THE CRAFTS OF FASHION
TEMPORALITIES : VOLUME 4

The relationship to time in the history of taste and appearance is central—the notion of being “out of style” fundamentally disqualifies all forms of the past. Yet aesthetic cycles, like the seasonal rhythms to which they respond, are not always linear: we enjoy recalling a silhouette or evoking a bygone era through a pattern or a fabric.

By examining the temporalities of fashion through the lens of crafts and techniques, this fourth volume explores different ways of representing history, through narratives that run counter to established chronologies. This provides an opportunity to explore—amid anachronisms and fantasies—the revival of certain forgotten heritage traditions, as well as the role of traces or fragments— whether a gesture or a tool—in the construction of knowledge. Here, restorations and reconstructions reveal both their creative dimension and their technical expertise. A detour into the world of perfume and the long-term nature of botany—in its more geological aspects—invites us to reconsider the gap between the most ephemeral and the deceptive permanence of the landscape. From musicians to embroiderers, from gardeners to weavers, these artisans thus engage in a perpetual reimagining of their own traditions.