
selection of fabric qualities have been considered and used to create your final six outfit collection, well
done. An excellent final shirt that shows your increasing technical abilities through inventive detailing,
fabrication, trimmings and quality of finish. Personal Development (8): Very good self evaluation
which shows your developing reflective practice and personal development to date. As stated in your
action plan you should continue to structure your time and utilise your independent study to continue
with your personal development and allow time to achieve strongest outcomes.
 BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Student Name Anna Moxon Level One

Project Brief Deconstruction Project Tutor Steven Dell

Excellent Very Good

Good Satisfactory Fail
70-100% 60-69% 50-59% 40-49% 0-39%
A B C D R/F
1. Research
2. Analysis
3. Creative Development
4. Technical
5. Market Awareness
6. Design Realisation
7. Presentation
8. Personal Development
9. Evaluation

Tutor’s Comments
Research (1): You have grasped the basic principles to deconstruction theory, where you have used
the terms of ‘grafting’ and ‘displacement’ of trainer detailing as well as subverting accessories to
become ‘privileged’ over the garment. You have sometimes struggled to express this concept when
explaining your work in verbal and written formats, so do read more about deconstruction theory from
the presentation hand outs and the provided reader so that you can confidently talk about your theme.
You have sourced a very good range of primary and secondary research into your main theme of
trainer theme and this has been creatively shown within your collaged and cut-out sketchbook pages.
There is evidence of a good level of experimentation within your sketchbook and detailed research that
has successfully supported your design work. When research try undertaking further reading and text
based research to underpinned your design work with theory for future projects as well as developing
your knowledge and understanding into your main research themes. Analysis (2): There are some
strong visual references with interesting details and information to inform your design ideas, especially
through your use of collage which has been very successful in the development of details and
silhouettes. Continue to utilise the use of collage as well as working from your research by sketching
and developing initial design ideas in your sketchbook prior to working on your design developments as
this will form the foundation for your design concept. Creative Development (3): You have gained
confidence within your design abilities and explored a range of very creative ideas in your design
development, especially where you have directly worked from your collage work. You design work
shows a strong attention to detail and silhouette, as well as displaying excellent technical knowledge
through inventive construction and garment detailing. Presentation (7): Your final presentation boards
have been very successful through your board designs and page layouts, with a good use of CAD
software, though your fashion illustrations are less successful and should be developed further. Keep
practicing your drawing techniques and colouring methods in your sketchbook through initial designs
and observational drawings. Technical (4): You have shown a very good level of fabric knowledge
through your sourced materials evidenced within fabric file, fabric board and used within your final
designs. A sensitive selection of fabric qualities have been considered and used to create your final six
outfit collection, well done. An excellent final shirt that shows your increasing technical abilities through
inventive detailing, trimmings and quality of finish. Personal Development (8): Very good self
evaluation which shows your developing reflective practice and personal development to date. As
stated in your action plan you should continue to structure your time and utilise your independent study
to continue with your personal development and allow time to achieve strongest outcomes. All round an
excellent project!
 BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Student Name Dela Nahvi Level One

Project Brief Deconstruction Project Tutor Steven Dell

Excellent Very Good

Good Satisfactory Fail
70-100% 60-69% 50-59% 40-49% 0-39%
A B C D R/F
1. Research
2. Analysis
3. Creative Development
4. Technical
5. Market Awareness
6. Design Realisation
7. Presentation
8. Personal Development
9. Evaluation

Tutor’s Comments
Research (1): You have grasped the principles to deconstruction theory well and utilised the
oppositions of glam rock and Russian utility wear as your main deconstruction theme. You have
sourced a very good range of secondary research into the flamboyant glam rock music genre which
has been contrasted with the industrial side of work wear and constructivist principles to inform your
design work. There is limited primary or first hand research sourced as this proved difficult for you to
locate good sources to visit. Your research, specifically the work wear references, became more
detailed and useful as a design aid in the latter stages of your sketchbook work and you might consider
brain storming at the start of the project, so that you have clear and informative research objectives to
start working from. Continue to define your research concept by undertaking further reading and text
based research to underpinned your design work with theory for future projects as well as developing
your knowledge and understanding into your main research themes. Analysis (2): There are some
strong visual references with interesting details and information to inform your design ideas, especially
where you are analysing technical detailing from your work wear research, though this could have been
explored much further in your design development. Continue to develop your analytical skills through
sketching and developing initial design ideas directly from your research within your sketchbook and
then use these detailed sketches to form the foundation for your design development. Creative
Development (3): You have gained confidence within your design abilities and explored some very
creative ideas in your design development, especially where you have combined the two themes
together and where your design work show greater emphasis on technical detailing. There are some
strong design ideas and some that are maybe too theatrical and so try to evaluate which design ideas
will form the strongest fashion statement. As mentioned, there are some very strong design ideas within
your design development, though you could have been more in-depth and explored ideas much further.
Presentation (7): Your final presentation boards have been very successful through your board
designs and page layouts using constructivist influences, and your fashion illustration and working
drawing skills continue to develop. Keep practicing your drawing techniques and colouring methods in
your sketchbook through initial designs and observational drawings. Take care that CAD images use
200 – 300dpi for best outcomes. Technical (4): You have shown a very good level of fabric knowledge
through your sourced materials evidenced within fabric file, fabric board and used within your final
designs. A sensitive selection of fabric qualities have been considered and used to create your final six
outfit collection, well done. An excellent final shirt that shows your increasing technical abilities through
inventive detailing, fabrication and quality of finish. Personal Development (8): Please submit your
self-evaluation?
 BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Student Name Helena Yazdian-Tehrani Level One

Project Brief Deconstruction Project Tutor Steven Dell

Excellent Very Good

Good Satisfactory Fail
70-100% 60-69% 50-59% 40-49% 0-39%
A B C D R/F
1. Research
2. Analysis
3. Creative Development
4. Technical
5. Market Awareness
6. Design Realisation
7. Presentation
8. Personal Development
9. Evaluation

Tutor’s Comments
Research (1): You have firmly grasped the principles to deconstruction theory through your strong
concept idea of ‘life / death’ oppositions. You have sourced a good level of secondary research into
related visuals to capture aspects of life and death, with some very strong and informative references,
however this could have been in more depth and also used much more primary research. You should
also consider the quality of visual research that you use, as aspects of your research are very limited in
detail and technical information to be useful for the design process. You should consider the detailed
quality of visual research as well as including more primary research through photographing / sketching
your research first hand. It is important to establish a healthy research approach which incorporates
both secondary and primary research within your sketchbook as this will enable you to study your first
hand research in more detail. That aside, you have undertaken a very good depth of research through
reading about deconstruction and its use within fashion, so well done. Analysis (2): There are some
strong visual references with interesting details and information to inform your design ideas, especially
where you are analysing technical detailing from your corsetry and costume research. Continue to
develop your analytical skills through your use of collage, observational sketches and initial design
ideas informed directly from your research within your sketchbook first, and then use this analysis to
form the foundation for your design development. Creative Development (3): You have gained
confidence within your design abilities and explored some very creative ideas in your design
development, especially where you have worked directly from your more detailed research visuals to
inform your design drawings as these show a greater emphasis upon technical detailing. There are
some strong design ideas and some that are too diluted or do not link as successfully to your research,
so make sure that you have a wealth of detailed research to work from and evaluate which design
ideas to develop further to achieve strongest fashion outcomes. As mentioned, there are some very
strong design ideas within your design development, though with more research and development you
could have explored ideas much further. Presentation (7): Your final presentation boards have been
successful through your board designs and page layouts and your developing illustration work. Keep
practicing your drawing techniques and colouring methods in your sketchbook through initial designs
and observational drawings. Technical (4): You have shown a good level of fabric knowledge through
your sourced materials evidenced within fabric file, fabric board and used within your final designs. A
strong final shirt outcome that shows your increasing technical abilities through inventive detailing,
fabrication and developing quality of finish. The front placket is not correctly finished so please make
sure that you get technical advice to finish your garment. Personal Development (8): A good self
evaluation which shows your developing reflective practice and personal development to date. As
stated in your action plan you should continue to structure your time and utilise your independent study
to continue with your personal development and allow time to achieve strongest outcomes.