by helene.goedl -

23 | Digital Fashion – Exploring Research Questions

In the last blogpost, I discussed how I narrowed down my research topic by excluding certain aspects of the digital fashion design topic. In this post, I will elaborate on the aspects that I do want to focus on, why they are of interest and how their exploration can be formulated into concrete research questions. 

The main focus of my thesis will be the digital fashion design process. I decided to focus on this aspect because it will allow me to integrate the practical part of my thesis with the theory part and  enable me to incorporate my own experiences from the digital design process. This will also create a possibility to explore the traditional fashion design process as a comparison point for the digital design process. Through this inclusion, I will have the opportunity to feature point of views from traditional fashion designers in the literature and interview section of my research, which will help in broadening the pool of possible experts that I can contact.1 

To recap the factors of interest I defined in my last blogpost, the main focus of my exploration of the digital fashion design process are working without materiality, working without a physical body and working without physical space as an influence factor. 

I further defined the tension between physical and digital and the implications of these new design conditions as areas of interest in my work. The practical part of my thesis will be designing a micro collection of digital fashion items and finding presentation strategies for the digital clothing items.2 My plan is to incorporate the findings from the practical work into my theory part. 

With the above considerations in mind, I proceeded to formulate some possible concrete research questions. Below, I am giving a short elaboration on what using the respective questions could result in within my thesis. 

Possible Research Questions:

“How do designers conceptualize the role and purpose of fashion in digital spaces, and how does this differ from the role of fashion in physical spaces?”
This research question would allow me to explore the purpose of fashion (self-expression, status, etc.) in the digital realm, as well as how designers are navigating this space. The resulting thesis could study how digital fashion challenges or expands the traditional purposes of clothing.

“What design methodologies are employed by fashion designers when creating virtual clothing, and how do these methods differ from traditional fashion design practices?”
Through this question, I would focus on the design process itself. It could explore how designers transition from physical garment creation to 3D garment creation and how this shift affects their design philosophy and methodology.

“How do fashion designers perceive the relationship between physical and digital fashion, and to what extent are they integrated into a holistic design approach?”
With this question at the heart of my thesis, I could explore how designers view the two realms—do they consider digital fashion as a distinct category, or is it something they aim to merge with traditional fashion? How do they address the challenges of bridging these worlds?

“What are the cultural and ethical considerations that designers must navigate when creating digital fashion, particularly in relation to identity, body representation, and inclusivity?”
While I did not formulate the sociological aspect as the main focus of my research, this question could enable me to touch on the cultural and ethical implications of digital fashion. For example, how do designers ensure that virtual clothing does not perpetuate harmful stereotypes or exclude certain body types or identities?

“How does the rise of digital fashion impact the role of the designer in the future of the fashion industry, and what implications does this have for the academic study of fashion design?”
This research question would open the door to understanding how digital fashion is reshaping the designer’s role and could have interesting implications for academia and future curriculum development in fashion design education.

„How do fashion designers approach the integration of digital and physical fashion, and what does the concept of ‚fashion‘ mean in digital spaces, where traditional functions of clothing—such as materiality and bodily adornment—are absent?“
This question brings together the key elements I am interested in: Designers‘ perspectives on digital vs. physical fashion, the concept of fashion in a virtual context, the philosophical exploration of clothing in spaces where physical presence is not required. 

    With these possible research questions formulated, I can now revisit my literature, expand my literature research keywords and refine my methodology further. 

    1 Clarke and Harris, Digital Visions for Fashion and Textiles: Made In Code.
    2 Neuburger “Signature Pieces by Signature Moves : Potentials of Motion Tracking in Digital  
      Fashion – Infusing Aestethics and Shapes with Apporaches from Club Dance Cultures.”

    Sources: 

    Clarke, Sarah E. Braddock, and Jane Harris. Digital Visions for Fashion + Textiles : Made in Code. 1. publ., 2012.

    Neuburger, Magdalena. Signature Pieces by Signature Moves : Potentials of Motion Tracking in Digital Fashion – Infusing Aestethics and Shapes with Apporaches from Club Dance Cultures, 2021.

    by helene.goedl -

    22 | Digital Fashion – Narrowing down the Research Topic

    In the process of working towards the final master thesis, an important step is the continuing refinement of the concrete research topic and research question. In this process, the challenge is to comprehend what it really is that makes the topic of digital fashion design so interesting for me. 

    In this blogpost, I will briefly explain the origin of my interest in the topic, outline the scope of the research topic that will be covered in the masters thesis and define some areas that will be excluded in my exploration of digital fashion within my thesis.

    The origin of my interest in the topic of digital fashion stems from my original background. My venturing into the field of design started at the age of 14 when I began studying in fashion school. I had always been interested in clothes and especially, I had always had a fascination with materials, how they behave in certain circumstances, how they can be strategically used, made and manipulated. I was also very intrigued by how fashion design incorporates the human body as a core element of the design process1. Now, many years later and having ventured away from my original design discipline through photography to moving image media design, I rediscovered my interest in these core topics of materiality and physicality. When it came to choosing a topic for my masters thesis, I actively looked for a topic through which I could merge the media design field with my interest in fashion design. Quite soon, I came across the topic of digital fashion. Since defining it as my master thesis field of research, I have been faced with the challenge of determining a more focused research topic and question that would encompass my interest in materiality and physicality, as well as reflecting relevant issues in the current discourse surrounding digital fashion design. 

    When narrowing down the scope of a topic, it can often be helpful to exclude certain aspects to gain more clarity. With this aim in mind, I went through my sources and determined some aspects of the current discourse on digital fashion that will not be the main focus of my thesis. 

    Firstly, I decided to broadly exclude all aspects of the topic revolving around video games, which is an aspect that has continued to be prominent in the discussion of digital fashion use cases.2,3 My decision to exclude it is mainly rooted in the fact that I am not familiar at all with games culture and I don’t find it a sufficiently rich source of discussion for my approach to the topic. Although digital fashion in video games may still come up in some side notes, it will not be the main focus of my thesis.

    In relation to this, I also made the decision to not focus prominently on the discussion around NFTs and the marketability aspect of digital fashion as an end product in general. My thesis is not concerned with exploring how digital fashion as an end product can be sold to consumers and what role it can have in the fashion market. Naturally, this aspect might also be mentioned in passing, but it will not be the focus of my work.

    One topic I did not want to entirely exclude in my research was the question of sustainability. Digital fashion is sometimes touted as a solution that can aid in reducing the demand for fast fashion, especially in relation to fashion influencers and use cases of fashion that are limited to the digital sphere. While this aspect is still of interest to me, I have decided against making it the main focus of my thesis.

    What has become clear to me through excluding these aspects is that my interest in the digital fashion topic are revolving more around the design process rather than being concerned with an end product. For a while in exploring potential focus points in the discussion, I considered exploring the aspect of digital end products and their use cases, but found that this is not the aspect that really sparked my interest in this topic in the first place and was not encouraging me to continue my exploration.

    I decided that my exploration of digital fashion had to revolve more around the applied design process, especially with the consideration of the implications of working without materiality, without a physical body and without physical space in mind. I found that exploring this tension between physical and digital and the implications of these new design conditions are what make digital fashion such an interesting research area for me. In the next blogpost, I will discuss more thoughts on these aspects and elaborate on more possibilities of narrowing the research scope.

    1 McClendon, “The Body: Fashion and Physique—A Curatorial Discussion.”
    2 Reay and Wanick, “Skins in the Game: Fashion Branding and Commercial Video Games.”
    3 Reza et al., “Skins for Sale: Linking Player Identity, Representation, and Purchasing Practices.”

    Sources:

    McClendon, Emma. “The Body: Fashion and Physique—A Curatorial Discussion.” Fashion Theory 23, no. 2 (February 26, 2019): 147–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704x.2019.1567057.

    Reay, Emma, and Vanissa Wanick. “Skins in the Game: Fashion Branding and Commercial Video Games.” In Reinven3ng Fashion Retailing. Digitalising, Gamifying, Entrepreneuring, 73–90, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11185-3_5. 

    Reza, Alia, Sabrina Chu, Zuaira Khan, Adanna Nedd, Amy Cas3llo, and Daniel Gardner. “Skins for Sale: Linking Player Iden3ty, Representa3on, and Purchasing Prac3ces.” In Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 124–31, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15742-5_11.