This activity is intended for the end of a Fashion Fictions workshop or project.
All of the Fashion Fictions activities, whether Stage 1, Stage 2 or Stage 3, have the capacity to generate wonder: a new perspective on our real-world experiences of fashion.
This activity invites participants to capture their thoughts when this sense of wonder is fresh: when they leave the speculative sphere and arrive back in the real world. Examples gathered via previous activities can be seen on the Wonder page.
The instructions below are intended for a group working together, but can be adapted if you are working individually.
There are four parts to this guide: Wonder paths | What you need | Step by step | Share your shapes
Wonder paths
In this activity, wonder is channelled along three paths: questions, precedents and ideas for action. Each path is associated with a different shape: feathers, shells and leaves.
For all three paths, you can think personally or collectively. Your thoughts might relate to directly to the fictional World you have been working on, or might arise independently.
Questions about the real world (feathers)
looking with fresh eyes, a question about how or why things are how they are
Precedents: real-world examples (shells)
a contemporary or historical example of a better way of living with our clothes
Ideas for action in the real world (leaves)
something you want to see happen; be guided by desire, not practicality
What you need
If you’re working in person:
- Handout explaining the three ‘wonder paths’ with examples (download in pdf format / docx format)
- Printed feathers, shells and leaves (download sheets to print in colour in A3 pdf format or email Amy to request a special riso-printed set) – alternatively participants could draw their own
- Markers
- Pinboard and drawing pins or washing line and pegs
If you’re working digitally:
- Access to this webpage in order to share the wonder paths section
- A digital pinboard where people can post their contributions on top of the relevant shapes (email Amy if you would like to use our simple Dotstorming board, set up for this purpose)
Step by step
Brief the group on the general idea of the activity – you can use the text at the top of this page as a guide.
Explain that you will take ten minutes to reflect on the experience of exploring fictional fashion Worlds.
Talk through the three wonder paths using the handout or the section on this webpage and explain that each person (working individually) is invited to capture one question, precedent or idea for action.
Explain that for all three themes, you can think personally or collectively, and that contributions might connect directly to a particular fictional World, or not.
Instructions for each participant:
Spend a few minutes in silence thinking about your ideas and working out the wording for your statement or question. Try to capture it as concisely as you can – think of it as a headline, or a slogan.
Instructions for each participant:
When you’re ready, write your statement or question on the relevant shape.
If you’re at an in-person event, write on top of the shape (not on the back).
Gather together, in a circle if you are working in person. One by one, say your name – to locate yourself – and share your question, precedent or idea for action with the group.
Pin each question, precedent or idea for action on the pinboard (real or digital) or peg it on the washing line for all to see!
After the workshop you are encouraged to carry the sense of wonder, of possibility, of imagination, of willingness to question the status quo, into the wilds of the real-world fashion system, which needs so urgently to change.
Share your shapes
Have you had a go at the wonder-capture activity? We’d love to hear how it went and to see your questions, precedents and ideas for action! Send an email to Amy with your news.
Want to share or adapt this guide?
This guide is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows you to share and adapt them in any medium and for any purpose, providing that you credit the author (Amy Twigger Holroyd / Fashion Fictions) and apply the same Creative Commons licence to whatever you create.
If you’d like to adapt the guide for a non-fashion focus, please visit the Adapting Fashion Fictions page.