In World 27, post-pandemic consumption and lifestyle shifts force a re-examination of value systems: closets full of empty clothes no longer articulate with day-to-day experience.
Textile histories become central to the way we value garments, with Cuba as global leader in the post-capitalist heirloom-chain economy.
Value shifts to that based on palimpsestic load: the greater the number of associated histories, the greater a garment’s desirability. Garments are traded and gifted within the framework of performative activities such as mending circles, where storytelling plays a significant role. A new, unscarred, non-storied garment is of little appeal; lived-in, mended, altered garments are in highest demand.
What if …
dressing were re-signified as part of a performative, collective, healing experience, and garment value was based on its histories – heirloom chain — rather than on its production chain?
Inspiration:
I have become passionately involved in research surrounding fashion practice in Cuba, and am directing a documentary film titled A Wardrobe, an Island, which journeys through the mirrors and wardrobes of Cubans attempting to make a history of their own
This World was contributed by Jeannine Diego (located in Mexico City, Mexico, and with experience of the fashion industry and production chains in New York, Miami, New Delhi and Mexico City) 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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