History, Material Culture, and the Fashioned Nostalgic Self: A Methodological Approach to Contemporary 1950s Fashion

Abstract

Why do contemporary Australian women wear nostalgic 1950s style clothing, and what can the clothing tell us about their sartorial practices? This article demonstrates the methodological value of using a material culture framework to reveal the complex interplay of materiality and culture behind clothing choices. The framework presented here combines the History of Dress approach (object-based analysis) with the Fashion Studies approach (socio-cultural interpretation) to answer the research question. The approach includes a detailed object analysis of an exemplar garment, an object analysis of the range of nostalgic 1950s style clothing available in the Australia retail market, and an examination of the associated ephemera, including branding, advertising and model representation, to reveal what the object informs us about the women who wear the style. This is complemented by an deep analysis of what the culture, based on interviews with 29 Australian women, says about their clothing practices. This reveals that the women embrace the style for their esthetic values, whilst rejecting the historical social norms associated with the style. This article presents a research design that provides a rigorous, adaptable framework for clothing research, enabling scholars to examine the materiality of clothing alongside its socio-cultural significance.