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becoming fashion-able hacktivism and engaged fashion design Otto von Busch

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foreword to pocket edition

Throughout my research about engaged fashion design I have often been asked if my ideas on fashion hacking should be seen as a form of sustainable design and a response to the environmental conditions of the world. Is this yet another green fashion design book proposing new ecological ideas of “good” consumerism?

It could be argued that the ideas put forward in this book are somewhat “green”, as they react to some of the mechanisms of mass consumerism and promote a more considered relation between producers and consumers.

Yes, as you will see it even addresses recycling! Yet, if the ideas you meet in this book address ecology, it is mainly the ecology of fashion in society and could thus be positioned as slightly “beyond green”.

The ecology of fashion concerns a lot more parameters than only the green perspective; relations and interactions between producers and consumers, designers and users, fashionistas and crafters, activists and amateurs. It is an attempt to discuss a wider concept of fashion as mutual relationships between designers and fashionistas, beyond the dualistic separation of active designer and passive consumer. Here they all form a multiplicity of close interactions, building on each other’s works and energies in a pluralist manner. Thus, what I call fashion hacking is not about rebellion against the “system”, a seditious strategy against Paris, an elevation of subcultures or -25-

countercultures who aim to subvert fashion, or simply a new style. Fashion hacking is about the symbiotic and open participatory ecologies between actors engaged in fashion, as designers, producers, consumers, fashionistas and passionate lovers. It is not about designs but rather modes of production.

Playing with the analogy of ecology we could call this approach to fashion “deep fashion” drawing on a similar stance as the theories of “deep ecology”, coined by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. Where deep ecology generally gives humankind equal value to non-human species in the environment in an egalitarian manner, a deep fashion would value all participants engaged in fashion and look beyond the fashion system to give the everyday fashionista a co-authorship to the production of fashion. The ecospheres of fashion are thus much more than the established fashion system, and the energies on which the fashion ecologies thrive are accessible to “power up” the craft of Everyman.

A common misunderstanding has been that ideas such as these creates a situation where everyone has to sew their own clothes. Rather, the opposite has often been revealed in my workshops – as we get to understand more of the craftsmanship behind fashion we learn to appreciate the ingenuity of material, colour, drape, cut, and patternmaking. My experience has been that inclusion intensifies affection and works as a complement to the established ready-to-wear fashion. It is not a quesiton about “everyone” being engaged, but rather “anyone”.

The intentions of my research has been to offer new approaches to practice, to draw upon “comparative mythologies” to intensify thought by drawing new parallels and connections, and most importantly, to escape conventions by building on traditions in a collaborative way and to ultimately offer new tools for action to fashion designers.

The Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, practices discussed in this book can be read from many perspectives. As discussed by design historian Paul Atkinson (Atkinson 2006), DIY can be made for fulfilment and from need, for desire and for creativity. DIY can also be seen from a perspective of volunteered frugality, thrift and autonomy, from lifestyle imitations and desired inclu-26-

sion to plain economic profits (Walker 2007, Gschwandtner 2008). All these attitudes are relevant and crucial for understanding the forces and affects that play through DIY practice and some are discussed in detail throughout the chapters. They offer participatory frames of reference for fashion designers who would like to develop their practice towards social inclusion and the spread of craftsmanship, knowledge and affection.

This pocket is a re-edit of my doctoral thesis Fashion-able: Hacktivism and Engaged Fashion Design, which I defended at the School of Crafts and Design (HDK) at the University of Gothenburg in autumn 2008. With its minor revisions, this edition is hopefully somewhat closer to where the action is – in the hands, hearts and minds of fashion hacktivists.

This book brings forward a number of different approaches as to how we can understand and develop the role of the fashion designer in relation to engaged forms of consumer participation. The ambition is not to find a new singular role model but to increase the variety of both what it is possible for the fashion designer to achieve and to better equip him for his role as an agent of intervention. The idea is to sketch up a multitude of possible designer roles that expose complementary paths for fashion design to take.

The examples blend hands-on projects that have been explored during the course of my studies and includes the work other fashion designers, but also perspectives from totally different fields, all with the aim of offering complementary paths that fashion might take. Here the designer can use his skills for other ends than the catwalk or narrow mass market, that is to be an active participant in the ongoing social changes society goes through.

This will give rise to another kind of fashion designer, a designer whom is neither a divine genius nor a brand engineer. It is a role that will merge hacking, creative resistance, micro-politics and Do-It-Yourself practice with the production of belief and myth in the field of fashion design. The role of the designer will thus be transformed into one that expands action spaces, fights passivity and provides tools to engage our fellow human beings in fashion. In short, not to make process participants simply listeners or passive choosers of existing consumer goods but as engaged co-authors of fashion, whom will be capable of inventing ways of responding and reacting to fashion. In other words, to become fashion-able.

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foreword • An introduction setting forth a designerly journey through a multiplicity of examples and practices. these all give form to the design practice of hacktivism: a nonlinear system that cannot be written as a linear sum of independent components.

Throughout this book I will try to explore a new form of fashion design practice in which the work of the auteur, whom has been assigned by a prestigious fashion company, is replaced by the close cooperation between designers, producers and users. Here, groups of users working together in workshops will play a major role. The input of the designer in this process is his or her inspiration and vision as expressed in patterns, prototypes, operating instructions, and practical advice. This approach is not intended to render the fashion industry obsolete but rather to offer a new line of practice that takes fashion out of the context of what is more or less passive ready-to-wear consumption. The proposed practice can unfold the possibility for co-productive communities and new means to develop an identity through collaborative practice. A personal or even individual style, but just like fashion it is not a unique style. It is always somewhat related to the dominant expressions of the contemporary fashion. This is a practice that connects to the energies of fashion, but “liberates” some of the intensities for more involvement and participation among the wider community of amateurs – of fellow lovers.

The discussions you will follow through this book has no strict beginning and end, question and answer. Instead the aim for this book is to propose a -29-

refinement of the kind of knowledge production and knowledge distribution that normally guides design practice. You will meet a form of argument that aims to be more connected than scientifically precise, with the direct purpose to support design processes and raise new ideas for fashion practice.

The discussions in this book use a number of “diagonal” presentations that form a multiplicity of single examples and course of events, yet which in this thesis are all united in a temporary alliance. Through this type of artistic research a more sophisticated discussion on design practice and a broader intellectual reference can be introduced as a complement to other academic research in the field of design.

As you read this book you could see it as a series of journeys condensed into a prism. This is a prism through which we can see the world from many different angles and where each chapter is one side. As we look through this prism, always in a slight diagonal, we will see that each shaft of light or each approach refracts into a spectrum of new possibilities for practice. This opens for a multiplicity of “designerly” approaches. We can also think of the prism as a considered collection of examples that forms a designer’s Wunderkammer or a Cabinet of Curiosities where we can go, from object to object or from idea to idea, in wonderment and inspiration. On this journey I will be your guide and dragoman.

You will meet several lines of thought based on ideas and understanding from other practices and parts of society, yet they all refract new light on participatory modes of fashion design. These lines form a meshwork-like unity described by Deleuze and Guattari (2004) as “rhizomatic”. It is a form that consists of overlapping and displaced lines; of multiplicities connected to other multiplicities where there are no points of culmination, termination or external ends (D&G 2004: 23f). But as you will see they assemble into a condensed form of practical ideas for designer projects and actions.

Even if the form of these chapters is non-linear, as there is no final conclusion of this book, all chapters cut through one specific line, what I call the abstract machine of hacktivism. It is an approach of assembly or a certain diagram of becoming that cuts through all the chapters. This will be described in the coming section.

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The prism model of design research the attractor point of hacktivism, creates “gravity”, pulling lines of practice together, but has no absoulte centre, essence or focal point a number of approaches or “lines”, slightly displaced, collected into chapters and pulled together into a whole: the prism/thesis

the reader’s journey through the research does not have to be linear, but can be in orbit around the attractor or cut across the lines

= the research becomes a prism - a condensed collection of approaches

a spectrum of diagonal possibilities

one of many approaches the research can be “rotated” and read from may angles, where each approach shows new perspectives and possibilities

many possible approaches

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The clockwork metaphor was the dominant image of the world during the Enlightenment period. The mechanical clockwork or automata became the technical device that both explained the heliocentric world view and also manifested an utopian image of the inner workings of the cosmos as Newton showed how it was the same forces that affected both the heavens and the Earth.

The Orrery became a tool to visualize this.

It is a mechanical clock device that illustrates this by showing the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons. These instruments are typically driven by a large clockwork mechanism with a globe representing the Sun at the centre, and with a planet at the end of each of the arms.

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hacktivism • Hacktivism is the merger between political activism and hacking. It is the modification of systems, programs or devices to give more users access to action spaces that were otherwise unavailable. These new passages and spaces are shared within the community for others to build further on.

Along the line of this chapter we will follow parts of the history of what I call hacktivism and we will also see it applied in a variety of ways to enrich our perspective on fashion. We will start by following a line of hacking and then to come to see more detailed examples of how the abstract machine of hacktivims operates. I mean these examples offer a furthering of the hacking approach that can give new light on the designer role. As we will come to see, the practices of hacktivism run through many fields and practices and we can from this perspective approach fashion in new ways.

Hacking is a DIY practice of direct intervention, and its application is twofold. Firstly, it is about the skill to open a system, access it and learn to master defences and structure. Secondly, hacking is a specific tactic of changing a system by plugging into it and redirecting its flows into a more desirable goal, usually by actively building on it. The hacking line of practice plays with technology through these two approaches, to make it do new things by explicitly using the existing forces and infrastructure within the system for changing it.

Another central point of hacking is the hacker community’s argument that “information wants to be free”, that sharing systems and creating open -75-

source codes flattens the diagram of control within the community and vitalizes the scene. It is through actions like this I mean hacking starts to turn into hacktivist engagement. However, as the hacking ethic is also meritocratic and sometimes even elitist it emphasises the individual skills of the hacker and can thus be quite exclusive. Nevertheless, a dominant part of the community try to create a symbiotic culture, where all small contributions can plug into each other to form larger emergent systems, such as the Linux operating system.

Throughout this chapter we will follow some different examples of how hacking operates. We will set out on a journey through various forms of hacking, starting from computers. Following this we will see how the same abstract machine operates by relating practices such as lock-picking, urban exploration and circuit-bending. Hardware hacking is also related to craftivism and shopdropping as remixed commodities and codes are reinserted into their native systems, using the existing channels and expectations to challenge the system’s primal right of interpretation. To position hacktivism within a political framework we will then explore how it can be related to a recent rereading of the class struggle described by Marx, but from the perspective of hacking.

When we finally apply hacktivism to fashion our first meeting will be through the practice of deconstruction within fashion, which has affected fashion expressions widely over the last decades. This type of recycling has some similarities with hacking, but is also very different in its relation to the users and how the material or “code” is used. The chapter then ends with a discussion concerning a project of open sources fashion, Giana González’ Hacking-Couture, to then explore my own cookbook processes, the ReForm projects and the Abstract Accessories.

hacking Since the 1960s, hacking is a term usually connected to the world of computers. It has often a connotation of an ingenious geek, breaking into forbidden networks, bypassing security systems, stealing passwords and hijacking phones to call for free. In popular media they collaborate with -76-

like-minded in their hidden sects to break into banks or steal classified government information. In computer jargon there is a crucial difference between the curious hacker and his vicious counterpart - the cracker. In media these roles are often confused, but to make this difference clear programming guru Eric Raymond put it simply as: ”hackers build things, crackers break them.” (Raymond 2001) Yet, hacking is the mastery of a system, often on the edge of trespassing or the unpermitted, but usually not with ill intent.

This strict distinction easily comes in a moral dilemma and it frames a dispute that has followed hacking since its birth. It can be also argued that cracking and breaking things is a constructive practice and necessary for building. Every hack needs some initial crack, but to differentiate a hack from a simple deconstruction I stress the building and constructive modification as a central aspect of hacking.

Underlining the constructive aspect of hacking is quite common, not least among hackers themselves, and it differs radically to the counterculture’s approach to protest and how to create or facilitate change in a controlled and closed system, be it software or civil society. According to media theorist William J. Mitchell there is a difference between the hackers and the -68 movement or the tactics of the Situationists: MIT’s nerds have never felt the need to frame their jokes and pranks with French-style theoretical apparatus, but they do have a characteristic tactic of their own – the hack. The best hacks are cleverly engineered, site-specific, guerrilla interventions that make a provocative point but aren’t destructive or dangerous. Unlike hard-core Situationists, who wanted to provoke genuine outrage, true hackers would never consider stunts like absconding with the severed head of Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid.

(Mitchell 2005: 118)

The culture of hardware modification has always been around but only over the last decade has it been popularly referred to as hacking. The aspect of sharing technological activities and modifying consumer items reached a large audience with the rise of amateur radio and car modifying, or modding, in the 1920s. This line of practice intersected with an expand-77-

craftivism The practice in which craft meets political activism is popularly called “craftivism” (Greer, Spencer 2007: 228ff). Craftivism is a reinvention of craft, by updating or hacking tradition and making it a tool for raising political questions. Using crafts for political debate is of course not new, but what has happened over the last decade is a rebirth of popular crafts among a generation of young people who by their parents are often seen as apolitical and who were normally used to buying things ready-made. The reason for this rebirth can be manifold. As argued by crafter Jean Railla (2006) it can be because artisans are held up as the heroes of our time, in the “creative economy”, but also as an amateur rebellion against just that. According to Railla it can also be because, as consequence of the feminist struggle, domestic labour is no longer seen as suppressive, yet it can be a political protest against globalized labour conditions, manifested in the sweatshops of East Asia.

This updated craft, sometimes called NeoCraft or NuCraft, is currently being developed in a wide range of ways, from renewing stitching by using radically new patterns or meanings, to combining crafting with social ac-94-

Schalalala is a fan-scarf remix project by Rüdiger Schlömer where the user can remix fan-scarfs on-line with a simple cut-and-paste interface and create his own message. The finished remix pattern can be downloaded for easy translation into knitting.

tivist protests like stitch sit-ins at Nike stores to protest against sweatshops.

But not the least, as a “new domesticity” craftvism is a resurgence that reclaims craft as tools and methods to bring contemporary meaning in a society dominated by mass production and fastfood-like surplus, such as the “McFashion”. Craftivism comments on how we define work and productivity in a time of consumerism and as mentioned by Leah Cramer, from the Internet community craftster.com, craftivism is a socially conscientious practice, There is a sort of anti-brand/anti-corporate feeling growing stronger as people become aware of what goes into mass-produced goods. And making things yourself helps you appreciate how much work can go into things like clothing and can make you wonder how they can be sold so cheaply. (Spencer 2005: 69)

Old crafts find new meanings through adapting them to new uses and patterns, and reinserting the activity itself into contemporary society, bending the sign systems and making craft mean something else than what we usually see at the traditional craft museums. It is modulating and tuning the practices to manifest messages that matter today, and often combining -95-

Subversive Cross Stitch is a craft enterprise started in 2003

by Julie Jackson. She creates simple start kits for cross stitching that contains the thread and material needed for the provided patterns. It is an easy way into craft as cross stitch works on a grid in the fabric, making it easy to transfer patterns. Something in between pixel art and connect-thedots. Her kits has raised a lot of attention from media and are sold at chains like Urban Outfitters.

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Italyan Avlusu was a self_passage project run together with the community art group Oda Projesi in Istanbul 2004. During one month we set up a local fashion brand based on a process of recycling garments and especially their inherent stories. Before the garments were recycled the previous owners had to write down the clothes experiences in a fill-in-form.

Songül Ergin Why was this garment YOU? Because it looked good on me.

Where/when have you worn it? (how long has it been used?)

I was using when goign to the market place and/or going to visit friends.

Where/when did you get the garment?

Five years ago from Kasımpaşa.

Why did you buy it? (why was it beautiful?)

I was going to (my) village, and I liked this (garment).

Why don’t you like it anymore? (why isn’t it beautiful anymore?)

I don’t like it becaue I’ve put on weight.

I’ll enlarge one of these and shorten the other one.

What kind of activities has it been used in? (work/leisure/celebrations) I was wearing it daily.

What is this garments memorable story?

(My) kid puked on it when we were going to our village/town.

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The Swap-O-Rama-Rama catwalk ending the event was part of a Istanbul Street Style Sahane party. Here the designs produced during the day were exhibited.

Some designers wore their own creations and entered a catwalk for the first time in their lives. Others styled the models taking part in the Sahane show.

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You never change things by fighting against the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.

Buckminster Fuller

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