Learning to sew is a teenage rite of passage in World 9. Growing out of 1960s youth culture and the punk attitude of the 1970s, sewing your own clothes became the pinnacle of cool.
Using sewing skills to express individual identity and independence is seen as something to aspire to. Learning to use a sewing machine is as common and as gender neutral as learning to drive. Weekend ‘meets’ where people parade their home constructed garments and share construction/reconstruction tips are common. Annual conventions also award winners of various creative and technical categories with support to publish their DIY clothing zines.
Aprender a coser es un rito del paso a la adolescencia en el Mundo 9. Con la cultura juvenil de los años sesenta y la actitud punk de los años setenta, coser la propia ropa se convirtió en la máxima expresión de lo guay.
Utilizar las habilidades costureras para expresar la identidad individual y la independencia se considera algo a lo que aspirar. Aprender a usar una máquina de coser es tan común y tan neutro desde el punto de vista del género como aprender a conducir. Son habituales las «reuniones» de fin de semana en las que las personas muestran sus prendas confeccionadas en casa y comparten consejos de confección o reconfección. Las convenciones anuales también premian a los ganadores de diversas categorías creativas y técnicas con ayudas para publicar sus fanzines de ropa DIY.
What if …
learning to sew clothes was as common and gender neutral as learning to drive?
Issue targeted:
the gendered nature of sewing and fashion’s dependence on branded goods and the exploitation of (largely female) labour
Inspiration:
punk counter-culture and DIY movements
This World was contributed by Sally Cooke (located in Leeds, UK) using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the author and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.
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