Ordinary fashion consumption: Investigating the practices of clothing purchase, use and disposal in Danish and Ukrainian contexts

From Firenze University Press Journal: Fashion Highlight

Iryna Kucher, Design School Kolding

Before the 1980s, fashion consumption studies primarily concentrated on the spectacular and visual aspects of consumer behaviour, the symbolic and semiotic significance of commodities and their role in constructing individual and group identity (Baudrillard, 1970; Gronow & Warde, 2001). At the same time, the less flamboyant and visible practices were typically ignored (Campbell, 2005; Watson & Shove, 2008). This unbalanced account of consumer behaviour was challenged by several authors who observed that a significant part of consumption is “ordinary” (see Gronow & Warde, 2001) and occurs “as items are appropriated in the course of engaging in particular practices” (Warde, 2005, p. 131). Accordingly, by the end of the 1990s, the images of consumers as passive subjects manipulated by the market forces were progressively exorcised (Gronow & Warde, 2001), and consumers started to be seen as active, creative, self-reflexive agents who, motivated by a desire for self-expression, bring their “skills implied in the use, integration and desiring of items required for the effective accomplishment and performance of daily life” (Watson & Shove, 2008, p. 3). Simultaneously, also the concept of “slow fashion”, which implies valuing local resources and transparent production systems with fewer intermediaries between producers and consumers, was brought to the foreground and started to permeate mature capitalist societies. Within such a framework, resourceful clothing consumption practices are seen as one of the possible small-scale and personal responses to the overwhelming problems of fast consumption and waste (Fletcher, 2016; Fletcher & Tham, 2019). Moreover, “slow fashion” presupposes that “fashion objects should be considered an investment” (Gurova, 2015, p. 140), and clothing longevity, durability, and practicality should be valued, as it was in societies of the past (Holroyd et al., 2023).

THE CONCEPTS OF CLOTHING CONSUMPTION: PERMANENT, TRANSITIONAL, FAST, AND SLOW

The links with the past were then further explored by Gurova (2015), who analysed the temporal rhythms of clothing consumption and the transformation of consumers’ daily practices in Russia within different social groups, depending on the macro characteristics of societies at a specific historical period. Gurova argued that temporality can be understood on both the macro-level (type of society, the institutional conditions, the economic conditions, and the development of retail markets) and the micro-level (individual clothing consumption practices of purchase, use and disposal of fashion objects). The interaction of micro and macro factors produces a certain fashion concept within a particular temporal regime. As a result of this research, Gurova distinguished four concepts of clothing consumption:• Permanent, where due to the inefficiency of the Soviet planned economy, consumers continuously repair and revitalise their clothing, extending their use phase to the extreme. • Transitional, where, within the transition to the market economy, consumers have the access to low-quality foreign goods, which reduces the service lifespan of clothing. • Fast, where due to the low prices of fast fashion brands, it is easier to replace worn-out things with new ones instead of prolonging their lifespan within the home. • And slow, where consumers take a more responsible position towards environmental issues and return to do-it-yourself practices.The theory of consumption temporalities demonstrates that permanent and slow concepts of consumption present certain similarities while occurring for different reasons. The consumption patterns of the permanent temporality are dictated by the State (see Fehér et al., 1983), while the patterns of the slow temporality are a consequence of the consumer’s choice. Despite these macro-dif-ferences, both concepts imply handmade and local production, repair and maintenance, upcycling and downcycling, personalisation, circulation of clothing and shopping in second-hand stores. Although Gurova’s findings result from the study of (post)-Soviet societies, rhythms and routines have spatial qualities, and every society has its unique concept of time and prevailing rhythm inherited in the everyday practices of its members. Shove et al. (2009) suggested that a greater focus on multiple rhythms and temporalities can be a promising way to promote more sustainable behaviour related to consumption. On these premises, and through the lens of the theory of clothing consumption temporalities, I propose to draw a parallel between the rhythms of clothing consumption in Western and (post)-Soviet contexts (specifically in Denmark and Ukraine) and to investigate how ordinary consumption practices of purchase, use (in particular mending practices), and disposal of clothing have evolved over time in both contexts.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-2758

Read Full Text: https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/fh/article/view/2758