Subtropical Fashioning: Examples of Care and Community in Twentieth Century Fashion Systems

<p dir="ltr">Significant change is required to address the harms caused by the dominant global fashion system, which is characterized by overproduction and overconsumption. Propositions for a changed fashion future include moving to models that have justice, care, and regeneration at their heart. Examples of alternative fashion systems already exist in both past and present. This article proposes that analysis of social history collections in museums can offer insights that demonstrate alternative fashion practices in action. Through narratives of artifacts from the Queensland Museum’s Social History collection, this article traces alternative fashion systems of twentieth century Australia to explore a fashion future that may be sustained. The narratives integrate material and textual analysis to examine the fashion system in which each garment existed, identified in relation to the elements of ‘industry’, ‘change’, and ‘culture’. The three artifacts represent different approaches to how fashion is produced and consumed, and act as proof points for future fashion systems.</p>