Fashion Paratext Dataset

Background: The role of text in the production and circulation of fashion is an emerging area of enquiry with key studies by Lehmann (2018), König (2006) and Borelli (1997). This work contributes to this field by looking at the underexamined textual form of the fashion ‘paratext’ (Genette 1987; Barthes 1967) as a connotative and denotative force within the ecosystem of fashion media, addressing the question: what strategic role do paratexts play in the cyclical production of fashion? And how do they affect our (as readers) relationship to clothing? Contribution: The ‘Fashion Paratext Dataset’ (Gardner & Femke de Vries) is a research project that addresses these questions through the production of a substantial dataset of modern fashion captions to enable analyses on the technical and aesthetic dimensions of fashion text. By invitation for the group exhibition ‘MODUS Hosts’, curated by Ruby Hoette and Caroline Stevenson, we produced an outcropping of this wider research project as a text-based installation of three posters and a video projection of a dedicated website (www.fashionparatextdataset.com). As a curated expression of the dataset, the installation tested how paratexts, when taken from the context of their source publication and placed in close and ordered proximity of an installation, can be read collectively as structured bodies of text. Significance: The significance of this work can be attested by the calibre of venue Fashion Space Gallery, as part of London College of Fashion (UAL), a space where critical and research-led fashion practices are supported. MODUS is one of the premiere decentralised networks of fashion practitioners. The significance of this work can also be attested by the international calibre of other practitioners in the show: Tenant of Culture (UK), The Community (FR), Nakako Hayashi (JP) and Ellen Sampson (UK). As part of the exhibition program, Femke and I also lead a well-attended forum about the project.