A Historical Culture of Clothing Circularity: Reuse, Repair and Refurbishing in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Victoria, Australia

Abstract

As Australia grapples with the consequences of mounting fashion consumption then discard, we look back to the country’s history of clothing adaptation to trace the historical dimensions of a long-standing culture of circularity. In focusing our gaze on the colony of Victoria in the mid-nineteenth century, we place philosophies of clothing care in a context of rapid change that demanded a willingness—if not an absolute need—to mend, adjust, resize, remake and recycle clothing. We suggest that the circular clothing culture of the mid-nineteenth century, though it was not considered in those terms at the time, might offer critical insights in the present. The demands of the past and ways of living and consuming have vastly altered, yet these historical examples suggest the potential for small-scale, home-based interventions in which individual change could inspire larger, cumulative transformations over time.