mispronouncing haute couture: a teacher’s journey through
TRANSCRIPT
Mispronouncing Haute Couture: A Teacher’s Journey through the Literacies of Fashion
By
Maria Teresa Leos, B.S., M.S.
A Dissertation
In
Curriculum and Instruction
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPY
Approved
Dr. Sally McMillan
Chair of Committee
Dr. Rene Saldana
Dr. Patricia Watson
Dr. Zane Curry
Mark Sheridan
Dean of the Graduate School
August, 2014
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For our narrotologists readers we might tell a story—perhaps a personal account
of how our relationship brought us into the space of these ideas. For
autoethnographers, we would face our account with glimpses into our particular
motives, desires, and fears. In contrast for the theoretically oriented we might
begin with a discussion of Althussier’s concept of interpellation, or Bahktin’s
ventriloquation. At the same time, we might wish to honor our academic mentors,
those guardians of intellectual conscience to whose many works we owe
considerable debt. (Gergen & Gergen, p. 12-13)
First, I want to thank my Maker, my Teacher, and my God for providing me this
opportunity and the staying power to reach this milestone. Often times the end of the
road appeared unreachable. However, I want to thank you, Father God, for walking with
me on this journey.
I also want to acknowledge my parents, Martin and Ophelia Leos, for believing in
me and providing me with financial and moral support, and constant prayer throughout
this process. To my twin Elena, brother-in-law David, and to my nieces Carisa and
Katelyn: Thank you for keeping me accountable and perpetually motivating me to keep
working despite my wanting to give up at times. Carisa and Katelyn, I can still hear your
little voices asking, “Tia, what chapter are you on now? How many pages have you
written?” To Aunt Socorro and Uncle Oscar: Thank you for being my kitchen table
audience on the numerous times I read you excerpts from this work.
To my Chair, Dr. Sally Mcmillan: I thoroughly enjoyed working with you. I
thank you for allowing me the freedom to try innovative approaches in telling my story
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and for perpetually encouraging me along the way. It was during our coffee shop visits
that I truly came to appreciate and value your creativity, expertise, and knowledge in
authoethnography. Your role as both facilitator and mentor was invaluable in all the
stages of writing this autoethnography.
Dr. Patricia Watson, I am deeply indebted to you for advising me throughout my
graduate courses and dissertation proposal and for fostering in me a love for reading
which I did not previously possess. From the beginning you have been a strong support.
You have also taught me to be a “gatherer and hunter” of articles, a skill which will be
most beneficial for future scholarship.
Dr. Rene Saldana, I thank you for serving on my committee. You have been an
inspiration to me as a Latino scholar and writer. I am always encouraged after reading
one of your novelas. Thank you for motivating us (your students) to be readers and
creative writers of narratives.
Dr. Zane Curry, it is a dream of mine come true to have you serve on this
dissertation committee. If you recall, you would have been my thesis Chair years ago,
had I pursued a Master’s degree in Fashion Design. Thank you for being a part of this
dissertation journey. You have been a true mentor, colleague, and friend.
To my dear friend and colleague and editor, Shirley Webb: Thank you for your
prayers, your late night editing, and your constant encouragement. You have been
gracious to “travel” with me and have been a tremendous help during this entire journey.
Finally, Dr. Lee Duemer, Dr. Richard Molina, and Dr. Elsa-Diego Medrano:
Thank you for your encouraging words and the many helpful dissertation tips you have
provided along the way.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iv
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... viii
I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1
Background of the Problem ............................................................................................ 6
Problem Statement ........................................................................................................ 10
Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 10
Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 11
Key Terms ..................................................................................................................... 12
Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 13
Assumptions .................................................................................................................. 15
Concluding Words ........................................................................................................ 15
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE....................................................................................... 17
Reflective thinking ........................................................................................................ 17
Teacher Identity Research ............................................................................................. 22
Reflective Practice Studies ........................................................................................... 25
Professional Identity and Reflective Practice inthe Fashion/Creative Arts .................. 31
Multiliteracies Perspectives .......................................................................................... 38
Research on Teaching Fashion and Literacy ................................................................ 41
III. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 49
Background to the Study ............................................................................................... 50
Purpose of the study ...................................................................................................... 52
Autoethnography as Methodology ................................................................................ 52
Multiple Lenses ............................................................................................................. 54
Research Design............................................................................................................ 55
Data Sources ................................................................................................................. 56
Reflexive Journal .......................................................................................................... 57
Interviews ...................................................................................................................... 58
Student Artifacts ........................................................................................................... 61
Archival Data ................................................................................................................ 62
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Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 63
Trustworthy Data .......................................................................................................... 65
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 67
IV. THE PRIOR SELF, THE PAST SELF, & THE PROSPECTIVE SELF ................... 68
The Prior Self ................................................................................................................ 69
Introduction to Literacy ............................................................................................ 69
Hello!! Scholastic Books!! ........................................................................................ 70
Struggling with Literacy ........................................................................................... 71
Summers at the Public library ................................................................................... 73
Dressing up Darcy..................................................................................................... 74
The Sewing Machine ................................................................................................ 75
Fashion Fundamentals .............................................................................................. 77
In a league of my own ............................................................................................... 78
Daring with Daisy Print ............................................................................................ 79
España La Moda ....................................................................................................... 80
Meeting Todd Oldham .............................................................................................. 83
AutoCAD Class ........................................................................................................ 84
The Senior Style Show.............................................................................................. 87
Cowboy Hats, Cowboy Boots, and Country Music .................................................. 89
A Graduate Student ................................................................................................... 90
Legally Blonde .......................................................................................................... 91
What is epistemology? .............................................................................................. 92
A Leap of Faith ......................................................................................................... 93
Lacking Luster and Literacy ..................................................................................... 94
Construction Basics .................................................................................................. 95
Learning the Fashion Lexicon .................................................................................. 96
Fashion Chemistry .................................................................................................... 97
Credible Designers .................................................................................................... 99
Softball and Fashion ................................................................................................. 99
A Fashion Literacy Classroom................................................................................ 100
Design Tour 2010 ................................................................................................... 101
Growing Pains: Teaching Portfolio Review .......................................................... 102
Transition from University to High School ............................................................ 103
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The Present Self .......................................................................................................... 104
The Genesis ............................................................................................................. 104
It’s More Than Just Vogue ..................................................................................... 105
Coco Chanel ............................................................................................................ 106
What is a maquiladora? ........................................................................................... 107
Celebrating Vogue: The Past, The Present, and The Future .................................. 108
The Prospective Self ................................................................................................... 109
Around the World in a Day ..................................................................................... 109
Fashion Forward ..................................................................................................... 110
Fashion Fiction and Forecasting ............................................................................. 111
A Pioneer in Fashion Literacy ................................................................................ 111
V. FINAL CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ...................................................................... 113
Personal Development in Fashion: Molding Identity and Pedagogy as Fashion
Instructor ..................................................................................................................... 114
Fear of Failure ......................................................................................................... 114
Perceptions of the Fashionista ................................................................................ 116
Fashion Design Struggles ....................................................................................... 117
Fashion Rigor: The Fashion Student is a True Polyglot ......................................... 118
Fashion Success ...................................................................................................... 119
Personal Development in Literacy: Molding Identity and Pedagogy as a Fashion
Instructor ..................................................................................................................... 120
Literacy as Inspiration............................................................................................. 120
Gaining Confidence in Literacy .............................................................................. 121
Fashion and Literacy Informing Teaching in the Fashion Collegiate Classroom ...... 122
Acknowledging Multiliteracies ............................................................................... 122
Innovation ............................................................................................................... 123
Improving Literacy in the classroom ...................................................................... 124
Literacy and Real World Application ..................................................................... 125
An Introspective Look: The Implications .............................................................. 126
Recommendations and Concluding Words ............................................................. 127
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 129
A. STUDENT INTERVIEW SCRIPT ............................................................................ 140
B. HISTORY OF AUTOETHNOGRAPHY .................................................................. 142
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C. DEFINING OF AUTOETHNOGRAPHY ................................................................. 144
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ABSTRACT
Popular media often characterizes individuals in the world of fashion design as
shallow, frivolous, and lacking intellect. Rather, a fashion designer’s job encapsulates
knowing the technical aspects of designing, as well as the literacies specific to the
discipline. In spite of this reality, fashion instruction emphasizes demonstrations at the
expense of attention to fashion literacy. Although research in the areas of multiple and
disciplinary literacy are prevalent in the current literature, little research on fashion
literacy is available. This autoethnography chronicles a fashion educator’s journey
towards reconceptualizing and integrating literacy instruction and critical thinking into
her instruction. The researcher engages in interactive interviews with her fashion
students to record how they experienced a literacy rich curriculum. The following
research questions were examined:
1. In what ways has my personal development in the world of fashion shaped my
identity and practice as a fashion instructor?
2. In what ways has my personal development in the area of literacy shaped my
identity and practice as a fashion instructor?
3. In what ways has my development in these two disparate fields informed my
teaching in the collegiate fashion classroom?
Personal narratives, a reflexive journal, and instructional and personal artifacts were
collected as archival data. In addition, semi-structured and informal interviews were
conducted with former students. Data was analyzed by using a constant comparative
method to construct narratives and writing through inquiry in order to identify emerging
themes. The findings indicated that negative perceptions of fashion and fashion students
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prompted the author to include literacy-rich curriculum. However, the researcher
discovered that, in addition to their content areas, fashion students were well-versed in
multiple disciplines. Students mentioned they drew inspiration for their designer
collections from literacy texts and multi-literacy assignments. Fashion students further
mentioned the literacy assignments that were most instructive were those that applied real
world knowledge such as researching fabrics and textiles, learning the fashion
terminology, and writing paraphrased instructions for their construction notebooks.
Students identified the fashion instructor as a literate fashion professional who also
helped them to become literate professionals.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this autoethnographic study, I examined the development of my own identity as
a fashion professional and instructor. Autoethnography is a genre of writing, often times
narrative, in which “texts are usually written in the first person and feature dialogue,
emotion, and self-consciousness as relational and institutional stories affected by history,
social structure, and culture” ( Holt, 2003, p. 2). As my narrative unfolds, it is my hope
that others will experience my journey with me. I have been deeply bothered and
affected, at times when family, friends, and others in my life have greatly underestimated
the intelligence and flexibility it takes to be successful in the field of fashion. My
students and I have experienced unfair judgment, and I want my students to transcend
these negative perceptions, and to be proud of their career choice in fashion as they grow
professionally. My students’ experiences, coupled with my own, propelled me to tell my
story through this narrative inquiry. I have been informed about my teacher identity
through retelling my narratives and interviewing students to determine how my using
literacy as a tool to teach fashion affected their learning.
I introduced this inquiry with a memory of the interplay between fashion and
literacy that occurred in my own undergraduate studies. Looking back at my
mispronunciation of haute couture, I realized that this particular incident was important
to both my professional and academic growth, and that explicit literacy instruction and
supports could strengthen students’ confidence and competence. Years later, as an
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instructor, I became more convinced of the wisdom in and effectiveness of merging my
worlds of fashion and literacy instruction.
I looked around the sterile fashion illustration laboratory. How ironic
that this place where I had learned the elements and principles of design was devoid of
color, graphics, or text. I then recalled the faces of my former classmates, their eyes full
of anticipation waiting to see who Dr. Drew would call next.
By now, my underarms were perspiring, as I had volunteered to be the last to
present. Last minute questions swarmed through my head as I waited my turn: Had I
forgotten to put on my deodorant? When was it going to be my turn? Had I completed the
style sheet for the bolero jacket with trinkets? What was my opening line? Why was I
worried about this presentation? I had researched my topic, I was wearing
the Spanish ensemble I designed, and I had prepared for this presentation. What could
possibly go wrong?
As I ran through the entire presentation in my head, Dr. Drew’s voice
interrupted… “Teresa Leos, we are ready to hear about España La Moda.” When I
heard Dr. Drew’s perfect Spanish as she introduced me, my apprehension ballooned.
How can this individual with Non-Latino roots pronounce my name so beautifully and
faultlessly?
The fact that she was my favorite professor, one who looked like Designer
Barbie and who always chose me to write the fashion show commentaries, put additional
pressure on me.
I knew this professor would expect me to present flawlessly!
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I took a deep breath and began the presentation with gusto: “España La Moda,
the Fashion of Spain, is a collection inspired by the traditional Spanish cultural
costuming and by my favorite designer, Christian Lacroix. I have chosen to exhibit this
designer grouping by embellishing each with contemporary flair.” I had all eyes on me.
I was confident and in the zone – that is, until I stumbled on pronouncing a key word in
the fashion lexicon: haute couture. I said, “Hot-tay Ko-sher, which means high
fashion.” I had just mispronounced haute couture! My face turned volcano red as Dr.
Drew quickly corrected me. I knew that if I were asked to do so, I would not be able to
elaborate on it either. I was even still wondering,” What Lacroix meant by high
fashion.”
Needless to say, the momentum I begin my presentation with had vanished. I
stuttered and stumbled my way through the rest of the presentation—the one I had
worked arduously to prepare.
I never expected this moment of humiliation to serve as a catalyst of inquiry, or
as life changing event that precipitated my journey as a literate fashion professional.
However, I need to provide a little more of my narrative as I discuss the genesis of my
journey of identity and my interest in fashion literacy. My dream had always been to…
Spend long hours incessantly rehearsing on a fashion runway underneath an
elephantine-sized canopy in Bryant Park; maneuvering through a maze of backstage
Vidal Sassoon hairstylists and make-up artists applying hair extensions, airbrushing faux
tans, or using the boldest MAC make-up products; and winding my way through
paparazzi- filled streets, waiting to shoot the latest trends and hoping to get a glimpse of
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the newest face in fashion—it all sounds so superficial and glamorous, but being a
fashion model was what I dreamt of pursuing after completing high school.
To my mind, high school had been a wasteland of useless information such as the
Pythagorean Theorem, the memorization of the prologue of The Canterbury Tales in Old
English, and the elements of the periodic table. I had earned countless 0’s on mechanic
grades for writing fragments and run on sentences in my English compositions, all of
which could have earned me a truly negative digit had it not been for the opportunity to
redeem my grade through resubmissions.
I wanted a career where I didn’t have to think so hard. I wanted a career that
would bring me instant fame. I wanted to be the next Tyra Banks, the next top model.
However, who was I kidding? At the height of 4’11 and a mere two inches above
dwarfism, who would hire me? Disappointed that I had to let go of my aspirations of
being a senior model on the cover of Vogue magazine, I began to focus on a more
suitable career. A career inventory I took in high school indicated that fashion was truly
in my blood when fashion design was highlighted as a perfect match and an ideal career
for me to pursue.
According to family and friends, I would be investing money in a discipline that
was perceived as frivolous, a waste of time, or simply a hobby. My sister often
characterized fashion design as less rigorous than other disciplines, particularly
business, which was her major. My parents were also concerned that I was wasting my
academic scholarship on a degree that would take me nowhere except to make me an
official member of The Starving Artist Club.
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The fall of 1989 was the nascence of my career as a fashion design student. I
chose a discipline that requires students to be prolific in the craft. In my neophyte stage,
I had never designed a garment except those, as a little third grader, I had cut and hand
stitched pieces of fabric to clothe my Barbie. My stick- figure drawing skills were
rudimentary in comparison to my colleagues, who illustrated like professionals. As a
seminal designer I began with the basics. I learned where the power switch to the sewing
machine was and how to properly sew a straight seam. I was learning how to decipher
patterns, to read specification sheets, to comprehend commercial and industry
measurements, to read design details in fashion illustrations, to construct apparel, to
illustrate, and to write trend and item analysis reports, to design fashion collections to
feature in local and state style shows, and to write commentary for style show
productions.
Without realizing it, I was gaining a deep conceptual knowledge of the fashion
discipline through reading about it, writing about it, talking about it, understanding it,
and doing it (McConachie & Petrosky,2006). I learned there is rigor and depth to
fashion design after sleepless nights working on projects, studying, writing designer
reports, and practically failing Fashion Fundamentals, a theoretical fashion course. My
preconceived notion that fashion design required little effort diminished after a year of
studying it. And—most important—I learned the essential role literacy plays in becoming
a successful designer.
Approximately fifteen years later, I began teaching fashion for a university. To
my dismay, the negative perceptions of fashion students had changed little in the interim.
My students complained that friends and peers tended to label them as intellectual
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lightweights. I asked my students what their friends were saying about their majoring in
fashion design. One of them replied, “ My friends say,’ All you do is shop all day.’” I
looked up at my audience of 70 students, and many were nodding in agreement. I was
disappointed in what I heard. I wanted to understand and look at the reasons or factors
for such stereotyping.
BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM
Popular media often characterizes individuals in the world of fashion design— or
the discipline as a whole— as shallow, frivolous, lacking intellect, trivial, absent-minded
and ridiculous (Bernard, 1996; Griffiths, 2000; Niessen & Brydon, 1998; Yuniya, 2005).
Historically, fashion has been ignored, neglected, and even scorned by scholars as a
subject unworthy of research. Apparently fashion and/or clothing as subjects for research
have not always been accepted in social science disciplines. It was considered a topic
with no content and bearing no intellectual elements (Yuniya, 2005). Other reasons why
fashion has been treated with such disdain among those in academe is that it is linked
with external ornamentation of women (Yuniya, 2005). At the turn of the 20th century,
women were considered spectacles in their garish garments, yet, they still remained
culturally invisible (Niessen & Brydon, 1998). Despite several attempts by researchers
(Griffiths, 2000; Niessen & Brydon, 1998; Yuniya, 2005), to bring integrity to the
discipline, the stigma of fashion as a ridiculous and a trivial pursuit still existed (Bernard,
1996). Fashion has also often been portrayed as a trade profession rather than an
intellectually stimulating one, primarily because the focus in fashion is on the product
rather than the process.
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In reality, the scions of fashion possess more depth than their stereotypical
portrayals. One of the major forces of fashion, Ian Griffiths, designer for Max Mara and
chair of London Fashion School, is one of the few who has spoken in eloquent defense of
his profession:
Students of fashion, so frequently labeled as shallow and frivolous, are required to
be polyglots, able to inform their understanding from texts using language and
ideas of anthropology, social, cultural, economic and art history, literature,
sociology, psychoanalysis, psychology, semiotics, structuralism, Marxism,
feminism, and others.(pp. 73-74)
Griffiths (2000) also stated that the fashion expert is multidimensional. Griffiths (2000)
opined that there has been a negative label placed on fashion design students, a label that
has been wrongfully categorized without consideration of what a designer is capable of
achieving, especially through the use of texts. Contrary to belief, the fashion student is
more than a glamorous spectacle, a shopper, a seeker of inspiration through fashion
magazines, or an illustrator of apparel on paper dolls. The fashion student is expected to
be a researcher and writer (Shreeve, Bailey & Drew, 2004). A fashion design student’s
job encapsulates knowing the technical aspects of designing, as well as the literacies
specific to the discipline.
For example, one characteristic of a fashion designer is the ability to create
dialectical images (Evans, 2000). French designer and former couturier for Christian
Dior—John Galliano—is a fashion exemplar known for expressing these dialectic images
through his eclectic historical pastiches (Evans, 2000). In seasonal fashion shows,
Galliano is known for randomly juxtaposing historical fashion collections of costumes
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featuring Marie Antoinette, Empress Theodora, and Queen Isabella of Bavaria, by
displaying them side by side on the runway (Evans, 2000). Galliano confirms that
designers are required to read and research as a part of the design process in order to
produce their fashion collections: “Creative research is the secret or trick which
underlines all original design“(Seivewright, 2007, p. 7). Research is a vital tool, a
journey, the initial investigation, that can take weeks and eventually months to collate, as
the design process unfolds and a designer’s creative vision is unveiled, “as well as a
narrative to a collection” (Seivewright, 2007, p.7).
Only recently, however, has fashion aligned with the social sciences as a
respected research genre, and writing about it has gained some measure of credibility
(Niessen & Brydon, 1998). Due to this fairly recent paradigm shift, there is still little
research on design literacy, particularly fashion literacy. Research that explores what
this paradigm shift can mean for fashion instructors, in terms of their pedagogic
philosophies and professional identities, is almost non-existent. Therefore, my own
story—of a fashion instructor whose professional journey led her to see the need for
incorporating literacy instruction in the design class—holds the potential to provide
valuable insights for fashion design instruction.
The most common approach used to teach fashion is strictly through
demonstration. At first, my classroom teaching mirrored that of my apparel design
colleagues. I would demonstrate a task to my students and then ask them to repeat it,
requiring very little introspection as to how the learning process was occurring or with
few references to the instructional texts.
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Later, however, I challenged these conventions by including literacy teaching
strategies. I came to concur with Austerlitz and James (2008) who opined, “It is argued
that critically reflecting, from concept through process to final production, is an
inescapable part of designing, innovating and making” fashion (p. 209). Guthrie,
Wigfield, Humenick, Perencevich, Taboada, and Barbosa (2006) posited that stimulating
tasks are hands-on approaches such as laboratory activities, experiments, projects which
should be used conjointly with reading the content so that students are motivated to
engage in their texts. Through their engagement of authentic learning, students are better
able to comprehend what they read and to construct their understanding from these texts.
As a fashion instructor, I began to evolve from one who taught solely by
demonstrations, as demanded by my supervisor, to someone who grew bold enough to
challenge these practices. I had overheard conversations referring to the frivolous
fashionista, and at times—to my chagrin—I had been no exception to those who held
these assumptions. As I reflected on those three years of collegiate teaching, I questioned
whether I had been successful at teaching the content, engaging my students, and
incorporating literacy into the fashion curriculum. Had my inclusion of literacy in the
pedagogy benefitted my students in learning fashion? Were my students perceived as
frivolous fashionistas? Were we demanding reading and writing as rigorous as other
disciplines? Were my students learning to be literate professionals? Who was I as a
fashion literate instructor? Was I meeting students’ literacy needs as I taught the fashion
pedagogy?
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PROBLEM STATEMENT
Even within the fashion field itself, there is little understanding of the many areas
of knowledge and responsibility that are integrated into the lives and work of fashion
professionals. The widespread stereotype of the “frivolous fashionista” has not only
impacted how fashion education is viewed, but it has also negatively informed the self-
concepts of both students and instructors alike within higher education majors such as
fashion design. Mired in a negative perception of fashion design and education, it is
difficult for instructors to adequately prepare students to be confident and literate
professionals, to challenge restrictive instructional traditions, and to fully develop as
fashion design educators. Understanding of the role that attention to literacy strategies
can play within the professional growth of fashion students and preparation is limited.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
My story of identity construction, reform, and development stemmed from the
conversations that questioned the academic legitimacy of the fashion discipline, that is,
the restrictive tradition that demands teaching fashion design through demonstration
rather than incorporating texts and literacy strategy. The fact that I had mispronounced
haute couture as a student and have since required students to research the subject, my
decision to foster students’ becoming literate fashion professionals, and my belief in the
need to advocate for literacy led me to this inquiry. While the heart of this study lies on
writing identity, to some extent is it based on foundations of multiliteracy. Through this
autoethnographic study involving interactive interviews with students, I answered and
was guided by the following research questions:
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1. In what ways has my personal development in the world of fashion shaped my
identity and practice as a fashion instructor?
2. In what ways has my personal development in the area of literacy shaped my
identity and practice as a fashion instructor?
3. In what ways has my development in these two disparate fields informed my
teaching in the collegiate fashion classroom?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Professors in higher education or educators in a K-12 classroom who are adopting
new pedagogical practices or are looking for innovative approaches to reinvent their
teaching practices may find reading this teacher journey to be informative. It will
advocate reflection for others, who like myself, need to take responsibility for their
own pedagogical practices. It will benefit instructors who need guidance on
approaches for reflective practice. Fashion Design departments, particularly those
who need to see the importance of reconceptualizing fashion design instruction, may
find this study to be of relevance, as well as those departments who need to rethink
how they teach the fashion vernacular and content to their students. Also, this study
is significant to educators who need insights regarding how to assist their students in
constructing identities as literate, confident professionals. It will help fashion design
students, as well as students from other fields, to comprehend the importance of
learning the literacies specific to their respective disciplines. Furthermore, students
will benefit from this study as they understand the concept of being proficient users of
their respective lexicon in order to become credible professionals in their field of
knowledge.
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KEY TERMS
For the purpose of my study, I included some operational definitions for the readers’
clarification:
Autoethnography: A qualitative methodology in which the researcher becomes a data
source along with the research participants.
Content Area Literacy: Literacy specific to a content area of study.
Disciplinary Literacy: Literacies that are used within a particular discipline and which
require a specific lexicon.
Disciplinary Vocabulary: Terminology that is particular and specific to one academic
arena.
Fashionista: Marketing term that is used to describe a fashion expert or fashion
aficionado.
Fashion collection: Garments grouped together with a common theme.
Fashion Literacy: Literacies and vocabulary specific to fashion.
Haute Couture: Custom designed apparel that is labor intensive and tailored with high-
end fabrics and accessories. It is the oldest form of designing and making clothing,
exclusive to Paris, France.
Multiliteracies: Out-of-school literacies which are engaging to students.
Reflexive Journal: A journal that includes the researcher’s or participant’s introspective
thoughts.
Stimulating tasks: Hands-on activities such as experiments, projects, laboratory activities
that are used in tandem with texts.
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Triangulation: The process of using three or more data sources to insure trustworthy
data.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Through this journey of seeking identity as a part of the fashion culture,
particularly how the construction of a personal and professional identity has informed an
instructor’s pedagogical practices using content area literacy approaches to teaching, a
story is told. Therefore, my dissertation is grounded in both narrative and personal
identity theoretical perspectives drawn primarily from four theorists to inform my
thinking: Heewon Chang (2008), George Kelly (1955), Laurel Richardson (2000), and
William Pinar (1976).
Chang (2008) argued that although self has been perceived differently in disparate
time periods and cultures, what has remained constant is that self has been reliably
connected to others in regard to culture. For this reason, I have chosen to write my story
from multiple perspectives that include my past, my present, and my future and to
interweave my story with that of my students by noting what was mentioned in their
interactive interviews and incorporating it into my narrative. I also adopted Kelly’s
(1955) Personal Construct Theory (PCT). He suggested that individuals reflect on their
personal achievements in order to derive what are the most significant and pivotal
moments of life.
Richardson (2000), a feminist writer, advocated that research should stem from
one’s own experiences and used her personal knowledge and stories to assist with the
research process (Ellis, 2004; Richardson, 2002). She averred that much qualitative
research, with its passivity in terms of authored voice and passive subjects, is uninspiring
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14
and needs to be enlivened text relevant and engaging to its intended audience.
Richardson further averred that this can be achieved by writing as inquiry. Through
writing as inquiry (Richardson, 2000), it is my intent that my personal narrative will tell
the story of how my professional identity was constructed—a story I hope readers will
gain knowledge from, as well as resonate with some of my personal experiences.
Through the adoption of Pinar’s (1975) Currere, an approach of retelling events
and “writing from a biologic basis,” I chose to articulate my story with reflections of the
past, the present, and the future (p.7). Pinar (1975) described his biographical account as
one that was linear yet multi-dimensional. Pinar further observed that if events in his life
were charted and written as a timeline there was coherence in his story, and while it may
not have been an analytical story, it was one that had been experienced nonetheless.
As a data source, Pinar (1975) wrote and recorded every one of his experiences
pertaining to his research topic despite how esoteric or unrelated the information may
have appeared to be to the topic at hand. In this manner he could encapsulate a holistic
approach that was multi-dimensional in nature and could move his biography to another
vantage point if he deemed necessary (Pinar, 1975). Staying in alignment with Pinar’s
Currere (1976), this study includes three sections: The Prior Self, The Present Self, and
The Prospective Self. In The Prior Self, I ruminated on my past as a student, learning
what it means to be literate; and, as a fashion student, learning new knowledge and the
literacies that were specific to fashion design. The Prior Self also included my
experiences as a Language and Literacy graduate student and as a fashion instructor
striving to teach students content area literacy, specifically the literacies pertaining to
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fashion. In The Present Self, I told stories pertaining to my current position as Family
Consumer Sciences Educator who started a fashion program at the local high school.
Finally, in the Prospective Self, I reflected on how I imagine myself as a future scholar
and what I have learned as a fashion literate professional striving to improve my
pedagogy. All of these theoretical perspectives served as a guide for how my story
unfolds.
ASSUMPTIONS
A basic assumption of this research was that I would be able to conduct this study
in good faith with three of my former students. I also assumed that my findings would
affirm my identity as a fashion literate instructor and confirm the importance of literacy
in fashion. Furthermore, I assumed that throughout this study my perspective of those in
fashion as literate polyglots would be confirmed. I was convinced that autoethnography
was the best methodological approach to reveal my findings of my study, and the best
means by which to record my journey from student of fashion to an instructor of fashion.
Finally, I anticipated learning a great deal through examining my personal journey and
through noting my students’ perceptions of me as an instructor and an advocate of
literacy in fashion.
CONCLUDING WORDS
While the need for heightened awareness of scholarship integral to fashion design
exists for those outside of the fashion profession, the need is even more significant for
those within it. Fashion design students need a strong sense of professionalism and
instruction that explicitly attends to literacy strategies and points to literacy involved in
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16
conventional methods or multiliteracy which can improve design education. Such
explicit literacy instruction can also inform students’ professional identities in positive,
long lasting ways. My own story and systematic observation point to quiet yet important
connections between students’ literacy experiences in fashion design coursework,
students’ self-concepts and competence, and the larger reputation of fashion design.
This journey has compelled me to take ownership of the investigation of my own
teaching practices, to discuss the importance of literacy in fashion design instruction, and
to examine my professional growth as both a teacher and literate fashionista. Essential to
making meaning of identity were the following: (1) my reflexive journal, (2) student and
personal artifacts, and (3) semi-structured interviews. To construct my teacher identity, I
incorporated narrative and personal identity theoretical perspectives as well as a
conceptual framework pertaining to self. Autoethnography is the methodology of choice
for my particular study. The journey and my research have culminated in my firm
resolve to make literacy an integral part of the fashion pedagogy.
The following is an outline of my study: Chapter One includes an introduction of
the study, Chapter Two is the Review of Related Literature, and Chapter Three includes
the Methodology. Chapter Four is an autoethnography written in narrative format,
particularly as a reflexive journal chronicling my past, my present, and my future.
Finally, Chapter Five is a narrative including the findings, discussions, conclusions,
implications, recommendations, and significance of the study.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This review of literature includes multiple sections of related literature which are
specific to this narrative inquiry. The literature begins with definitions and the overall
concept of reflective thinking. Then the literature proceeds to focus on teacher identity
research highlighting both secondary and higher education professionals investigating
their professional identities. The subsequent section, Reflective Practice Studies, is
devoted to educators who are reflecting on their current pedagogical practices in order to
perfect them. The research becomes more specific to the study and highlights
professional identity and reflective practice in fashion and the creative arts. Another
section provides research on multiliteracies, unconventional content-area literacy
approaches to teaching literacy that require out-of school literacies to engage students. It
is one of the literacy approaches used by the researcher. Finally, the concluding section
is dedicated to research on teaching fashion and literacy.
REFLECTIVE THINKING
In order to study the development of teacher identity and current instructional
practices, reflection on one’s personal development and past pedagogical practices is
fundamental. Within the past ten to fifteen years, a plethora of commissions,
foundations, educational boards, and school districts across the state and nation have
recognized reflective inquiry as an important aspect of learning that both educators and
students alike should strive toward (Rogers, 2002). Rogers (2002) wrote that “thinking,
particularly reflective thinking or inquiry, is essential to both teachers’ and students’
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learning” (p. 842). Reflection is instrumental for practitioners because it affords them the
opportunity to investigate and approach the following areas they may find problematic:
modifying unfamiliar content; valuing the disparate perceptions of students and others;
comprehending other’s perceptions of the educator; dealing with work stress and its
impact on personal life; and “how to counteract seemingly given social, cultural, and
political structures” (Bolton, 2010, p. 4). With the use of improved self-reflection,
university practitioners can also address their actions, practices, inherent theories,
espoused theories, and theories already in practice (Herzog, 2004). While reflection is
initiated by the educator, reflective thinking is a process that affects the lives of both
educators and those around them, particularly the students; therefore, reflection should be
explicitly taught and facilitated (Bolton, 2010).
Autoethnographical studies pertaining to teacher and professional reflective
journeys, as well as overall reflective practice studies, have burgeoned in the past decade
(Chang, 2008; Ellis & Bochner, 2000; James, 2007; Rogers & Scott, 2007). This
research genre includes personal writing—also known as life writing, personal narrative,
and life testimonial (Kadar, 1992)—which is a current trend in multiple research areas
(Granger, 2011). Ellis and Bochner (2000) promoted autoethnography as a cathartic,
reflective approach (Ellis & Bochner, 2000) to address pedagogical changes or the
growth of one’s professional identity. Chang (2008) noted this proliferation of auto-
ethnographic articles and self-research studies, noting that “the growing popularity of
contemporary self-narratives rides on the back of postmodernism that values voices of
common people, defying the conventional authoritative elitism of autobiography” (p.32).
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James (2007) also highlighted the fact that notable researchers such as John
Dewey and Donald A. Schon have made substantial contributions to the study of
reflective practice. A former attorney convert- teacher, Malcolm Combe (2013),
underscored the popularity of Dewey and Schon and their contributions to reflection:
“The importance of reflection in learning has been espoused or implicitly acknowledged
by other thinkers and teachers such as Dewey, Schön, Race, Brockbank and McGill”
(p.1). Dewey, in particular, revolutionized reflective practice. As a matter of fact,
“feedback thinkers” modeled their work after that of Dewey (Schon, 1992). Dewey
(1933) valued reflection, encouraged it, and considered it a “road to learning” (Rogers,
2002, p 850). He considered reflection as “active, persistent, and careful consideration of
any belief or supposed forms in the light of the grounds that support it and the future
conclusions to which it tends” (p. 7). Dewey was a firm believer in schools which
encouraged educator thinkers to ruminate on their current school and life experiences
(Simpson, 2006). Dewey further held schools responsible for fostering reflective
practices in students so that they would continue to grow professionally, post-graduation
(Simpson, 2006). Not only did Dewey promote reflection as an educational goal, he
further averred that it should be a means of teaching (Simpson, 2007), that educators
should consider and review their current teaching practices as well. In other words,
teachers should also be reflecting on what is being “read, studied, heard, discussed, seen,
and taught” (Simpson, 2006, p. 21) in their respective classrooms.
Rodgers (2002) observed that while reflective thinking is clearly what educators
should achieve, the term reflection has “suffered a loss in meaning” during the past
fifteen years, and that a definitive systematic approach to reflection is ambiguous (p.
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843). Dewey is said to have filled the void by providing the most fundamental definition
for reflection and a systematic approach for educators to follow, which—in contrast—
has been missing in contemporary literature (Rogers, 2002). In John Dewey: Peter Lang
Primer, Douglas J. Simpson (2006) quoted John Dewey’s definition of reflection as an
“active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of
knowledge of the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which
it tends” (p.22). Reflective thinking involves the feedback process, described as a
“recursive cycle that involves invention, observation, reflection, and action” (Sterman,
1994, p.294).
While Dewey is acknowledged with the nascence of reflective thinking in
education, Schon also made improvements to research pertaining to reflective practice.
Schon’s work historically founded and traditionally supported by Dewey’s research,
envisioned learning as largely dependent on experience and reflection within practice and
theory as that which should inform one’s practices (Imel, 1992). Schon, who applied
Deweyan concepts in other fields, also stimulated interest in reflection in that he provided
tenets for professionals to follow while they reflect so that they can improve their current
practices in their working environments (McAlpine & Weston, 2000). According to
Schon, educators can participate in reflection-in-action, a rumination that is “continuous
or synchronous” with teaching. In other words, reflection-in-action is reflection that
occurs concurrently while an educator is teaching (McAlpine &Weston, 2000, p. 365;
Schon, 1983, 1987). Combe (2013) credited Schon’s reflective paradigm as “[bringing]
an almost unknowing professional artistry to bear and effectively think on the spot while
engaging with a brand new problem” (p. 1).
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Other interpretations and definitions of reflective practice have been offered by
researchers such as Osterman and Kottkamp (1993), who defined this process as a means
for educators to become self-aware of their overall performance as an educator while
seeking opportunities for growth through continual professional developmental
opportunities. In Reflective Practice for Educators (2004), the authors described the
process of reflective practice as “challenging, demanding, and often trying” (Osterman &
Kottkamp, 1993). With reflective practice, the educator must make a conscious effort to
pinpoint the problem. This can feel unnatural to the educator, particularly when the
practitioner is investigating their own pedagogical practices and may uncover
problematic teaching areas during the reflection process (Osterman & Kottkamp, 1993).
Nevertheless, it is during reflective practice that educators can identify problems, analyze
them, and find solutions for them (Kumaravadivelu, 2001).
Researchers Camburn (2010) and Rogers (2002) recognized that during the
adoption of new pedagogical practices, educators should be involved in professional
development or the practice of active reflection. In fashion education, the Personal
Construct Theory (PCT) was employed to encourage professional reflection. The PCT is
an identity theory that requires individuals to reflect on their own personal achievements
in order to construct meaning as to what is most significant in their own personal and
professional growth (Kelly, 1955). Adopted by fashion professors and instructors at the
London College of Fashion, this theory was translated into a reflective thinking approach
so that students could monitor their own academic achievement (James, 2007). The
findings indicated that fashion students preferred using journals to provide reflective
statements; however, they wanted explicit instruction on how to write these reflections.
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Other students reported they believed the learning log or journals to be more instrumental
to the fashion instructors. When asked to define Personal Professional Development
(PPD), the majority of students defined it as holistic learning that encompasses both
personal and professional growth of individuals. Reflective practices also contribute to
matters of teacher and student identity. The subsequent section is dedicated to teacher
research and reflective practice studies.
TEACHER IDENTITY RESEARCH
What is identity? How does it differ from professional identity? According to
Mead (1934) identity formations occur depending upon an individual’s social contexts
and the stages of life an individual experiences. Erickson (1968) emphasized that the
term identity has many constructs and to define it in one definitive statement would be a
disservice:
Identity and identity crisis have in popular and scientific usage become terms
which alternately circumscribe something so large and so seemingly evident that
to demand a definition would seem so petty, while at other times they designate
something so narrow for purposes of measurement that the overall meaning is
lost, and it could just as well be called something else. (p.15)
Erickson (1968) named identity as something that is not possessed but is perpetually
developing throughout one’s lifetime. There are important maturation stages that occur
during identity construction, particularly during adolescence and young adulthood.
What is understood is that identity formation is not an overnight epiphany. It takes a
lifetime to discover one’s self. It is through reflective practice that one can better
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understand the nuances of self, whether one is examining their personal and social
identity or their professional identity.
Studies on teacher identity have increased in the last decade (Beijard, Meijer, &
Verloop; 2004). Considerable research (Beijard et al., 2004; Day, 2007; Palmer, 1997;
Rogers, 2002) has revealed that a teacher’s personal life, such as events and experiences,
are intimately interconnected with that of their professional performance. A teacher’s
biographical account is imperative in conceptualizing their identity: it is particularly
instrumental during the process of identity formation (Beijard et al., 2004). While there
is no explicit definition offered for teacher identity, it is a term that stemmed from
professional identity. In teacher identity studies (Beijard et al., 2004),the term
professional identity is defined as a teacher’s perceptions of their role within their
profession as well as perceptions of themselves within their occupational culture.
In his book, The Heart of a Teacher: Identity and Integrity in Teaching, Parker
Palmer (1997) best described the substantial role that teacher identity plays in teaching
students: “Face to face with my students, only one resource is at my immediate
command: my identity, my selfhood, my sense of this “I” who teaches—without which I
have no sense of the “thou” who learns” (p.1). Palmer (1997) advocated one simple
premise: “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the
identity and integrity of the teacher” (p.1).
Dahlin’s (1994) study revealed that teacher journals can act as vehicles for
problem solving, a means for reflection, and a record— justifying innovative classroom
practice—all of which inform professional identity. Margaret, the teacher participant of
the study, had established her identity as a teacher who was “compassionate, fun and
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clear” (p.1). Her identity and insights had evolved through the act of reflective
journaling. What is especially interesting about Dahlin’s study is that it also
demonstrated that not only was Margaret’s teacher identity constructed through reflective
journaling, but it was also established through her attention to the identities of her
students. It was Margaret’s practice to take the opportunity to know her students on a
personal and professional level, providing structured teaching to her students, yet
allowing for autonomy in the classroom. Dahlin (1994) explicitly described how
Margaret would undergo a process of reflection-in-action by setting goals for herself.
She then relied upon what those classroom reflections revealed to perfect her teaching
practices. Her professional journal, a conduit for writing her daily practices, her
reasoning, and her current reactions about what occurred in class informed her reflection.
In her journal entry, Margaret would outline the possibilities of outcomes to situations
and issues in her classroom. Dahlin’s findings point to the idea that all teachers should
practice reflection. This study also suggested that reflective practice was accomplished
through personal reflective journaling about teaching practices, about reactions to
classroom occurrences, and about planning lessons and goal setting. This study also
revealed the importance of classroom teachers conducting reflective practices that
involve action research in order to justify instructional practices that work in the
classroom, and to claim the knowledge teachers legitimately possess. This finding
emphasized the importance of developing a positive teacher identity.
In order to provide insights for both himself and others regarding his shifting
professional identity as a principal, Carl Henry Dethloff (2005) generated and analyzed
his “personalized accounts of the complexities, interpretations, and reflections of a
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principal in transition from one elementary school to another elementary school in the
same district” (p.iii). Dethloff (2005) learned that identity transition is a cyclical process
as he himself underwent changes while putting together a system for his school. Thus, it
is by being reflective practitioners that teachers and those in the profession of education
can conceptualize their professional identities.
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE STUDIES
While the vast majority of teacher identity studies concern pre-service educators,
there is very little existing research (Dahlin, 1994; McAlpine & Weston, 2000:
Wlodarsky, 2005) that confirms the habit of reflective instruction as effective for higher
education professors and instructors, as well as veteran public school educators.
Wlodarsky (2005) explored research that supported the importance and necessity of
reflective practice in professional development programs for both college faculty and for
K-12 teachers (p. 3). A later report by Wlodarsky and Walters (2007) indicated that
professors and educators may or may not reform their current practices to befit students’
needs. Further, they noted that the process of reflective practice is multi-dimensional and
does include subtle skills that can be taught and learned. Thus, there is a definite
connection between self-reflection of college faculty on pedagogical practices as
dynamism for reform in educational beliefs and practices (Wlodarsky, 2005).
In his dissertation, A Mathematics Teacher’s Journey of Identity Construction and
Change, Anthony Stinson (2009) provided a personalized account of what it is like to
teach math using reflective teaching practices, in contrast to recitation, the more
conventional and dominant form of instruction in the mathematics discipline. Stinson
(2009) declared, “This dissertation is about a journey of change in instruction fostered by
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26
a change of identity as a mathematics teacher” (p.ii). With the standards-based
movement and discourse calling for much needed reform in mathematics, Stinson (2009)
wanted to improve his teaching, the impetus for this particular research study. Stinson
noted that initially his teaching mirrored that of his mathematics colleagues. He gave his
students mathematical equations on the board, assigned homework from textbooks,
required students to ask questions regarding previous day assignments, and reworked the
mathematical equations students found to be problematic (Stinson, 2009). However,
Stinson eventually began to see this traditional pedagogical approach to be ineffective for
his students.
Stinson’s research is significant because it spotlighted a teacher who took
ownership over improving his teaching practices and who took the time to record the
process of his metamorphosis. Drawing from identity theory, Stinson noted that
reflection was essential to improved instruction because teacher identity is “a state of
being” and one that is perpetually forming yet recognizable (Stinson, 2009). In
particular, Stinson (2009) noted that the process of autoethnography afforded him the
opportunity to take an introspective look and obtain a deeper meaning of self. Stinson
was also able to articulate the process of constructing his identity and the pedagogical
changes that occurred during the course of the research. Stinson (2009) used memory,
videotaped lessons, student commentary, and a reflexive journal as supportive data
sources to construct narratives for his study. His findings indicated that a teacher’s
identity can be interwoven by multiple characteristics that at times work concurrently
with one another. Furthermore, Stinson’s (2009) findings underscored the importance of
teacher’s considering varying learning styles and the fact that teaching conceptually, as
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well as the mathematical computations can benefit student learning in math. Though
changing one’s practices to meet student needs can be a rigorous, Stinson (2007) proved
that it can be successful, and that the process can be given a voice by writing about it
through narrative inquiry.
Another voice for educational reform with connections to teacher identity was
Dethloff (2005). The focus of Dethloff’s study concerned a principal who updated his
practice as an administrator by reflecting on past experiences. With the demands of
accountability in student achievement during a time of standards-based reform, Dethloff
(2005) argued that principals should be fully aware of the complexities of their positions.
He insisted that they must be multi-faceted in organizational and instructional leadership
because their job encapsulates teaching, managing, and supervising both students and
faculty. According to Dethloff (2005), “Individuals cannot be properly prepared for the
role of principal in the 21st century if they do not completely understand the conditions
and demands surrounding the position” (p.6). The roles they would be asked to play, the
professional identity they would need to develop, in tandem with transitioning to a new
school, could be overwhelming for any principal trying to make the shift (Dethloff,
2005).
Dethloff’s (2005) autobiographical research provided insights regarding teacher
reflection. He opined that instruction requires particular reflective behaviors. For
instance, there were certain behaviors he expected of his staff, which he considered to be
non-negotiable criteria: (1) all learners would be provided with meaningful learning; (2)
staff members would treat all students, parents, peers with respect; (3) adults and children
would be provided with opportunities to learn; and (4) all decisions made would be
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handled with integrity and courtesy and for the betterment of student learning. Thus, the
Stinson (2009) and Dethloff (2005) studies indicated that the implementation of
structured reflective practice contributed to content area instruction in a way that enabled
the educator or those in administration to reflect on what was working and where reform
was needed; how to adapt instruction and school environment to fit the needs of their
students; and how to make learning relevant. Their research (Dethloff, 2005; Stinson,
2009) included narratives of individuals who took ownership in their effort to become
more dynamic educators and leaders of their classroom and campus. It is only by being
fully immersed in our subculture that we can completely understand it.
Reflection on feelings and experience, two influential factors in the construction
of knowledge, are instrumental to learning and can result in reformative instructional
practices (McAlpine & Weston, 2000). The authors’ (2000) research was based on
exemplary professors and their views of reflection as it related to their teaching. Their
research participants were selected based on their excellent teaching, which determined
by the following: numerous accolades, positive student course evaluations, peer
recommendations, minimum of ten years’ teaching experience, and having taught a
course for multiple semesters. The authors provided a complete analysis of the reflective
processes of six university professors, including their daily planning and pedagogical
practices. According to McAlpine and Weston (2000), reflection is a process that can
occur before, simultaneously, retroactively, and asynchronously to instruction.
When the analysis was complete, McAlpine and Weston (2000) held a
symposium with the exemplary professors to provide feedback based on their analysis.
Their findings indicated that the exemplary professors knew and understood their
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students as a community of learners, as well as individually. Furthermore, the professors
relied heavily on experiential knowledge, knowledge that is based on previous
experiences to monitor or adapt pedagogical decisions (McAlpine & Weston, 2000). It
was also discovered that the professors formulated decisions based on “tacit knowledge,”
ie., knowledge based on feelings and not taken from a specific principle or drawn from
experiences (McAlpine & Weston, 2000, p. 373). Using these forms of knowledge, the
professors were able to construct goals, to fashion lesson plans, to monitor student
learning, and to foster reform by modifying curriculum (McAlpine & Weston, 2000).
Beijaard, Verloop, and Vermunt (2000) conducted a study which differed from
the previous studies. They looked primarily at identity perceptions of veteran secondary
teachers, all the while focusing on these teachers’ prior and current perceptions about
teaching. Unlike previous researchers, they examined this issue as separate from a study
of their reflective practices. The authors postulated that a teacher’s perception of
professional identity affects their self-efficacy and professional development, as well as
their disposition to change and to implement innovative teaching pedagogy (Beijaard et
al., 2000).
According to Beijaard et al. (2000), the term identity in the teaching profession
refers to the teachers’ expertise in subject matter, pedagogy, and didactic discourse. The
authors (Beijaard et al., 2000) define teacher as a subject expert, teacher as a pedagogical
expert, and teacher as a didactical expert. By tradition, excellent teachers were perceived
as having knowledge in the content in which they taught and having some training in
their field. However, the authors discovered that teaching students not only requires the
teacher to be a subject expert but to be the transmitter of knowledge as well. Therefore, it
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30
is a job requiring an educator to wear multiple hats, or roles in the classroom. They
include being the facilitator of learners, the classroom manager, and the content expert.
The pedagogical expert is one who is responsible for the education of students
while also learning how to communicate and establish rapport with the student (Beijard et
al., 2000). In addition to providing a definition for the pedagogical expert, Beijard et al.
(2000) made this strong statement: “Teaching cannot be reduced to a technical or
instrumental action that results in learning gains with students. This didactical side of
teaching must relate to the pedagogical side with ethical and moral features” (p.751).
With traditions of teacher-centered notions of education being replaced with
emphasis of student-centered learning, the didactical expert’s role has also been
dramatically revised. According to the authors (Beijard et al., 2000) a didactical expert is
a teacher that to some extent relinquishes control to students by being a facilitator of
learning rather than the perpetual authoritarian—that is, by allowing students autonomy
and the opportunity to construct their own interpretations to texts. Thus, Beijard et al.
(2000) provided definitions for the content expert, pedagogical expert, and didactical
expert—contextual components essential to the framework of their study.
Beijard et al. (2000) mixed-method study revealed that most teachers saw
themselves significantly different from when they first began teaching. Also, the
majority of participants envisioned themselves as having combined expertise in subject
matter, form of delivering the content, and teaching strategies. It was also discovered
that content and didactical expertise was equally evident in the teachers’ perceptions, but
pedagogical expertise was less noticeable. As a reflective practice study conducted on
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veteran secondary education teachers, the study provided yet another lens for viewing
reflection in terms of content— didactical, and pedagogical.
These teacher identity studies served as a part of the literary discourse for
educators who reflected on their practices while constructing their professional identity.
Also, the literature pertaining to the role fashion plays in identity construction is
substantial because one’s apparel choices, one’s perceptions of fashion, and one’s
reflections on how to improve fashion instruction are all aspects of a fashion instructor’s
identity construction. The concept of individual’s identifying themselves through
fashion; the perceptions individuals have of fashion based on the lack of fashion research
and how it affects the identity of fashion professionals; the identity construction of
fashion students through reflective practice; and the usage of fashion portfolios as a
reflective tool are topics mentioned in research in the next segment of this literature
review.
PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICE INTHE
FASHION/CREATIVE ARTS
Fashion, a major force in the construction of one’s identity and one of the most
obvious forms of consumption (Crane, 2012), is a profession where identity is pertinent
whether one is the buyer or seller of fashion. The manner in which an individual chooses
to dress is how one chooses to be identified in society (Collins, 2011). Historically,
clothing has been a form of expression for individuals and a principle means of
identifying oneself in a public space, as well as a visible marker of one’s status or gender
(Crane, 2012). In writing about fashion and identity, Kellner (2003) said that “traditional
societies had relatively fixed social roles and sumptuary codes, so that clothes and one’s
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appearance instantly denoted one’s social class, profession, and status” (p.264). In
reference to identity through apparel worn, Breward (2000) purported that fashion
historians can look at a portrait as text and read it to determine the status, nationality,
sexual representation, and age of an individual by decoding the textiles and
ornamentation on the apparel worn by the individual depicted in the painting. Witt-Paul
(2011) sagely noted that apparel is a form of redefining and asserting new identities. For
example, the dandy is a symbol of male narcissism (Witt-Paul, 2011); the priest in
adorned vestments is a representation of holiness; the professional in a business suit is
formal and may come across as powerful or even formidable.
In her article, Collins (2011) argued that apparel is a form of concealing yet
revealing one’s self and that seeking membership into particular social groups is the
driving dynamism behind fashion. Collins (2011) mentioned that confessions through
dress can be obvious, particularly when an individual has shifted style of dress to
represent a specific gender or sexual orientation or when a person wears a business suit
daily to demonstrate professionalism. However, Collins (2011) argued that fashion
tended to seek deeper goals, such as an individual gaining acknowledgement through the
public’s gazes, seeking affirmation from others by wearing apparel that is recognizable to
a group of trendsetters, and achieving a transformation as society is welcoming to the
newcomer as a member of the group. Finally, Collins (2011) eloquently abridged the
relationship between fashion and self-identity: “not only is a person seeking recognition
from others in the way [he] dresses, but a fashion confessor is looking to his audience for
interpretation and evaluation- to offer an ultimate appraisal of his worth” (p. 299).
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Colin McDowell (2012), a British fashion historian, commented on the fact that
conspicuous consumers of fashion will wear a certain label to be identified with the upper
echelon of society. Similarly, a fashion designer will create a label in order to belong to a
specific society. McDowell provided the example of Ralph Lauren, a Jewish American
not born into affluence or royal pedigree, whose collections have been purchased by such
patrons as Lady Diana. Lauren’s fashions are the epitome of breeding, tradition and
affluence because of his classic styling and British aristocratic look. While this
designer’s patrons may not have the manicured lawns, royal breeding, possessions,
exclusive club memberships or Oxford schooling, they can pretend to be a part of the
affluent society when wearing Ralph Lauren. Evidently, fashion plays a role in the
construction of social and professional self- identity.
It is not uncommon to find a fashion historian reading an illustration and making a
concise depiction about the age, status, and other characteristics of individuals simply by
analyzing its apparel or to see a fashion designer translate a specification handout sent
from China, via email, to create a garment as a part of the job description. However,
there is yet to be a book or article published on the identity construction of the fashion
literate or the identity construction of educators in the fashion profession teaching content
area literacy, though multiliteracies in the fashion industry are highly prevalent. Even
rudimentary research relative to identity and fashion literacy was sparse. There were only
a few authors who made mention of the topic. Reponen (2011) remarked that the
majority of what is published in terms of fashion writing is primarily for marketing and
that fashion as content remains superficial to its amassed audience.
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In his chapter of The Fashion Business, Theory, Practice, and Image, Griffiths
(2000) observed that very few practicing fashion designers have written scholarly articles
about fashion design or the developmental process of fashion. While fashion designers
do write books, they are largely consulted by fashion students (Griffiths, 2000). These
books hold little gravitas in academe (Griffiths, 2000). Griffiths (2000) further averred
that he is unaware of a practicing designer who has made significant contributions to the
research of fashion in order to supplement the intellectual discourse on fashion design.
The majority of scholarly research has been written by fashion and art historians.
Griffiths (2000) noted that McDowell, the British fashion columnist and historian,
described the countless designer picture books of the 1980’s as “the bimbos of the
publishing world, beautiful but dumb” (p.52). It’s obvious, then, that the public often
perceives fashion as a remarkable art or spectacle, but not as respected subject matter in
the world of academe, despite the multiple literacies the profession requires.
While research pertaining to fashion and reflective practice is limited, studies
conducted at the London College of Fashion provide important insights on the topic.
James (2007) examined higher education fashion students and their professors as they
discussed reflective practice in fashion learning and teaching. Since the 1970’s, creative
arts education, including fashion in the United Kingdom, has been restructured to meet
the needs of more traditional schooling. Previously, the emphasis in creative arts
disciplines was placed on technical schooling and aesthetic vision (James, 2007). This
alignment with traditional pedagogy warranted the need to create more courses that
included more literacy in the arts. Cultural, theoretical, and contextual studies were also
added to the curriculum. (James, 2007). There was also a need to fulfill Personal
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Development Planning (PDP) requirements, an accountability system requiring students
to reflect on their personal development through various literacy forms such as writing
reflections, learning logs, skills checklists, and other documentation as written evidence
to support the developmental planning process. The researcher inquired about the
following: whether students were taught to reflect, whether this was an essential process
to understanding their PDP, whether the students’ reflective methods are appropriate to
fashion learning, whether the reflection encapsulated the essence of critical reflection,
and— provided that the aforementioned answers suggest scope for development— what
other approaches could benefit students (James, 2007).
James’s study revealed that fashion students preferred journaling and composing
reflective statements as the most useful of PPD activities. They also suggested they
wanted explicit instruction on how to develop skills to better produce these reflective
activities. However, academic staff offered divergent interpretations to their
understanding of critical reflection. Some viewed reflection as a way of examining their
limitations or evaluating their performance. Others viewed reflection as a venue for
gaining knowledge, or as a particular form of thinking. Other staff members viewed
reflection as a means for learners to re-interpret data or for thinking over one’s actions.
Some staff participants viewed reflection as a means for focusing on failures, work
performance, or time management.
While there was dissention among the perceptions of reflection among the faculty
participants, the notion of critical reflection as an approach to looking back to move
onward was a common thread of thinking among several faculty members. The staff was
adamant that they were reflective thinkers themselves and that they practiced reflection,
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as it pertained to both teaching and their personal lives. The study also revealed that
staff and students had divergent perceptions pertaining to the definition of reflection. The
fashion educators also had definite opinions as to how students perceived reflection. The
instructors observed that fashion students did not see the value in reflection, found it to be
arduous, and treated it lightly. Although James’ (2007) study focused on how students
were reflective thinkers and how professors used reflection in the classroom, it failed to
include research on the fashion professors as reflective practitioners.
Another study underscoring the emotional journey of fashion students and a new
perspective for how their professional and personal statements were read by faculty was
conducted by Austerlitz and James (2008). The researchers asked student participants to
write their own reflective statements as to what they perceived as most significant to their
personal and professional growth. This was the crux of the Personal Construct Theory
(PCT), that students were writing what had been most significant in their professional
journeys and using those reflections to grow professionally. Distinctive about this
approach, the role of the mentor or expert in the field as the one who provides evaluative
feedback on how students are evolving in terms of their learning and professional
development. Nevertheless, the students experienced evocative and emotional journeys
as they constructed their identities as professionals.
Another study about fashion literacy and reflective practice was conducted by
Ownbey (1995), who examined the value of portfolios. While the portfolio is a self-
marketing tool, it also serves an intern or professional as compilation of their best work,
and demonstrating skills, self-reflective statements, photographs, illustrations, and what
they have gathered over an internship is terms of learning (Ownbey, 1995). Ownbey
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(1995) defined the internship portfolio as a “collection of work showing effort, progress,
and achievement in the internship experience” (p.172). The researcher described an
internship as invaluable to students and an opportunity for students to gain hands-on
experiences in the field while testing to see if they are a perfect fit for a company.
Meanwhile, potential employers are also testing the field prior to making long-lasting
“employment commitments” through the use of internships (Ownbey, 1995, p.172).
After conducting a literature search, Ownbey (1995) discovered there was little evidence
of portfolios being used as a tool of reflection. Ownbey (1995) postulated that one of the
best and most innovative approaches to internalizing the learning that has occurred
throughout an internship is the internship portfolio.
Ownbey (1995) also conducted a pilot test to experiment with the concept of the
fashion portfolio. The participants for the pilot study included 25 students from apparel
design and retail who had just completed their internship with design and retail firms and
who were enrolled in a post- internship seminar. The students were asked to develop a
portfolio based on their learning experiences at their internship sites. This article
provided a précis of the facilitation process used for the internship portfolio development,
of the approach used to link the portfolio development aspect to the post- internship
seminar course, and of the process used to help students internalize their learning and
translate it into a portfolio.
For the intent of Ownbey’s (1995) study, the internship portfolio served a
threefold purpose. First, it was used as an alternative assessment tool to measure
experiential learning on the job site. Secondly, the internship portfolio was employed as
a tool to compile learning experiences such as skills, abilities, on the job training that was
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uniquely experienced and could be articulated to others. Lastly, the portfolio allowed
students to think critically and to apply literacy and communication skills. Objectives
that were established in order to facilitate the process of portfolio development and the
overall lessons for the post seminar course included the following: integrating internship
experiences, compiling industry data, formulating preferences and goals, and assimilating
the internship experience (Ownbey, 1995). During the self-reflection statements and
through discussions with peers, students were able to see their strengths and could then
formulate careers goals that were most befitting. Finally, assimilating the internship
experience was an opportunity to internalize the internship experience and to articulate
what had been absorbed and learned into a final completed portfolio that was a marketing
tool. During the assimilation process, students obtain higher level thinking skills.
Therefore, it was suggested that all course objectives were met.
In the findings, Ownbey (1995) described how the portfolios that included writing
and self-reflection statements were then used as critical thinking tools – a means by
which students internalized their internship experiences, organized the data, and
articulated their thinking with peers and business professionals. Another finding of this
study recognized portfolios for reflection both as a form of fashion literacy and as a
methodological approach to reflection of Personal and Professional Development.
MULTILITERACIES PERSPECTIVES
Though research on reflective practices in fashion instruction is limited, it is most
notable in literature dealing with perspective and use of multiliteracies. Multiliteracy is
an approach to content area literacy which involves using multiple forms of literacy,
whether textual or non-textual (Unsworth, 2001). Content area literacy is defined as “the
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ability to use reading and writing for the acquisition of new content in a given discipline”
(Mckenna & Robinson, 1990, p.184). However, multiliteracies are often outside of
school literacies. They may involve multimodal textual practices such as students using
Microsoft 3D moviemaker, watching movies off the internet, or reading Nintendo 64
magazines that keep students engaged yet are seldom acknowledged in the classroom as
literacy practices (Unsworth, 2001). Growing popularity of multiliteracies has become
evident as confirmed by Lesley, McMillan, and Webb (2012): “Due to the burgeoning
variety of texts forms associated with information and multimedia technologies” (p7), it
was best to acknowledge literacies that have emerged largely through globalization and
internet. The authors acknowledged that “multiple modes of communication and
representation such as verbal, visual, and musical have redefined constructs of text and
intertextuality in twenty-first century literacies” (p.7). Lesley et al. (2012) invited their
audience to participate in re-conceptualizing their own definitions of literacy as the
authors provide an exemplum of multiliteracies:
Lexicons, syntax, reasoning, problem solving, logic and image are literacy
processes that are present in every discipline. With this in mind, we invite you to
go beyond a surface definition of literacy as print text to create a much deeper
mental model of literacy in your content area. For instance, a deep mental model
in mathematics would include words, images, numbers, and the processes human
beings use to create meaning with such sign systems. You can solve a math
problem by drawing a picture of it, writing about it, or creating a graph. (p. 7)
Using a multiliteracies approach to learning can also be a tool for reflection and critical
thinking.
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According to Cope and Kalantzis (2009), a group of literacy experts, colleagues,
and friends known as the New London Group convened in September of 1994 to publish
an article which later resulted as a book for “changing the landscape of literacy teaching
and learning” and introduced a “pedagogy of multiliteracies” (p.1). It was during this
convocation that the term “multiliteracies” was coined. A goal of the New London
Group was to meet the needs of a diverse culture by focusing on both multilingual and
multimodal forms of communication and the literacies that pertain to both concepts.
Multiliteracies enables the learners to determine what is worth learning, to be engaged in
various experiences, to be divergent thinkers, and to embrace disparate modalities in
meaning making. Finally, the article highlighted multiliteracy practices that are being
used by literacy experts in the field.
In Defining Identities through Multiliteracies: El Teens Narrate Their
Immigration Experience as Graphic Stories, Danzak (2011) reported on the graphic story
project in which middle school English Language Learners (ELL) students wrote about
their evocative journey as immigrant students in the form of graphic novels, a
multiliteracies approach to learning. This project took place over the course of six months
with a diverse population of students from West Coast Florida. These immigration
narratives that defined and shaped students’ identities were published in hardcover copies
and presented to families and the community at a local event. Danzak (2011) spoke of
the success of the project: “Throughout the various components of the Graphic Journeys
project, the students expressed themselves through diverse linguistic modalities and
engaged in multiple literacies to learn about the English language, writing, and
technology, as well as their individual and family identities” (p.187). The students in this
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graphic story project discovered that composition writing could be engaging as they
learned the conventions of the English language.
In another article by Hartnell-Young (2006), another multiliteracies approach was
implemented to assist students in conceptualizing their identity. Australian schools
employed Electronic Portfolios in the classroom to support the learners’ self-esteem by
highlighting students’ accomplishments throughout the year to various audiences. The E-
Portfolios were created by students and demonstrated their work in multiple literacy
media such as audio, visual, and texts. The use of multiliteracies enabled the students to
express their identities through their work. The students continually reflected on their
work throughout the process. The study’s findings indicated that fostering students’ self-
esteem, by using multiliteracy approaches and teaching reflection had resulted in
significant positive impact on the students.
RESEARCH ON TEACHING FASHION AND LITERACY
Educators in the realm of fashion must have a strong understanding of self and
must be literate in the vernacular and content of fashion. As Reponen (2011) remarked in
a chapter from Fashion Forward, fashion blogs have become a popular literacy
commodity along with the ever popular fashion magazines. However, Reponen (2011)
opined that much of what is published is nonsensical and mere advertisement, rather than
being noteworthy research or fashion criticism. While fashion is a frequently covered
subject, the content is yet to be recognized by social sciences since fashion industry
scions appeared to be more interested in appearance and image. Fashion remains as more
of a visual phenomenon and still remains the “very exemplum of superficiality, frivolity,
and vanity” (Reponen, 2011, p. 30). In a Colin McDowell interview published in the
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Sunday Times (2009), Deacon claimed that the majority of those who held leading titles
as fashion critics and writers of the business and who often occupied the front row of
most haute couture style shows, were sadly ignorant of rudimentary fashion design
concepts. Reponen (2011) speculated that these uninformed fashionistas would not know
the difference between a printed fabric and a jacquard fabric (Reponen, 2011).
According to Information Competencies for Students in Design Disciplines
(2007), a professional in the fashion industry should be cognizant of basic literacy skills
and should be able to: (1) find fashion terminology in fashion related and basic
dictionaries; (2) use fashion terminology to effectively search library catalogs and
internet; (3) understand the Library Congress System of classification to locate fashion
resources; (4) locate textual and visual images that are useful for fashion research and
production; (5) understand the importance of periodicals, trade publications, foreign
journals, annual design collection publications; and weekly and monthly trade and design
resources; (6) locate print and electronic resources; (7) find key indexes and databases
pertaining to fashion and the apparel industry; and (8) locate major fashion websites and
instrumental fashion resource libraries such as Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily (WWD),
Fashion Institute of Technology, and New York Public Library.
University professors and instructors can include writing activities in any
discipline to assist students in obtaining written skills prior to entering the workforce
(Johnson, Yurchisin, & Bean, 2003; Robinson & Blair, 1995). Robinson and Blair (1995)
argued that it is imperative that those in academe accept accountability for teaching
students proper writing skills. Gomez (2009) averred that developing young literate
professionals was largely dependent on K-12 educators and that professors should
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prepare literate professionals by providing their students with writing assignments and
the criteria to assess their writing (Robinson & Blair, 1995).
In their descriptive study, Johnson, Yurchisin, and Bean (2003) also suggested
that writing activities can simultaneously enhance learning while students acquire written
and verbal communication skills. The authors noted that students take ownership of their
learning when they partake in writing assignments (Hall & Tiggeman,1995; Johnson, et
al., 2003). Furthermore, Capelli (1992), cited in this article (Johnson et al., 2003),
averred that employers in virtually all fields are seeking individuals with strong written
and verbal communication skills. With the importance of writing being stressed, trends in
higher education have evolved to include more writing intensive courses for
undergraduate students (Johnson et al., 2003). Johnson et al. (2003) responded to
demands made by their collegiate campus to incorporate these writing intensive courses
within the apparel design and textiles pedagogy. Furthermore, the researchers took the
initiative to investigate how much and what types of writing were being conducted in
other fashion curricula throughout the nation.
The Johnson et al. study identified the types of writing students were doing in
apparel and textiles courses, as well as how much writing was being done. Johnson et al.
(2003) were also interested in knowing in what types of courses were writing intensive
assignments being implemented and how they were being assessed. Their other areas of
interest included learning about the perceptions of faculty as to the amount of writing
being done in the apparel and textile courses; identifying which programs were offering
writing intensive courses, and comparing the amounts of writing being done in other
campuses with similar apparel and textile programs. This would enable an apparel and
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textile faculty to make comparisons with that of their own programs (Johnson et al.,
2003).
While the writing intensive courses may have varying requirements on respective
campuses, generally they are devised to assist students to have a better grasp of the
overall content of their programs (Johnson et al., 2003). Johnson et al. (2003) provided
an example of what constitutes a writing intensive apparel and textiles course. At one
Midwestern university curriculum of a fashion program required an instructor to assign a
ten page paper. The instructor was to provide specific instructions for how to complete
the formal paper and to provide feedback on the first draft. Students, in return, were to
complete the revised drafts and to submit a final copy to their instructors (Johnson et al.,
2003).
Student participants were asked to complete the survey and to send copies of their
syllabi in tandem with writing assignments that they preferred to share as a part of the
study. After analyzing the data, Johnson et al. (2003) discovered that the majority of
courses included at least one written assignment such as research projects, papers, out-of-
class essays, and reading reports. While most of the universities required writing
intensive coursework for undergraduate students, the respondents of the survey were not
offered courses as writing intensive. Overall, the respondents averred that students
produced an adequate amount of writing, yet very few indicated whether these courses
had been approved as writing intensive, and the majority agreed that more writing
assignments would enhance learning and help students in the work environment.
In Effective Learning Strategies in History of Dress, Marketti (2011) reported that
history survey courses which included history of dress evoked feelings of trepidation in
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undergraduate students. The students’ uneasiness may have stemmed from knowing that
these types of survey courses traditionally feature teacher-centered instruction comprised
of mostly lecture and multiple-choice exams and term papers (Marketti, 2011). Marketti
(2011) determined that while these teaching styles might be convenient and efficient for
instructors, they are not engaging for students.
Marketti (2011) postulated that the best approach to teach is using learner-
centered strategies. This pedagogical approach allows students to have experiential
learning that is necessary as professionals. This type of learning also encourages students
“to gather and synthesize information and integrate it with general skills of inquiry,
communication, critical thinking, and problem solving” (Marketti, 2011, p. 547). Learner
centered strategies foster active engagement as students are learning useful skills for the
work milieu and for future careers (Marketti, 2011).
The participants of Marketti’s study included undergraduate students who were
enrolled in a survey history course focusing on content from ancient times to 20th
century
fashion and a fashion history course on 20th
century fashion. Both three-credit courses
met twice a week for a total of 150 minutes a week. In addition students were expected
to work an additional three to five hours a week outside of the classroom. For this
particular study, students received 10 to 15 minutes of enhanced lecture followed by
activities such as a think-pair-share method where students thought about the response to
a question, discussed it with a partner, and finally shared responses with the whole class
(Marketti, 2011). Taking clips of past and present apparel from movies to assist students
as they analyzed the historical accuracy was another strategy to aide both auditory and
visual learners (Marketti, 2011). One enhanced lecture approach was inviting a guest
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professor to re-enact a scene from the late 19th
Century as he appeared in the costume of
the period. After some lectures, students were asked to sketch an interpretive or
reflective drawing, to bullet significant points of topics discussed, or to choose a topic
they would like to further investigate (Marketti, 2011).
After completing the course, Marketti (2011) reported that students were asked to
complete their end of course evaluations and a survey that evaluated the effectiveness of
the course’s learning strategies: enhanced lectures, artifact analyses, annotated citations,
and student choice projects. A mixed methods approach was used that included both
quantitative data (statistics of teacher effectiveness) and qualitative data (students’ open
ended responses to specific learning strategies) (Marketti, 2011).
The findings indicated that most students who submitted their surveys majored in
textiles and apparel and 95% of them were female. The study also indicated that
professors and instructors who used enhanced lectures in communicating the content
included visuals, videos, pictures, or activities. These methods enhanced the students’
understanding of the material and gave them the opportunity to use alternative methods
for learning. Students enjoyed artifact analyses. They were able to see and touch
garments they had read about in their texts and had viewed through PowerPoint.
However, students described having to identify fabrics and fibers as challenging. The
study also revealed that students least enjoyed the annotated citations, but they did
recognize the assignment to be thought provoking, informative, and insightful. Marketti
(2011) concluded by underscoring the positive response students had to having
participated in small group discussions. Students reported that these interactions with
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one another brought about a sense of community. They had become a community of
learners.
Simon Seivewright, the author of Research and Design (2007), communicated the
importance of research. He stated that “research is vital to any design process: it is the
initial trawl and collection of ideas prior to design. It should be an experimental process,
and investigation to support or find out about a particular subject. Research is an
essential tool in the creative process and will provide inspiration, information and in the
creative direction, as well as a narrative to a collection” (p. 7). Seivewright (2007)
dedicated a book in its entirety to research processes that include literacy. He introduced
his book with the concept of the brief and disparate forms of literacy-facilitating tools
which are used in the fashion industry to draft an outline of objectives for the design
process for any designer collection. The author also suggested the use of mind-maps, a
mapped out chart used as brainstorming tool, to list inspiring concepts by using resources
such as a dictionary, thesaurus, or the internet. These could be used to create an overall
theme that might eventually be transformed into designs (Seivewright, 2007). Other
forms of literacy that Seivewright (2007) noted as instrumental sources of inspiration to
the fashion designer were the internet, libraries, books, journals, magazines, museums, art
galleries, trend and forecasting reports, and designer case studies. The author also
conducted multiple interviews with several fashion designers in the industry and inquired
about their design processes, including inspiration. The fashion designers averred that
they obtained inspiration from books and libraries. Most designers kept their concepts in
sketchbooks, which often included narratives. Seivewright (2007) noted that the majority
of designers acknowledged research as vital to design. This compendium of studies
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underscores the crucial elements specific to the themes addressed in this dissertation:
identity research, teacher reflection, professional identity in the creative arts,
multiliteracy, and fashion literacy. Each study contributed to the educational discourse
and is relevant to this autoethnographical study.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
The fashion design class has traditionally provided an environment in which
students learn by observing their professors demonstrate techniques through hands-on
application. Although students frequently learn the skills to accomplish a required task,
they often do so with minimal introspection and with very little critical thinking.
Students could benefit from having explicit literacy strategies taught in tandem with the
fashion curriculum. For example, while fashion instructors demonstrate the technique of
Arashi, a form of Japanese tie dying, they could also provide students with text resources.
Fashion design students could watch the demonstration, conduct their labs, but benefit as
well from having written information in order to better comprehend the subject matter
and to obtain a deeper knowledge of it (Guthrie et al., 2006). This use of hands-on-
activities, concurrent with literacy activities, enables the teacher to provide situational
interest (Guthrie et al., 2006) with the tie dying lab and yet provide students with
opportunity to become intrinsically motivated to read and learn more about the Arashi
technique (Guthrie et al., 2006). When literacy is linked to the elements and concept of
fashion, it is more likely that students will use their higher level thinking skills, whether
that is achieved through a Socratic question and answer session or through other means
(Yang, Newby, Bill, 2005). However, when literacy is left out of the fashion classroom
and the teacher’s reliance is solely on demonstration of fashion techniques, students fail
to fully grasp the concept because the history, terminology, contexts and connections to
these fashion techniques are neglected. A lack of emphasis on written scholarship is one
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reason that fashion students are often stereotypically labeled as frivolous and unscholarly.
It is the educator’s responsibility to teach students the literacies that are relevant to their
respective disciplines to ensure that they are knowledgeable and successful in their fields.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
After having taught fashion at the collegiate level for three years while
concurrently taking language and literacy courses in graduate school, I knew I had
evolved as a fashion instructor. However, describing this new found identity was
daunting to express in words which has led me to investigate my journey as a literate
fashion professional and to articulate how this identity coalesced. Now, as I reflect on
my first year of teaching fashion, I realize that at that time I was learning the traditional
conventions of university teaching. I was an instructor who taught primarily through
demonstrations: from my novice perspective, planning curriculum was both daunting and
time consuming. Furthermore, the mandates of my supervisor to stay aligned with the
traditional course curriculum offered me no encouragement to challenge my students to
think more critically or to reflect on the technical process.
The evolution of my collegiate teaching commenced as I began to question some
of the traditional forms of teaching and dared to launch my own unconventional
practices. For example, in basic clothing construction, it was a tradition each semester
for students to submit a simple notebook of constructed samples for assessment;
however, these sample notebooks failed to include even rudimentary written instructions
for how to sew a plain seam, blind hem, and various other sewing applications. As a
result, I began to require my students to include not only their constructed sewing
samples but a written explication for how to construct each sample, as well. Another
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instructional epiphany occurred during end-of-semester portfolio reviews. As I looked
over each portfolio I discovered that most of my fashion design students were unable to
articulate and describe, in fashion vernacular, the designs they had deftly created on
paper. These observations gleaned from portfolio review prompted my assigning each
student to keep a fashion journal. I promoted the fashion journal to my students as a way
to compile a portable file of new field vocabulary, their illustrated fashion designs and
accompanying descriptions, class notes, written reflections and possible fashion
epiphanies.
A lack of attention to literacy in fashion education, particularly attention to
explicit literacy instruction reveals itself in practices such as “How to” demonstrations in
lieu of research and literacy concerns and in disrespect for the intellectual challenge of
the fashion profession. These pervasive practices and negative perceptions of fashion
professionals as shallow and superfluous harms the image of fashion and the self-
concepts of its students. In retrospect, I can only hope that incorporating some of these
literacy strategies in my fashion classroom was valuable time spent for my students, and
that the sample explications, fashion journals, and other literacy approaches to teaching
fashion were instrumental to my students during their internship placements or in their
professional milieus. I often wonder if my students are literate professionals in their
field. Did I provide them with the proper literacy tools to communicate in the fashion
world? Did I provide rigorous reading and writing assignments of relevance? Were
these assignments just as rigorous as assignments in other academic fields? Overall, the
reality that fashion instructors have neglected to use explicit literacy instruction with
students is of utmost concern and needs further attention and research.
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As I questioned the usefulness of the literacy strategies I employed in my
classroom to my fashion students, I often wondered the following: How do my students
perceive me as a literate professional? What is my identity as a fashion educator? I
discovered there was little research on fashion instructors and their reflective practice.
Obviously, a problem obstructing fashion educators from understanding their own
journeys exists. This understanding is necessary for improved or transformed teaching.
Insights regarding the integration of literacy strategies into fashion instruction and the
role of building healthy professional identities are needed.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
These were some of the initial inquiries that led me to the purpose of my study.
The purpose of my study was threefold: I hope to have thoroughly answered the
following questions in this autoethnographical study: (1) How has my identity evolved
as a literate fashion professional? (2) What was the journey I have traveled to obtain this
identity as a literate fashion instructor – one who not only teaches fashion, but one who
teaches explicit literacy strategies along with the fashion content? And (3) how have
these two disparate worlds of fashion and literacy informed my teaching as a literate
fashion professional?
AUTOETHNOGRAPHY AS METHODOLOGY
Autoethnography, a methodological approach that is one of self-inquiry, perhaps
sounds narcissistic; nevertheless, it is the best methodology to demonstrate how one’s
teaching practices have coalesced and have been informed, particularly the best
methodological approach to articulate my journey of teaching fashion students to be
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literate professionals. Choosing the methodology of autoethnography can only
strengthen this personalized account of my journey (Chang, 2008; Ellis, 2000; Ellis &
Bochner, 2000). Goswami and Rutherford (2009) declared, “As teachers, we are
privileged participants in the world of teaching and learning of our students” (p.32). In
other words, it is imperative that the teacher be included as a research participant, and
autoethnography is the methodology that enables the researcher to be a data source
(Chang, 2008; Dyson, 2007; Ellis, 2004; Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Reed-Danahay, 1997).
This study is the narrative of my journey as a fashion instructor in higher
education, striving to interweave literacy in the daily fabric of teaching while,
simultaneously persuading fashion students of literacy’s importance, despite a curriculum
that was driven by hands-on applications and teaching demonstrations. In this study I
share the failures, periods of vulnerability, and triumphs of my career. I chronicle my
experiences of introspection, examination, reform, and professional growth. The study is
a culmination of my thoughts, actions, and reflections that have evolved from my years as
a fashion student to my present years as a fashion professional. I have written my story
and blended it with that of my students. In educational research, educators live storied
lives, both individually and socially. Teachers construct and reconstruct personal and
social stories in which the teachers and students alike are the storytellers (Connelly &
Clandinin, 1990). I resonated with the following statement Dyson (2007) made as to
why autoethnography is the best alternative for his journey as a professor in education:
I was both part of the lives of the participants and part of the ‘case’, which I was
investigating. My experiences, challenges, and interactions with the subjects of
my research impacted upon the subject “out there’ and on myself ‘in here’ as a
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researcher. Because of this influence it could be said that I was potentially
altering the research environment and manipulating the variables. My recognition
of these influences and by working through the issue of subjectivity I gradually
recognized the legitimacy of myself as a subject of the research, as well as the
researcher of the particular phenomenon I was researching. (p. 39)
In selecting autoethnography as my vehicle of choice, I must weave into this
narrative my emotions when, as an undergraduate fashion major and a presenter of my
fashion collection, I mispronounced haute couture. As Ellis strongly averred, the
emotion of such seminal moments is what solidifies and brings memory to the research; it
is the crux of autoethography (Ellis, 2000). In other words, the researcher cannot
divorce herself from the feelings she experiences related to her specific research (Ellis,
2000). One last point here: My mispronouncing haute couture and the resulting
humiliation I felt have been a driving force in my teaching students the disciplinary
vocabulary and the disciplinary literacy.
MULTIPLE LENSES
Within this study, I am looking through three particular, yet, at times,
interchangeable lenses: Multiliteracies (Danzak, 2011; Hartnell-Young, 2006), Personal
Construct Theory (PCT) (Kelly, 1955), and in addition, Pinar’s (1975) approach of
connecting life narrative to identity construction. Firstly, looking through a multi-
literacies lens, the pervasive misreading of fashion professionals has informed
professional identities and instruction. It is also important to look at how insights
gleaned from a multiliteracies instructions approach can potentially inform students’
identities. Secondly through a PCT lens, important events of the researcher’s personal
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and professional life were chronicled to construct identity. Lastly, Pinar’s (1975) holistic
approach to writing even the smallest of details was significant in retelling of
biographical accounts to capture a multi-dimensional narrative which is instrumental for
identity construction. Insights gleaned from this study will be guided by the notion that
identity formation and narrative are connected.
RESEARCH DESIGN
One of the intricacies of researching one’s own profession or, in this case,
professional identity, is mapping out the story in order to articulate it well (Dyson, 2007).
Denzin and Lincoln (2000) ascertained that the theory or theoretical perspective should
be in alignment with the research design. Autoethnography, particularly narrative inquiry
is in alignment with my theoretical perspective (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000) and a perfect
qualitative research design or blueprint (Hakim, 2000) for “addressing the complexities
and subtleties of human experience in teaching and learning” (Webster and Mertova,
2007, p.1). In Muncey’s (2010) Creating Autoethnographies, Polkinghorne (1998)
argued that “Narratives are peoples’ identities; the stories people tell shape and construct
the narrator’s personality” (p.43). In writing my narrative, I used Richardson’s (2000)
methodology, using writing as not just an approach to telling the findings of social
sciences but a method of knowing them, as writing is a conduit for discovery and
analysis. A researcher should write to learn rather than wait until something is
discovered. As the researcher and primary source of the investigation, I was situated as a
part of the fashion culture. Student interviews, student artifacts, and personal artifacts
served as data sources which were instrumental in helping me write my story. I adopted
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Chang’s (2008) approach to writing autoethnographical accounts chronologically and
told the story in multiple accounts as suggested by Pinar (1975) to ensure the truth is told.
DATA SOURCES
According to Ellis, Adams, and Bochner (2011), autoethnography has been
dismissed by social science as a methodological approach that is “insufficiently rigorous,
theoretical, and analytical” (p.37) as well as too aesthetic, cathartic, and evocative.
Autoethnographers are also criticized for supposedly using biased data sources. This is a
misconception of narrative research. Personal narratives can be instrumental as venues
for comprehension by highlighting the construction of accounts and explications of
events through “intersubjective encounters” retold by others, including multiple
perspectives and agendas (Maynes, Pierce, & Laslett, 2008, p.111). Narrative inquiry as
educational research may incorporate storytelling, letters, autobiographical accounts,
lesson plans, newsletters, writing demonstrating expectations and principles, picturing,
metaphors, and personal philosophies as data sources (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990).
Because traditional research paradigms, such as positivistic and postpositivistic ones have
challenged the notions of more interpretive postmodern approaches to research (Lincoln
& Guba, 2000), it is imperative that the autoethnographer establish legitimation. Lincoln
and Guba (2000) attested that there is no question that legitimacy of postmodern
paradigms has been established. Furthermore, in order to construct a story, it must be
written analytically in order to be viewed by social scientists as valid research data;
therefore, triangulation of data is of utmost importance (Ellis, Adams, Bochner, 2011).
Triangulation is a process of reducing “the likelihood of misinterpretation” by employing
multiple procedures such as “using multiple perceptions to clarify meaning” and
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“redundancy of data gathering” in order to ensure research is accurate (Stake, 2000, p.
443). Therefore, more than three data sources have been included in this research study.
The primary data source for this study is the reflexive journal. I also supplemented the
primary data source by gathering data through student interviews, student artifacts, and
archival data. The following section provides a detailed description of the data sources
used for the study.
REFLEXIVE JOURNAL
A reflexive journal, which employs “the process of reflecting critically on the self
as researcher” as the human being becomes the actual instrument (Denzin & Lincoln,
2000; Guba & Lincoln, 1981), is imperative for a narrative inquiry—particularly
autoethnography—in which the primary instrument is the researcher (Bochner & Ellis,
2002; Ellis, 2004; Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, & Allen, 1993; Holt, 2003). I began my
investigation by journaling my initial thoughts, reactions, preconceived notions, and
observations related to my development as a literate fashion professional. Tessa Muncey
(2010) wrote a definition of what a reflexive journal or autoethnographical diary can
include:
They can be straightforward chronicling of events, or bald record of facts. They
can be confessional, or cathartic, or an opportunity to vent one’s spleen.
However, in terms of creative writing, they can become a canvas on which to
record experimental ideas, an attempt to impose some sort of order on the chaos.
While the discipline of recording may at first be arduous, you will eventually find
you have an identity of your own that will glow with the immediacy of your
everyday thoughts. (p.77)
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My reflexive journal, the primary data source of this study, included “epiphanies” or
“remembered moments that have significantly impacted the trajectory” of my life (Ellis,
Adams, Bochner, 2011, p. 6), particularly those which relate to the construction of my
identity as a literate fashion professional. Furthermore, the reflexive journal included
reflections on the student interviews. A natural part of the reflexive process is to include
the individuals the researcher encounters who are interconnected with the research study
(Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). All reflections included in the journal were written in
narrative prose. By chronicling the past, the present, and the future, a triple account of
events were written, which legitimizes the data as truth (Pinar, 1976). Chang (2008) also
suggested that autoethnographers create an autobiographical timeline in sequential order
of memorable events and occurrences pertaining to personal and professional identity. In
concurrence with Chang (2008), Ellis (2004) advised her students to write their stories or
autoethnographical journal accounts as if they were field notes and organize them
chronologically by selecting main accounts and writing epiphanies in their lives to
structure their stories. My reflexive journal, as mentioned earlier, is comprised of three
separate narrative accounts which include the past, the present, and the future: The Prior
Self, The Present Self, and The Prospective Self.
INTERVIEWS
While interviews are the most universally recognizable data sources in qualitative
methodology (Mason, 2002), Chang (2008) opined that the researcher is the primary
focus of the study. However, Chang (2008) did concede that the information taken from
interviewing others can be instrumental in recollecting events from one’s past to fill in
the gaps of information, and to gather new data. The new data will validate one’s
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personal information as well as validate how others perceive the researcher. Reflexivity
also compels the researcher not only to consider the research problem but also the
individuals with whom the investigator interacts throughout the research process (Denzin
& Lincoln, 2000). Thus interviewing is a legitimate and meaningful methodology to
generate data, given the ontological properties of this research study.
For the purpose of this study, semi-structured interviews (Erlandson, Harris,
Skipper, & Allen, date; Merriam, 1988) were employed to obtain information from
student participants in order to solidify the researcher’s story. Semi-structured interviews
are thematic in nature and relatively informal. They enable the participants to discuss
topics freely and in a more conversational style (Mason, 2002). Furthermore, some of the
interview questions were descriptive (Bloor & Wood, 2006; Spradley, 1979) in nature.
According to Spradley (1979), the intent of descriptive questioning is to illicit
information from the participant pertaining to a specific cultural setting which, for the
purpose of this study, would include the fashion classroom. Postmodernists and
constructivists have turned to depth interviewing because of a need to have collaboration
between the interview and interviewee. Their collaboration produces a “context-bound
description of a social world,” and apart from survey research (Bloor & Wood, 2006, p.
105). Depth interviewing was the chosen type of interviews for this study as the
“interviewer does not elicit a description of the social world” (Bloor & Wood, 2006, p.
2006) on her own; rather, the researcher enlisted assistance from the participants in order
to construct the description.
Spradley (1979, 2003) would concur that the initial steps to any interview is to
state the research purpose, to explain the interview process thoroughly, and to establish
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rapport with those being interviewed. I had previously established rapport with my
participants several years earlier when they were students of mine at a West Texas
university campus. I selected these participants because each one had taken at least two
of the fashion design courses I taught. I was familiar not only with the students but with
their work in the fashion classroom as well. Furthermore, these students consistently
produced superior work in the fashion classroom. The fact that these student participants
exemplified several characteristics makes the selection process a purposive sampling.
Purposive sampling enables the researcher to select participants or documents “from
which the researcher can substantially learn about the experience” (Polkinghorne, 2005,
p. 140). Because naturalistic inquiry requires the data to be rich in content, rigorous,
and in-depth (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, & Allen, 1993), purposive sampling was
suitable for my investigation because it is used to best answer research questions that
focus on quality rather than quantity of data to fit the basic purpose of the study.
I began the first phase of interviewing using a set of open-ended questions,
including some descriptive questioning (Spradley, 2003), with three of my former fashion
students from a West Texas university campus. These interviews were tape-recorded.
The interviews lasted approximately 30 minutes for each participant. Immediately
following the interviews, I transcribed each interview and wrote narrative reflections
pertaining to the students’ responses. Then I coded the data derived from the participants’
interviews, and my journal reflections, in order to see what common topics and themes
emerged.
After identifying the common topics and emerging themes, I concluded the
interviewing process with a second phase of questioning for the three student
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participants. The second round of interviews was less structured and more like informal
conversations with participants in order to “construct reality that is compatible and
consistent with the constructions of a setting’s inhabitants” (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper,
and Allen, 1993). According to Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, and Allen (1993),
“Respondents are asked questions, but they are also encouraged to engage with the
researcher in less structured conversations so that their hidden assumptions and
constructions begin to surface” (p.94). I took notes on these conversations during the
interviews and then included them in my journal reflections. Finally, I coded the data by
looking for consistent themes that emerged from these sources and reconfirmed them
with the previous data.
STUDENT ARTIFACTS
Another common form of data collection used among qualitative researchers is
the collection of artifacts. According to LeCompte and Preissle (1993), student artifacts
are objects that individuals construct and use. Student artifacts can include
autobiographies, diaries, journals, and letters (Berg, 2007). According to Chang
(2008)and Polkingham (2005), student artifacts are also referred to as documentary or
textual data. However, artifacts can be text-based or non-textual (Chang, 2008).
Muncey (2005) described an artifact as a mug, a piece of pottery, books, memorabilia of
family outings or anything that stimulates the researcher to include it as part of an
experience in an autoethnography. Furthermore, Muncey (2005) claimed that collecting
artifacts is instrumental for autoethnographical studies because it is “additional evidence”
that is meaningful and supports the life trajectory of any autoethngrapher while providing
“snapshots” throughout their lived experiences (p.2). Altrichter, Feldman, Posch and
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Somekh (2008) suggested that educators keep a dossier or collection of documents,
particularly those pertaining to a particular student in order to study one’s professional
development. For this specific research study, artifacts that were collected include
fashion portfolios, student cover letters and resumes for employment, a basic sewing
construction project, class assignments, fiber research papers, and basic sewing exams.
These student artifacts were used to assist the researcher in filling in the gaps of this
autoethnography (Chang, 2008; Muncey, 2005).
ARCHIVAL DATA
For an autoethnographer to better “understand a phenomenon,” even one
pertaining to the one’s identity construction, it is imperative for the researcher to be
aware of the history relating to the phenomenon (Glesne, 2006, p.65). This stance makes
archival data an appealing data source for this epistemic study. Historical artifacts may
include written documents such as newspapers, letters, memoirs, wills, medical records,
photographs, scrapbooks, meeting minutes and student work. These are recognized as
archival data (Altrichter, 2008; Chang, 2008; Glesne, 2006). In addition to the student
artifacts, I collected archival data that included my personal fashion projects and written
assignments that were written approximately twenty years ago during my undergraduate
and graduate years as fashion student. These projects and assignments were used to
prompt reflections in my journal, which then were coded for identifying emerging
themes.
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DATA ANALYSIS
Berg (2007) described the process of data analysis as a system that is put in place
to manage and analyze the data, which are both integrally related so that data is reduced,
data is displayed, and data is concluded and verified. The data analysis process is
immediate and begins as each source of data is collected and for autoethnography, data
analysis is perpetual and “developing and crystallizing over time” (Dethloff, 2005, p.79).
While constantly analyzing the data sources, which included multiple readings of my
reflexive journal; examining artifacts such as the students’ work; and by analyzing
archival data, I was able to recollect my own personal stories. As a result, I was afforded
more clarity of my research topic (Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Dethloff, 2005).
I analyzed the data using a constant comparative approach as I compared and
contrasted each data source using thematic analysis. Prompted by Lincoln and Guba
(1985), I reflected on emerging themes from the interviews, interview reflections, student
artifacts, and archival data within my reflexive journal and began to write my narratives.
As Richardson (2000) recommended, I wrote as a method of inquiry which “provides a
research practice through which we can investigate the world, ourselves, and others” (p.
924).
An important aspect of data analysis is member checking which is verifying
interpretations by having others look over the data and the research process (Berg, 2007;
Glesne, 2006; Lichtman, 2006). The fashion student participants served as member
checkers by verifying the transcriptions and information stated from the interviews were
accurate.
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Data Analysis can be a researcher’s nightmare if the data is not properly
organized. During the primary stages of the study, it is important for the researcher to
organize data that has been collected rather than procrastinate with data management or
the researcher may be robbed of valuable time (Chang, 2008). Heewon Chang (2008),
the author of Autoethnography as Method, suggested an approach to manage the data
collection which was instrumental as I adopted his data management system. Chang
(2008) advised autoethnographers to take the initial step to manage data by periodically
organizing the information during the research process so the data will not “haunt you
later” (p. 119). After collecting data, my priority was to keep the data in organized piles
beginning with my reflexive journal in an electronic file which was later printed in a hard
copy for coding. I then accumulated all transcribed interviews with reflective interview
narratives in one pile. Finally, I placed all amassed artifacts together yet dividing the
student work from the archival data which included my work in a separate mound. Thus,
the initial organization allowed me to see what data was redundant or insufficient in order
to gather or discard data sources (Chang, 2008).
Secondly, the data sources were labeled and categorized according to when they
were collected (Chang, 2008). My reflexive journal was organized in a chronological
timeline by past, present, and future accounts (Chang, 2008; Muncey, 2010; Pinar, 1975).
The Prior Self included all events that occurred prior to 2010. The Present Self included
narratives that happened during 2010 to the present. While, The Prospective Self
included accounts pertaining to future plans and future projections. All interviews were
dated and labeled as to when they were collected and organized by date. Student
artifacts were collected during 2007-2010 school years and organized and labeled in
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chronological order by school year. As for my personal work, it too was organized
chronologically and labeled in two categories: undergraduate fashion work and graduate
fashion work.
The labeled data sets were then coded (Chang, 2010) using a colored-coded
indexing system. After multiple readings and analysis of the data which was an ongoing
process, using index cards, allowed me flexibility in manipulating the data or controlling
it as needed (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Then I organized the coded data on a computerized
Excel spreadsheet handout to see the data visually (Chang, 2010). Finally, I refined the
data by narrowing the focus of data collection and eliminated redundant data while
emphasizing the most significant data (Chang, 2010) until I arrived at a definitive data set
for the findings of the study.
TRUSTWORTHY DATA
Data in autoethnography is taken from both past and present sources (Chang,
2008). Therefore, the naturalistic researcher should gather data from multiple sources
and in a variety of ways (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, and Allen, 1993). The perspective
of the qualitative researcher is “that if they collect data from multiple sources or
triangulate the data they can have a more accurate picture of things and thus remain less
biased” (Lichtman, 2006, p. 13). Furthermore triangulating the data is “an important
method for contrasting and comparing, different accounts of the same situation. Through
identifying differences in perspective, contradictions and discrepancies can emerge that
help in the interpretation of a situation and the development of a practical theory”
(Altrichter et al., 2008, p. 147).
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According to Muncey (2010), most individuals only recall certain events of their
life which is using episodic memory to recollect events and can be a weakness when
creating autoethnographies. However, the fact that autoethnography lends itself to
chronicling one’s life through rich, thick, narrative descriptions in a reflexive journal,
ensures trustworthiness of the research (Glesne, 2006; Jenks, 2002). An important
aspect of data analysis and ensuring the trustworthiness of data, particularly that which is
constructed from memory recall, is member checking which is verifying interpretations
by having others look over the data and the research process (Berg, 2007: Glesne, 2006;
Lichtman, 2006). The fashion student interviews assisted me in recalling important
events to document in this study. In addition, I visited with family members to recollect
past accounts in my reflexive journal and read it to them to validate my stories. Finally, I
also asked a colleague, who is very familiar with my literacy journey to read my reflexive
journal for accuracy.
Ensuring the trustworthiness of my study involved my prolonged engagement—
my spending ample time with the culture and those involved in the study, all the while
conducting persistent observation (Glesne, 2006). I established and developed
trustworthy relationships with my former fashion students. I have also been a part of the
fashion world for at least twenty years as a student, an educator, and as an employee in
the fashion industry. My experiential knowledge in fashion has afforded me proficiency
in the vernacular spoken among the culture of the fashionista. Thus, I have also
established communicative competence (Troike-Saville, 2000) with the participants and
the culture under investigation.
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SUMMARY
Through an educator’s narrative inquiry which is interwoven within this
autoethnography, the author’s identity was evident through storytelling in which the
narrator’s personality was constructed (Muncey, 2010). Storytelling is a very natural
aspect of human living and it is through these stories that give “coherence and continuity”
to the storyteller’s existence (Muncey, 2010, p.43). The stories were organized in
narratives as the researcher used Pinar’s Currere (1975) to create a threefold account.
While the primary source is the researcher, other data sources were collected throughout
the research process to confirm and validate the autoethnographer’s stories. Being that
four types of data sources were employed for the study, the autoethnographer adopted
Chang’s (2008) approach to manage the data. Thus, authoethnography is a rigorous
methodological approach which is worthwhile and meaningful, particularly because the
researcher of the study is actively engaged (Ellis & Bochner, 2000) throughout the entire
process.
Chapter four is my narrative which contains journal accounts of my past, my
present and my future interwoven with my story of literacy and how my professional
identity was constructed. Chapter five is a conclusion of the study including the
interpretations, findings, and implications in a narrative as well.
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CHAPTER IV
THE PRIOR SELF, THE PAST SELF, & THE PROSPECTIVE SELF
In reading Taking a Multiliteracies Approach to Content Area Literacy, Lesley,
McMillan, and Webb (2012) invited me to formulate my own definition of content area
literacy. It was during the genesis of my doctoral program that I had been asked to define
content area literacy. I was thankful that I comprehended the subject well after having a
plethora of courses on the topic. I could only hope I was making my professors proud
being that I had employed some of these strategies in my own fashion classroom. I
enabled students to transmediate which is the process of taking information from one text
and converting it into another media form (Lesley et al., 2012). I provided students with
the opportunity to research relevant topics pertaining to fashion design. I taught students
the fashion vernacular, inviting students to keep a fashion journal with sketches, class
notes, observations, and learned vocabulary. These encapsulate some of the literacy
activities I employed in my fashion classroom.
When Lesley et al. (2012) addressed the literacy narrative, I had an epiphany
about two valid points: (1) the literacy narrative is the best approach to articulate my
story of how I coalesced into a fashion educator advocating literacy in the classroom and
(2) the literacy narrative, the crux of this study, aligns well with the theoretical
framework addressed in Pinar’s theory. Pinar’s theory of Currere (1975) suggested that
in order to legitimize autobiographical accounts as research, multiple accounts of one’s
story must be addressed for academic integrity. Currere enabled me to answer my
research questions because I was able to write my story in chronological order, providing
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coherence and a holistic look at my development as a fashion literate professional. Using
three varied accounts, I triangulated my story by writing about my prior self, my present
self, and my prospective self.
THE PRIOR SELF
Introduction to Literacy
I do not recollect the first book I ever read. However, I vaguely remember
learning new words from listening to a recording of a song called Dominique. It was a
single from the movie soundtrack of The Singing Nun. Although I didn’t quite
understand all the words of this particular song, it was one of the first I learned. My twin
sister and I played and replayed the soundtrack on our record player while pretending to
be students at a convent school run by nuns. I’m surprised the album remained
unscratched from the countless times we listened to it. In reminiscing about this song, I
can now account for why I did not fully comprehend the lyrics: they were originally
written in French by a Belgium nun, and then later translated into English. The content
dealt with the life of Saint Dominic and his teachings—all pretty much beyond the reach
of a small West Texas child.
I recall another event significant to my literacy development during my
elementary years. It occurred when my cousin Mariella, a predominant speaker of
Spanish, came to live with my grandmother. In her leisure time, this cousin read Mexican
novelas, romance novels written in Spanish. My sister and I gravitated to these
fascinating picture books. We had never seen anything like them. They sparked our
interest because they were atypical of books we had at home. Engrossed in this unique
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genre of stories, we immediately begin to create our own interpretations to them simply
by perusing the pictures. Of course, we gave our female protagonists Spanish names
such as Claudia and Daniela and created adventures within our plots, in which young
heroines defeated countless villains and won the love of the men of their dreams,
Alexandro and Francisco. While our narratives were oral, not recorded with pen and
paper, Elena and I were still creating our own interpretations of the novelas. We were
authors of new stories which emerged from original texts. Louise Rosenblatt (1997),
who suggested that students should be the interpreters of texts rather than the authorities,
would have been proud!!!
Hello!! Scholastic Books!!
During the nascence of my schooling at a Catholic Private School, my teachers
would send home pamphlets from Scholastic Books, advertising the most enticing books
and best sellers that were on the must have list. I remember circling several books from
the pamphlets, hoping that I could purchase them all. Mom always managed to narrow
my lists to a few books, but she made sure to purchase books every time. I was unaware
of my parents’ financial challenges and the sacrifices they made for my sister and me. In
order to pay for our education at a private school, they volunteered to work as part of the
custodial and ground maintenance crew in order to reduce our monthly tuition fees. I am
eternally grateful for parents who wanted us to have a quality education—and one they
themselves did not possess—and one they felt was worth sacrifice.
Because of my parent’s generosity, I was one of those children who could look
forward to the days when my scholastic order would arrive. Arnold Lobel’s Mouse Soup,
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Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, and Donald J. Sobel’s Encyclopedia
Brown series were some of my favorite books collected from Scholastic. I vividly
recollect sitting in my bedroom floor crisscross listening to the 45 RPM record of Mouse
Soup as I read along. The lively recording made the story come to life, with its sound
effects and its musical scores accompanying the speaker’s spirited narration. I learned
that I preferred reading books in tandem with audio recordings that featured narrators
who read stories aloud with proper articulation and intonation, literacy skills that I knew I
did not possess. Rearing its ugly head even in the midst of a literacy experience that
should have been wholly positive, a perception of myself inadequate as a reader was
persistent. These feelings of inadequacy would accompany me throughout my literacy
journey—yielding far more negative consequences.
Struggling with Literacy
As I thought about my early experiences with literacy, I felt a long familiar knot
in my stomach and a pang in my heart. Carolyn Ellis (2004) was right: writing
autoethnography evokes emotion. In fact, some of the memories which surfaced brought
tears streaming down my face. The irony is this: the person I am today, the one pursuing
a doctorate in language and literacy, has never been an avid reader. Apart from my short
stints with Scholastic Book orders, I have seldom read aesthetically, which Louise
Rosenblatt (1997) would define as reading for fun. Why is this so?
As a child, I dreaded and disliked reading for a number of painful reasons. First, I
revisit my first grade classroom. Our desks are pushed aside and we are sitting in a
crowded circle by Mrs. Baker’s desk. She sits in the front of the circle with a book in her
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hand, calling on us individually to read aloud. I am practicing my lines before I hear
Mrs. Baker call my name. I stand up and begin to read with my less than stellar
pronunciations. My classmates immediately break into laughter. I realize they are
laughing at my lack of fluency and my Mexican accent. I suppose had I read with a
British accent, my peers would have found it to be more appealing; however, my reading
with a thick Latino accent caused me humiliation at the time.
Although my sister and I were born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, my mother was
a keen believer in teaching us to speak our native tongue, Spanish, prior to learning the
English language. She wanted us to be bi-lingual. I am thankful for my dual languages
now, but as a child learning in an affluent, private Catholic school—with predominantly
Caucasian students—this was challenging for Elena and me. You see, we were just
beginning to learn English when we also began preschool and kindergarten. Today, I
would have been labeled an ELL (English Language Learner) student. Later, as a
second grader I was placed in a lower level class because I failed to excel in reading.
This was another event to cause me pain because I was perpetually compared to my twin
sister. She was in the accelerated second grade class because she had done exceptionally
well in reading. I had been grouped by reading ability. If reading ability groups were
given names of birds, I was certain that I’d be a buzzard—a commonly disliked bird—
rather than being one of the group of superior readers, the soaring eagles. I didn’t quite
understand depression then, but now I recognize some of the symptoms I exhibited as my
self-confidence shrank. With each negative experience, I felt “less than.” That was the
year I remember suffering from a nervous stomach and having my first X-ray. As a
consequence, I was forced to drink an awful-tasting stomach remedy of Milk of Magnesia
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and Mylanta before each meal. A third event causing confidence erosion was being
forced to spend my summer prior to second grade with our school librarian. She both
tutored me and then tested me for fluency, diction, comprehension, vocabulary and, I’m
sure, employed every comprehension strategy listed by Keene and Zimmerman (1997) in
Mosaic of Thought. All these experiences were enough to make me, a bi-lingual child
with minimal skills, shrink from reading—and at times to despise it.
Summers at the Public library
Mom figured a favored pastime of ours would be a day at the public library
during our summer breaks; therefore, she always planned several trips. While our mother
was not an avid reader herself and struggled in reading, she constantly promoted literacy.
I know she wanted us, unlike herself, to be lovers of books. Despite my own challenges
associated with school reading, I had always enjoyed trips to the public library because—
unlike the stresses and demands associated with school libraries—this environment
offered an environment of easy reading and choosing my books based on the appeal of
their covers. The more colorful the book’s cover, the more attraction it held for me.
(True confession: I’m still that way today). Also appealing were the books with
fascinating illustrations. I would have never been one to pick up The Lord of the Rings
(2012) Trilogy or read Gone with the Wind (1936), simply because these books are
voluminous. I always felt it would have taken me years to read these types of novels.
If I paused to glance over at my twin sister, I would see that while I was still
perusing the shelves for my first book, she had the literary canon of twenty books
recommended by school piled up in her corner of the table, while I was still perusing the
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shelves for my first one. Finally, mom would hurry us to complete the book hunt and
head for the circulation desk. (I loved watching the librarian assistant scan the books on
the computerized system. In elementary, I had decided I was going to be a librarian just
so I could scan books all day. Ah, the irony!) What I remember most about our summer
library visits, however, was that—once home—my sister would read her books and be
ready to check out more while I was still reading my first one.
Dressing up Darcy
Reading may not have been my preferred leisure activity, but I did have other
interests. One of them was adorning Darcy, my favorite Barbie doll. Darcy was a
striking fashion model; therefore, her Barbie facsimile was sold with glamorous
accessories: a swimsuit with a lace coverlet, shades, and a modeling portfolio with
picturesque poses of her on the cover of fashion magazines. My sister was the one with
great taste who had chosen for me this cherished birthday doll. Darcy Barbie vanquished
a long list of all other competitor Barbies: Farah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Jacklyn Smith,
and Cheryl Ladd (the original Charlies’s Angels); Princess Leah, the Bionic Woman,
Ballerina Barbie, and Wonder Woman. Besides Ken, Darcy Barbie also dated Captain
Kirk, Spock, and the Doc from the Enterprise, as well as Lee Majors—the Million Dollar
Man.
Darcy’s clothing collection entered my realm when I was in sixth grade…. I was
home for a week with the chicken pox. It was the worst week ever because I was
scheduled to perform with my dance troupe at the annual Fine Arts Festival. However, I
was so ill that I could hardly lift my head off the pillow. Even the thought of dancing,
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what I most loved to do, could not launch me from my bed. My sister, already dressed in
her traditional ballet attire of black leotard, pink tights and pink ballet slippers, looked at
me sympathetically from the doorway, then turned and left with a friend to perform in the
festival. When she returned, hours later, Elena and our best friend walked in bearing gifts
to cheer me up. My sister had saved her allowance and had bought me the coolest
custom-sewn Barbie ensembles that someone at the Arts Festival had designed,
particularly for Darcy. I had never seen anything like them: they were exquisite. After I
recovered from the chicken pox, I couldn’t wait to start custom designing my own
fashionable attire for Darcy. Abuelita, my little grandmother, provided my sister and me
with some remnants of fabric from her sewing bin so we could hand-stitch garments for
our dolls. I made Darcy a monochromatic double- breasted cotton red vest adorned with
red, pearled buttons. For novice me, my custom creation wasn’t flawless, but it was
trendy and decently executed. I enjoyed adorning Darcy with my innovative designs.
The Sewing Machine
Mom was working for Sears and Roebuck, and one day after work, she walked
into our humble home enthusiastically holding a Kenmore sewing machine. My first
thought was, “Mom doesn’t sew.” Mom claimed she bought the machine so she could
make quick alterations with it, and so that we could all learn to sew. I was excited about
using this new wonder of technology, the electric sewing machine—but, first, we had to
learn how to operate it!
That following year, my sister and I both signed up for Homemaking. Those were
the days that Family Consumer Sciences, formerly known as Homemaking, was a course
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that offered one semester of cooking and one semester of sewing. The sole emphasis was
on domestic living. It’s gratifying to see how this course has evolved since my 7th
grade
year taking this course to the present where I am teaching it. The curriculum has now
grown beyond homemaking and now includes a focus on various careers. Now back to
that 6th
period Homemaking class that my twin and I walked into….
At my table sat the most diverse group in our classroom: Ty, a good-looking
Asian athlete; Charisa, an African-American girl; Monica, a Mexican-American girl with
severe psoriasis; and me. Our team was the one to beat that first semester of cooking,
with Ty as our major talent. The following semester, however, I enjoyed few moments of
triumph. I distinctly remember the first sewing project Ms. Uman assigned. It was an
apron. Ty effortlessly created a seamless white apron displaying his name in
embroidered red letters, and a coordinating white chef’s hat. While Ty produced his chef
ensemble in just one week, I produced one lone apron that took me a month to produce
and included after-school tutoring sessions.
During this semester for the sewing-challenged, I went on to produce one hand-
embroidered lopsided oval ruffled pillow, and an almost hairless Gonk (a stuffed animal
with button eyes and yarn hair). At this point in my academic journey I did not enjoy
sewing: it was definitely not my forte. Thank goodness, though, for the Kenmore sewing
machine. I used it on multiple occasions to catch up and complete those Homemaking
projects. The Kenmore was definitely the key factor in my passing Homemaking second
semester.
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Fashion Fundamentals
After that first semester taking sewing class in middle school—with all my
challenges and failures as a less than accomplished seamstress—I could not have
imagined choosing a career in fashion design. Although my sewing and illustration
skills were at rudimentary levels, my sense of fashion and modeling were strong. These
strengths carried more personal impact than I realized, until during my high school years,
when I took a career inventory test: my highest interest scores all dealt with fashion!
Thus, in 1989, I began my journey as a fashion student at a local university.
I nearly quit after that first month of my freshman year. The course work was
harder than I had anticipated. I quickly learned that fashion design was daunting,
particularly if you were not a natural at it. Being a novice in the discipline required
countless work hours of me. I even spent several spring breaks in the sewing lab and was
perpetually sleep-deprived from the many late night hours spent completing projects. In
fact, I spent so much time in the fashion laboratory that one of my professors entrusted
me with her keys for weekend work there. And to make matters worse, I almost failed
fashion fundamentals, a rigorous fashion theoretical course. I think it was “Dr. X’s” job
to weed out sophomores. However, I passed it with a “C” and was ecstatic. Those who
say fashion design students have it easy would learn otherwise had they spent a week in
our high heel shoes.
My sister always teased me, claiming I had an easy major. I think her initial
perception of students in fashion was that we simply drew paper dolls and sewed all day.
She always flaunted her opinion that business majors studied hard and were required to
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take demanding courses such as business math, business law, accounting and statistics.
Her perceptions of us fashion designers quickly altered, however, after she observed
(from the comfort of her bed in the room we shared) the countless sleepless nights I spent
working to meet deadlines for fashion portfolio projects and apparel constructed projects.
One day, as I was frantically multi-tasking (creating a collage of fashion images and
studying for a Texas history exam), my sister took pity on me. She took over cutting out
the fashion graphics and helped me complete the collage. At that moment I knew that I
had earned my sister’s respect. She realized that fashion design was not just fun and
frills. What I gleaned from those beginning courses of study is that learning the
fundamentals of fashion required just as much rigor as many other disciplines.
In a league of my own
I was still forming my identity as a fashionista. I was in a world and unsure if I
belonged in it. It was during those seminal years of learning the technicalities of fashion
that almost convinced me, I did not belong. Sewing, fashion illustration, and basic art
were like learning a foreign language, one that I didn’t quite understand. I even
remember going through a recession, what I call a small depression, because I was
struggling with my own identity as a student and feeling like I didn’t fit in, particularly in
fashion.
However, one thing was certain—I had my own style of dress that often times
generated responses from my family and peers, sometimes positive and sometimes
negative. I still remember walking into the student union building to join friends, and as I
walked passed a group of girls, they laughed at my metallic gold hat covered in sequins.
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It was definitely a one-of-a-kind and would’ve been noticed in a college football stadium.
I remember thinking, “Well, they may not like it, but at least they noticed it.” Then there
was a cousin of mine who often labeled me as “weird” because I chose to express myself
with varying hairstyles and innovative clothing choices. Often times these situations
caused me to reconceptualize my identity as a fashionista.
It was during a self-deprecating moment in fashion illustration class, that I felt
less than my peers, because I couldn’t draw, sew, or design like them. I was exhausted,
frustrated, anxious, and just wanted to walk out of the classroom to never return.
However, I wanted to prove to myself, my family, and my friends that I did belong. The
only thing that kept me in the room was the following: I looked at the room full of
aspiring fashion designers. Then I took an introspective look at myself. It was then that I
realized, I was one of the most fashion forward students in the room—I was daring,
trendy, innovative, intelligent, hardworking, persistent, and I had staying power. That’s
the day that I knew, I was in a league of my own.
Daring with Daisy Print
Dare to be different in a daisy-print ensemble inspired from the 1970’s. This bell
bottom pant in a flamboyant daisy print is one that depicts the extreme fashion of the era
with an exaggerated bell leg. It is accompanied with a sleek bare-back halter top
trimmed in tiny daisies which brings sophistication to the entire look.
This is commentary I would have written in a style show for the first ensemble I
designed. Obviously, the first design I created and constructed is an unforgettable
moment in the trajectory of my life as a fashion design student. I remember scanning
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through numerous fashion magazines, which most individuals would consider an out-of-
school literacy: But for a fashion student, Vogue is textbook and a part of the literary
canon. I was looking for innovative and eccentric, and daisy-print seemed to be the next
big thing featured in the glossies (fashion lexicon for fashion magazine). I wanted to be
daring and get my hands on this innovative print, but I had to find it first.
The fashion department had fabric that was accessible to all fashion students. As
I perused the stash of fabrics in the departmental closet, I found it—a vintage daisy print
fabric in a bold pattern. It was truly the inspiration for my first design. I distinctly
remember showing it to my colleagues. Their reaction: they thought it was the ugliest
fabric they had ever seen, particularly because it was stretchy-type polyester from the
1970’s. While my classmates saw trash, I saw trendy. It took me several weeks to
create the final product after manipulating basic patterns known to the common fashion
designer as pattern slopers. Voila! There it was!! It was a daring daisy print ensemble
that turned out pretty much the way I had envisioned. Even my colleagues appeared to
be impressed with the outfit. And, ironically, the following semester, everyone seemed
to be designing in daisy print. I discovered I had a knack for forecasting trends. That’s
when I knew I was born to be a fashionista!
España La Moda
At the genesis of my fashion career I wanted to be the next Christian Dior—that
is, until I was introduced to Christian Lacroix, the French designer with Spanish flair, by
reading “Viola! It’s Fun a Lacroix,” a Time magazine article (Howell, 1989) my dad had
earmarked for me. To this day, there has been none other like Christian Lacroix. I am an
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avid fan of Lacroix, who in his earlier years was a Brando look-alike. He was frequently
spotted wearing a Ralph Lauren suit, flamboyant tie, (Howell, 1989) and a fedora hat.
After reading the Lacroix article, I even made a special trip to the library to obtain more
information on this new and upcoming designer.
Reading up on Lacroix came in handy and eventually paid off. In my formative
years as a design student, I was asked to research and write about my preferred designer.
This literacy assignment was one I proudly claimed because I earned an “A,” and my
fashion instructor commented “well written” on the front of my essay. The following is
an excerpt from the essay I wrote approximately 20 years ago about a younger Lacroix:
[M]atador jackets in high voltage pastels encrusted with embroidery, printed cat
suits, sombreros winking with trinkets, tiny dresses concealed behind brilliant
outsize bows of shot taffeta, gaudy ruffles and frills bursting from sober vents,
legs in skintight watered silk” (Howell, 1989, p. 549): this is only one collection
and representation of the classical and traditional couturier, Christian Lacroix.
What is the classical and traditional Lacroix? [A lover] of bullfighting, music,
nature, and the sea best defines the classical and traditional Lacroix. Looking at
the designer’s collections, these elements have definitely acted as catalysts and
inspirations that have molded the couturier to the Christian Lacroix that he is
today. (Personal Archival Data)
I also learned that Lacroix was considered one of the kings of couture, and his
designs that intrigued me most were ensembles that looked like costumes hand-crafted
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for flamenco dancers and matadors. Because dancing flamenco had always appealed to
me, I was delighted with these interpretations of the fashions of Spain.
It was Lacroix who inspired me to create España La Moda, a 15- ensemble
collection (Personal Archival Data) of 31 garments featuring three disparate styles of
Spain: The Traditional, The Flamenco, and The Matador. The Traditional was a
grouping of five outfits depicting my vision of traditional Spanish attire. The Flamenco
was another grouping of five garments featuring flowing flounces and fabrics to capture
the movement of the flamenco dancer. The Matador was the final grouping of five
ensembles inspired by the costumes of Spanish bullfighters.
As a part of the assignment, I dedicated an entire page to an extensive style
coding system I had created for the collection. A style code was placed on each garment
to identify it for retailing purposes. I also drew 31 flat illustrations showing design
detailing, illustrated 31 specification sheets displaying the dimensions for design
detailing, completed 31 cost sheets with pricing details, wrote operational details
explaining how each garment was constructed, and included fabric swatches for each
creation. España La Moda was a colossal project, and I was extremely proud to have
designed my first collection, as well as to have constructed two actual ensembles as
collection previews.
Yet in the midst of enjoying the success of my collection, I committed a major
gaffe. Although I had worked arduously to present this project in an end-of-the-year
runway showing, I had failed to conduct research on one of the single most important
phrases in the fashion vernacular: haute couture—and I had mispronounced it—to my
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professor’s chagrin and to my public humiliation when she corrected my mistake in front
of all show attendees! How could I have overlooked such a phrase? Haute couture
(French for high fashion) is the epitome of all that represents fashion. Every fashionista
fantasizes about haute couture; every fashionista wants to design haute couture; every
fashionista wants to afford haute couture; every fashionista wants to wear haute couture.
And Christian Lacroix had recently been named as a king of haute couture. My public
faux pas was a life-changing experience. My mispronouncing this fashion term became a
pivotal impetus for change.
Meeting Todd Oldham
Todd Oldham is a fashion and interior designer extraordinaire. Anyone who has
ever purchased dorm room items from Target has likely skimmed Todd Oldham’s interior
design dorm room collection. Oldham also launched a fashion collection for Target, but
he is most recognized as creative consultant for Escada. I couldn’t believe Todd
Oldham, the up and coming designer, was going to be the guest speaker for our April
1992 Texas Student Design competition at the Metroplex. It was the event of the year,
when all fashion design schools from the state of Texas competed for the Best of Show
and to display the most garments on the runway. Another impetus for entering the event
was that each student was a contender for a fashion internship to Paris for the summer,
and only 129 garments—the crème de la crème of hundreds of the submissions—would
be previewed. Though we were allowed a collection of three ensembles for submission,
I competed with only one from the España La Moda’s collection which I hoped would be
a show stopper: a halter dress accented in big bold buttons topped by a bolero jacket in
flounces.
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Let the show begin! The lights dimmed and the once sterile white wall displayed
a lively backsplash of colors, and the music began. It was an attention getter. Every
fashion student’s eyes were fixed on the stage and runway, hoping to get a glimpse of
their design worn on the catwalk by a KD agency model. At last—towards the finale of
the show there it was—my ensemble! It was surreal to experience every designer’s
dream: to sit in a front row seat and watch my garments “walk the runway.” What an
affirmation that I could be successful in this field.
AutoCAD Class
My final semester of school, the fashion instructors decided that every student not
grandfathered into the old graduation plan needed to take an AutoCAD (Computer-aided
Design) course. However, there was not a single professor from the fashion department
who had the credentials or training to teach the course; therefore, my favorite interior
design professor who was fluent in the program and taught it regularly, was asked to
teach several of us fashion students rudimentary AutoCAD. I looked forward to class
with Dr. Harley—Davidson, that is—a fan of Harley Davidson motorcycles. While Dr.
Harley didn’t teach fashion students on a regular basis, he was a major supporter of our
program and frequently attended our style shows. This is how I came to know him well.
At first, I thought that mixing fashion and interior design students in one room
could be problematic. The interior design students had the reputation of being the
pretentious ones because they acted like they owned the computer labs, the mat board
rooms, and the entire College of Human Sciences. I must confess, they did own the
building. We retreated to our fashion labs frequently, but interior design students lived in
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their labs. Now we were being asked to collaborate with the enemy. There were only
five of us fashion students but at least twenty interior design students enrolled in the
class. Because I was extremely technologically challenged and was going to need a lot of
assistance, I made sure I was a “front row Joe”. I felt sorry for Professor Harley because
I was perpetually asking for help. He finally gave up and handed me his fashion
AutoCAD textbook to use for afterhours tutoring.
Because the interior design students were the majority, we all had to learn the
basics of AutoCAD with computerized floor plans. Then our professor threw us another
curve ball. What student of design would expect to have a literacy assignment in addition
to our AutoCAD projects creating three-dimensional computerized renderings of rooms
and apparel? Yet that was our reality. As Dr. Harley announced due dates for this
midterm literacy project, I remember thinking, “You mean I have to be a creative writer
too?”
We were to use an existing collection we had previously created and modify all
flat illustrations, which are drawings demonstrating details such as seam lines, trims, and
closures using AutoCAD. If I ever decided to launch a collection, I thought España La
Moda would be a great one to produce. In tandem with the computerized fashion
illustrations, we were required to promote our apparel collection to a boutique owner, Ms.
Scott, by drafting a promotional letter and creating our own letterhead, also in AutoCAD.
Finally, we had to send a memo and prepare our cost sheets in Excel. My letter (Personal
Archival Data) to Ms. Scott read as follows:
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Dear Ms. Scott:
Bolero jackets encrusted in black trim, halter dresses in full flare, and midriff bolero
jackets in flamboyant flounces are the exciting assembly of designs you will see in our
España La Moda collection for fall. España La Moda, meaning the fashion of Spain,
features innovations depicting the lifestyle of the Spanish Gypsy Flamenco woman. This
haute couture designer line is a “one-of –a-kind,” and I am giving your boutique the
opportunity to be the first to purchase [our] line because we believe your boutique will
display our collection with exclusivity. Being that the “Spain look” is hot for fall, we
feel our designer line will be a sure sell-out in your store.
Now let me introduce to you our exquisite couture line which features the following: a
halter dress with a mini-circular skirt, a trimmed bolero jacket with a 3-tier flounce
sleeve, and a midriff bolero jacket with a full flared flounce. All garments are intended to
be coordinated with one another. The garments are constructed from a 100% black/blue
printed cotton fabric and silk shantung. You may purchase the precious items at an
affordable wholesale price. Look at the enclosed cost sheet for [our] styling and price
details. If you have any questions regarding any items please feel free to contact me at
the office.
Sincerely,
Teresa Leos
Teresa Leos,
Owner & Designer
Enclosures
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I must have found relevance to this project since I held on to it for so long. Not
only did I earn an “A” on this midterm project, I conquered AutoCAD and made another
“A” for the semester. All was well. Dr. Harley survived dealing with the fashion
designer divas, no departmental fights broke out between the Pretentious Ones and the
Fashionistas. In fact, by the semester’s end, fraternizing with the enemy was not so bad.
We all got along well.
The Senior Style Show
I spent many hours perfecting the model walk after watching several episodes of
CNN’s Style with Elsa Klensch, an Australian reporter and fashion commentator who
produced and hosted the show. I lived for style shows. I don’t know if Dr. Drew was
aware of my passion for participating in them, but she frequently asked me to write
commentary for the departmental style shows. I suppose she liked my writing style
because she was selective about her choice of words. She was, by far, the most articulate
in the fashion department, and the fact that she chose me to write commentary was quite
the compliment. I was also a natural on the runway and loved to model. I suppose that
dancing and performing on stage the majority of my life was a blessing in disguise.
Therefore, I not only wrote commentary for the shows, but also choreographed them.
For Senior Presentation Day, which fell on a Friday evening, April 30, 1993, I directed,
choreographed, wrote commentary, and did commentary for part of my senior style show
because no one was willing to assume the task. I had kept the senior program as a
memoir from the show. I had almost forgotten that each student had written our own
commentary to introduce our collections. Mine read as follows:
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Bolero jackets in ruffled sleeves, sparking metallic hip huggers, skintight hot
pants, striped and polka-dotted catsuits, bell bottoms printed in flamboyant
colors, and matador jackets encrusted with gold trinkets—these “show clothes”
are characteristic of the haute couture I enjoy designing. I am immensely
influenced by the work of professional top designers, Christian Lacroix, Dolce &
[G]ab[b]ana, and Versace who are the key inspirators and catalysts that motivate
the clothing I design. I have always been fascinated with the carefree, spirited
look of the “Hippie Era,” the simplistic elegance of the Parisian, and the
sophisticated look of the Espanola which I try to incorporate into my designs.
(Personal Archival Data).
(I smile as I reread my commentary from years ago. I had actually included the words
haute couture which I, of course, must have researched and now knew how to properly
pronounce after my earlier public mispronunciation, presentation debacle.)
To my surprise, that night I discovered I was one of the nominees for Best
Fashion Design Student. I had been nominated based on my GPA, my innovations in
design, and my involvement with the apparel design department. I had done it!!! I had
managed to accomplish a major milestone in my life. I had successfully completed the
fashion design program despite a very rocky beginning. I wanted to prove to myself, my
family, my friends, and my professors that fashion was truly a part of who I was. I still
remember how proud my parents and other family members were seeing me on stage
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with the other nominees. I felt as if my fears and their fears of my failing as a fashionista
were finally banished!
Cowboy Hats, Cowboy Boots, and Country Music
After completing my coursework, I interned for a western wear company co-
owned by a mother and daughter team who specialized in custom designing for the
western wear aficionados and celebrities such as Tanya Tucker, Barry Corbin, and Miss
Texas. The company produced tuxedo shirts, skirts, and chaps in sequins, fringe,
deerskin, leather, denim and in soft wear such as ultra-suede, the company’s trademark.
These intricate designs were beautiful but costly, ranging from $125-$500.
While some of my fashion colleagues were working for free at their internship
sites, I earned a $1200 shopping spree and a full-time job at the end of the internship.
Free clothes and a job! What fashionista could ask for anything more! I loved working
for the company, and I had the best bosses ever. We had two stores, one in Texas and the
other in New Mexico. I worked at the Texas location and was the visual merchandiser for
the store. My job duties included designing all visual displays; working the retail store;
working occasional trade shows; taking phone orders; ordering inventory; writing
descriptive commentary for the catalog; as well as writing commentary, directing, and
choreographing all style shows. I occasionally traveled to create the visual displays in
our New Mexico store. I had never listened to so much country music in my life!
However, by the end of it all, I had become a country and western convert: I had a pair
of Tony Lama boots, several cowboy hats, country music CD’s, and tickets to the
Cowboy Symposium to prove it!
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A Graduate Student
As if five years was not sufficient education, I decided to pursue a master’s
degree and certification in Family Consumer Sciences Education (FCSE), a fancy title for
Home Economics. I was looking for a shortcut to teach fashion design at a junior
college. I wanted to inspire other students to be future designers just as Christian Lacroix
had inspired me.
Although I had aspirations of teaching fashion in a junior college, middle school
came first. I taught in a local school in the east side of town, the community where I
grew up. This area has a population of mostly Mexican Americans and African
Americans. My school campus was deemed a low social economic status (SES) school
where students struggled with reading and writing. As a consequence, literacy was
problematic for students in the family and consumer sciences courses I taught. I often
wondered how I could teach the content to my students when they struggled with even
the most rudimentary coursework. I surmised that my students were just as challenged
by Standard English as they would be learning a foreign language because—in this
geographically and socially isolated community—their first language was a colloquial
version of Ebonics or the Spanish language.
Just as I was searching for ways to improve literacy in my classroom, from my
teacher’s mailbox I pulled a brochure sent from my alma mater, inviting me to enroll as a
doctoral student in its College of Education’s Language and Literacy Program. I
embraced the opportunity, immediately applied, and was accepted. What timing! All
this occurred the same week I was assigned to teach reading to students who had failed
the Texas Assessment Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exam! The irony of this situation
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was not lost on me: I had never taught reading nor did I enjoy reading, yet I was being
asked to teach struggling students how to read. What an anomaly I was: the most recent
Language and Literacy Program student who disliked reading! In retrospect, I suppose I
was the perfect candidate for the job. At the least I could empathize with my students.
Thus, acceptance into the Language and Literacy Program at the local university came at
a time most apropos, a time for change and learning something new.
Legally Blonde
Dr. Medina placed a 500 page dissertation on the table and said, “You will be
writing one of these.” You might assume that I would have run out of the room. Though
I was apprehensive, my desire to learn something new glued me to my chair. I glanced at
the five other candidates sitting around the table in the conference room, and their faces
said it all. Obviously, Dr. Medina’s scare tactics had worked. They looked just as lost
and scared as I did.
I remember that day well because I was a few minutes late to the doctoral
program orientation. It was one of our final days of teaching at the middle school before
the summer began, and I was wearing a peasant Mexican blouse with a dirndl black skirt,
strappy high heel sandals, a black long- hair wig, and a scarf around my head like a
gypsy. As an afterthought I threw on my faux zebra- printed glasses so that I could fit in
with the intellectuals at the university. After all, I was going to be a doctoral student, and
I had to look the part. I was fashionably late, and as I entered the room, I was acutely
aware that all eyes were on me. Colleagues and professors alike stared inquisitively. I
felt like I was in a scene from Legally Blonde (2004).
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I went to the computer store to purchase a brand new laptop. Then a friend lent
me her backpack. I was set for school. Result: I was the only student taking notes on my
laptop and wheeling a backpack full of books. I must have looked like an absolute nerd;
however, my Acer computer became my best purchase, my best friend, and my best
resource as it accompanied me to every class. As a backhanded compliment, one of my
colleagues remarked, with some amusement, that my eccentric attire and my constant
laptop note taking did very much remind her of “Legally Blonde girl.” My immediate
reply was, “And I will persevere in academics as she did!”
What is epistemology?
A rare breed in academe was Dr. Dee, a fashion dandy who was particular about
every detail of his attire from his Windsor knotted tie to his stylish bowler. I remember
sitting in Dr. Dee’s Qualitative Research Methods classroom overwhelmed with the forty
articles I had to print and read before the end of the first summer session. It was to be a
month of reading thousands of pages. I think I must have killed two trees that day. After
reading convoluted dense prose from one of the articles, I realized it was definitely out of
my reading range. I think I heard one of my Language and Literacy professors say that if
you encounter five words on a page that are unfamiliar, the reading level is obviously too
sophisticated. Well, I have to admit that the reading level became too sophisticated after
the first paragraph. I had managed to highlight epistemology, phenomenology,
hermeneutics, ontological, reflexivity, subjectivity, and I kept highlighting words to
consult with Webster’s dictionary. I felt like I had enrolled in a philosophy class.
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Then I took a class with Dr. Milan and Dr. Rice, who provided me a black and
white composition book to hold data. I know I must have given them the blank look.
What data? Where do I get it? They wanted me to store qualitative rich field data that I
would eventually wallow in. I learned that rich field data could be anything from
descriptive narratives, maps, pictures, anecdotal notes, student backgrounds, interviews,
classroom observational notes, archival data, and reflexive journals like the one I’m
writing this very moment. After several graduate courses, I quickly discovered that
epistemology, simply put, is the study of knowledge, and as educators we are perpetually
conducting epistemological studies. Because our students obtain knowledge daily, then
we as educators are continually conducting studies about how our students learn.
A Leap of Faith
After teaching middle school for seven and half years, surviving, and actually
enjoying reading, as well as teaching it for a year, I was afforded the opportunity to teach
Apparel Design and Manufacturing (ADM) at the local university. One week prior to
spring break, a friend of mine and the director of the ADM program approached me,
recruited me, believing that I would be a great fashion instructor. I had always wanted to
teach fashion in higher education, but I never thought in a million years that I would have
an opportunity to work for a tier-one university. While I had not worked with fashion
patterns, construction techniques, or even draped a garment in years, I took that leap of
faith.
I thought my higher education students’ reading skills would be at much more
advanced levels than those of my middle school students. Sadly, I discovered that the
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literacy problem is both epidemic and universal. I learned that undergraduate students
seldom read or enjoy reading for leisure. I suppose I couldn’t blame them since I wasn’t
a recreational reader myself; nevertheless, I was dismayed to learn that most of my
fashion students had never even set foot in the university library. In contrast, and despite
my reading aversion, as a fashion major years earlier, I had spent a lot of time in the
TT503 stacks, perusing biographies and admiring designs of Yves Saint Laurent and
other preferred designers. I wanted my students to learn to love reading the way my
Adolescent Literacy professor had turned me on to it. I wanted them to explore and
enjoy reading the fashion expository texts and designer biographies on the fifth floor. I
also began to note that my students seldom used the terminology that was ubiquitous in
every fashion textbook. How could we graduate credible designers, retailers, boutique
owners, fashion merchandisers, if our students were not well versed in their own fashion
lexicon? This notion was also evident in student project presentations and portfolio
reviews. Students were lacking the vocabulary to best articulate what was well translated
on their fashion trend boards and Berol illustration paper with Prima watercolor and
computerized mediums. Taking these issues into consideration is what propelled me to
write this dissertation on fashion literacy, and I chose autoethnography as the best
methodological venue for telling my story.
Lacking Luster and Literacy
When I walked into the 203 Sewing Construction Lab, I was deflated. The room
was a lack- luster four- walls shell. I wondered how I, as Undergraduate Me, could have
ever been inspired in this very same room. Next, I wondered if I, as Instructor Me, were
capable of inspiring my students in this sterile environment. This lab was nothing like
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my black and white French-inspired office. It featured a mini chandelier, a marble zebra-
striped kidney shaped desk, coordinating zebra chair, a faux black and white fireplace,
and, of course, a mannequin form dressed in black and white attire. Even my colorful
middle school classroom—with its animal print accents, zebra couch, and hot pink shag
rug—offered more aesthetic appeal than this!
The room may have been devoid of décor, but I had to concede that it was stocked
with the essentials for teaching fashion: fabric swatches, sewing equipment, elongated
fabric tables, a domestic sewing lab, and an industrialized sewing lab. However, I did
observe one big omission: there were no textbooks or a fashion library in sight. I decided
to start one!
Noting that my students lacked knowledge about textiles, I decided to assign a
small research paper investigating common fabrics. I then intended to compile the
students’ reports and create a textile reference book for students, by students.
Furthermore, I wanted to incorporate volumes of these into our fashion library until the
majority of fabrics had been researched, but time did not permit the collection of these
volumes.
Construction Basics
A primary example of students who lacked even rudimentary knowledge of the
fashion lexicon was Lydia. The irony of her situation was obvious. Lydia worked for a
local Sewing Studio that supplied the Bernina sewing machines which we used in class.
This student’s job was to teach sewing workshops and to sell sewing machines to
potential clients, yet she had never learned the technical terms for the machine parts of
the particular sewing machines she sold at work and used at school. To launch my first
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literacy operation, I first required my students to learn the technical terms for both the
Bernina Sport and Bernina Activa Sewing machines. The parts of one machine brand are
quite similar to parts in other sewing machines, but there are disparities. In order to teach
students the sewing machine terminology, I chunked the vocabulary by introducing
approximately five terms, then placed students in collaborative teams of three to four so
that they could review these parts together and take their notes. Although I don’t recall
having to learn sewing machine parts during my basic clothing construction course, I
know that doing so would have been useful, especially since my teaching position at the
middle school involved teaching students the technical terms for the sewing machine
parts.
Learning the Fashion Lexicon
I distinctly remember a road trip with my niece, Selena, who was three at the
time. I glanced back at her, looked at her small feet dangling from the car seat. I noticed
she was wearing a brand new pair of shoes and said, “I like your new shoes.” My
precocious niece quickly corrected me: “These aren’t just shoes, Tia (aunt). They’re
Mary Jane’s!” I looked again at her tiny shoe-clad feet. She was absolutely correct. I
was stunned that my three year old niece was using the proper nomenclature of this type
of shoes in the same way that my fashion students identified it. During another shopping
excursion to a local fashion clothier, my niece—several years older by now—was
immediately drawn to a blouse sparkling with elephantine sequins. Seeing her interest, I
gave her a fashion vocabulary lesson: “Selena, these big sequins are called paillettes.”
Entertained with the novelty of a newly discovered word, the little fashion diva put her
knowledge to the test as she identified every item in sight sporting the unique sequins,
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and asked each time, “Are these paillettes, Tia?” She quickly acquired the fashion
vocabulary through repetition. Despite the disparity in age, my fashion students at the
collegiate level acquired fashion vernacular in a manner similar to that of my niece—
through repetition, jotting unfamiliar terms in their fashion journals, practicing the
language in Project Runway challenges and presentations, and researching new
terminology. These were only a few of the literacy strategies I employed in the
classroom. It was imperative that they learn the language of their discipline if they were
to become true experts in their field.
Fashion Chemistry
Are you aware that fashion students are also chemists? My first semester
assignment as an Apparel Design and Manufacturing Instructor involved teaching
Surface Design, a course that involved teaching dyeing processes and fabric
manipulation. I didn’t know there was so much chemistry involved in Surface Design. I
now understood why Griffiths (2000) labeled the fashionista as “a polyglot who must be
multi-dimensional” and understand other disciplines in order to produce fashion. Every
laboratory required us to suit out in our leather aprons and goggles, just like chemists. So
much for looking fashionable in class! I even considered bedazzling my goggles with
colorful rhinestones. But, caution came first—we had to be careful during dyeing labs
because we dealt with several hazardous chemicals and dyeing agents. This included
urea, an element also used in certain bomb formulas! Fortunately, we had no chemical
spills or accidents.
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One day I was teaching my students a lesson over the dichotomies of natural
versus manufactured fibers and noticed my students had failed to read their assigned
reading. I realized they were relying on me to carry on a dialectical discourse with
myself! At this point I lectured the class and reiterated the truth that they, students of
fashion, needed to read in order to be well informed in their trade. I then asked how
many of them had ever set foot in the university's library. Only one student raised her
hand. I was appalled by the response. I regretted that these young women were
overlooking books as great resources for both inspiration and information, even in this
era of technology.
The following class day, I required my students to meet me on the fifth floor of
the university library. I gave them a quick tour and took them to the TT503 section of the
library where most fashion books are situated. Students were amazed at how many
resources were available, and some confessed they returned to check out books after the
tour. If my students were going to be polyglots, they had to be fluent, particularly in the
language of fashion.
On another occasion I had my Surface Design students meet me at the campus
museum. I required them to take notes and illustrate anything and everything they could
draw inspiration from for future collections. I hoped the students would be inspired from
the Pre-Columbian art, the Old West collections, and the featured exhibit, a collection of
beautifully crafted tessellated quilts.
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Credible Designers
My student Nellie mentioned that during her working hours at Stein Mart, she
spent her time identifying the various seams, fabric weaves, and applying the terminology
that she had learned in class. This is what we educators refer to as real world application.
It was gratifying to witness authentic learning in action. I wished that all of my students
would take the effort to do the same. Nellie also mentioned that the information and
experience gained taking my course had made her a better sales representative. Her
customers appreciated her expertise: that she could provide them with suggestions for
fabric choices and explanations for why some garments have certain suggested prices.
Softball and Fashion
I noticed Kary, one of my student athletes, having difficulty sewing straight seams
and learning some of the rudimentary concepts. While conferencing with me, Kary
complained “Ms. Leos, I am out of my element. Imagine yourself on the softball field!”
Kary was right. I would be out of my element if I were on the softball field. To begin
with, I would be afraid to even break a nail. It would be daunting, to say the least, and I
would definitely need a tutor. After our visit, Kary and I decided to see if we could
provide her a student tutor. She immediately called the athletic department, and they
were able to accommodate her with a fashion design tutor who would be paid by the
athletic department based on my recommendation. I love the fact that Kary was
enthusiastic about learning fashion despite the fact that it was not her major.
By the end of the semester, Kary was enjoying basic construction class and had
improved dramatically. Had I been giving actual awards for the most improved fashion
student that semester, Kary would have earned it. After Kary’s final project, I received
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the best news ever. She had decided to change her major to fashion design. I had made a
convert out of the softball player!
A Fashion Literacy Classroom
I had not realized how many literacy assignments and projects I had employed in
my university curriculum. My students took part in Project Runway Challenges that
demanded fashion research and knowledge of the fashion vernacular in presenting their
projects. I had also asked students to read about their favorite designer so they could
fully understand their designer’s aesthetics in order to design and illustrate a designer-
inspired fashion collection. In basic clothing construction, my students prepared
notebooks paraphrasing the operational steps on how to construct each sample in their
notebooks. They also visited Hancock, a local fabric store and did a scavenger hunt
while defining and identifying some of their fashion vocabulary terms. Aside from that,
students had to learn the proper terminology for the sewing machine parts. In
Introduction to Fashion, students had to physically go to the library to use the fashion
books I had placed on reserve. I had asked my Independent Study students to read a lot
in order to obtain inspiration from fashion articles and biography readings. The
following is a semester of work for one particular student: (1) read a novel and write a
literature log for each chapter including five sketches for a character or several
characters; (2) read a play and design a garment for this play including a fashion portfolio
ready illustration; (3) read a biography on a fashion designer and create a grouping that is
in alignment with the designer’s aesthetic while incorporating some of your own
concepts; and (4) write a How to Construct Book including the operational instructions
for your two contest garments. After reviewing these assignments and rereading them
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again, I believe my independent study courses could have been labeled as writing
intensive. I hope my students were truly inspired from reading all of this literature.
Design Tour 2010
What an unforgettable sight: the Chicago River in vibrant green in preparation for
St. Patrick’s Day festivities. During Spring Break of 2010, I took a group of students to
Chicago, Illinois, for a seminar course. The preparations for the tour begin prior to
Christmas break, as I had final details prepared prior to the start of spring semester. My
job was to coordinate the design tour and create the curriculum to correspond with the
course requirements. Students for previous design tours had not used textbooks for the
course. I decided to use a Chicago tour book for our textbook. The seminar course
(Personal Archival Data) allowed students to experience authentic learning by visiting
local fashion and artistic venues such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the largest flagship
Ralph Lauren store in the country, the Ford Modeling Agency, the Joffrey Ballet
Costume department, one of the largest local fabric stores, and the Andersonville Galleria
where students met with local designers. I also required seminar students to read and
research the fashion venues we toured. At the seminar’s end, students were to submit a
fashion design tour notebook, including summaries of all venues attended, a daily
reflective journal of their fashion tour, and an Apparel Design and Manufacturing poster
and presentation of their respective fashion venues. My course was designed with the
intent to familiarize students with multiple facets of the fashion industry, as well as
providing them with opportunities to network for future employment.
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Growing Pains: Teaching Portfolio Review
Teaching Portfolio Review was indeed a growing pain during my collegiate
teaching. I took a risk, and I felt inexperienced, uncomfortable, challenged, and
vulnerable. It was my final spring semester of teaching; I volunteered to teach Fashion
Portfolio because the course was going to be given to a graduate student who did not
understand the conventions of fashion. I was concerned that students would suffer as a
result, and I needed to teach an additional course anyway. This was a taxing assignment,
to say the least, because I was technologically challenged and had no prior knowledge of
Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. I knew I would be at a slight disadvantage as my
students would be more proficient in both programs. I paid for my own training to learn
Photoshop and Illustrator that semester and was tutored concurrently while teaching the
course. While my students may have had more experience, I was able to bring my
strengths as an educator to the fashion portfolio lab. That included teaching students that
failure is not an option, as I consistently went over the rubric for portfolio review and
brought in texts of examples of well-produced electronic portfolios.
I also enjoyed using unconventional teaching strategies to inspire students to
create imaginative collections. One of them included going to the movies to watch Alice
in Wonderland. Students created some of the most innovative collections by including
swimsuit, ready-to-wear and couture collections inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the
Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, Mad Hatter, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
Obviously, the characters and colors of the cinematography inspired these fabulous
collections.
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I realized students did not have a completed portfolio to show to interview for
fashion internships because they were enrolled in Fashion Portfolio the same semester
they were required to seek employment. I wanted students to have a completed
collection to show; therefore, I required them to include a supplemental portfolio
collection featuring their best work or a collection that was representative of the type of
employment they were seeking. The supplemental piece could easily be mailed to
prospective employers or sent digitally to reveal at least one stellar assignment that would
showcase their abilities.
I also reminded the students to use the fashion vernacular during their portfolio
review so they would sound like professionals. I conducted mock portfolio reviews
which obligated students to promote their fashion collections while using the proper
terminology. This enabled the graduating seniors to provide feedback to their peers
during practice. I was delighted and gratified when all my seniors passed the final
portfolio review which had not been the case since I had been teaching in the Apparel
Design department.
Transition from University to High School
In 2010, the student enrollment in fashion decreased dramatically as well as the
funding. Teaching institutions and universities all over the country, including our
university, were experiencing hiring freezes and major budget cuts. I was highly affected
because, I was a full-time well paid instructor but nota tenure-track professor. The
department could hire two part-timers without benefits for less than what they were
paying me. Therefore, the Chair of the department offered me part-time employment
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without benefits. However, I knew this substantial budget cut would not be enough to
pay the bills. I had no other option but to return to public school where I taught middle
school for a year. I was delighted when a position opened to teach Family and Consumer
Sciences at my alma mater, the old high school. It was surreal returning after so many
years, this time with more experiential knowledge, maturity, and as a professional, albeit
a more literate one.
THE PRESENT SELF
The Genesis
It’s unconceivable to me how God created the world in seven days and I was
overwhelmed creating a fashion curriculum in a year. It all started with concept by
concept, standard by standard, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) by TEKS,
day by day, and week by week, and basically through trial and error. My students were
the guinea pigs so to speak, to pilot the fashion program on the campus. Even after two
years of teaching fashion at the high school, I don’t have the perfect formula for teaching
it; however, I believe it’s getting noticed. I remember when I pitched the concept to my
lead counselor to start a fashion course at the high school. She mentioned that in order
for the course to be considered, twenty students had to be enrolled. I told her I was
confident the class would make; however, underneath that buoyant face, I was sweating
it. I immediately begin to recruit and write the catalog description for the fashion course
to be announced in our district catalog.
I couldn’t believe it when my one of the counselors approached me, “Leos you
have two sections of Fashion Design, and you have 40 students enrolled in each. These
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courses are overcapacity. We will have to turn some students away.” I was delighted to
hear the good news; however, the apprehension grew. I was going to have to make
fashion enjoyable, engaging, and rigorous for at least 60 students. This is a little different
approach to teaching from an already established curriculum at the university with
students who are naturally motivated to learn.
It’s More Than Just Vogue
It was pandemonium in the fashion design classroom, the week prior to Spring
Break. While other high school students had given up and were sitting exhaustedly in
their rooms, my students were diligently working. At the ninth hour, students were trying
to complete their final projects which included five basic sewing seams, a table of
contents, and paraphrased operational instructions for each seam. I couldn’t help but
think how quickly my fashion design students at the university would have completed
these. However, I couldn’t dare compare the two disparate groups. I had approximately
27 students competing for 10 state of the art Bernina sewing machines, and they were not
as experienced seamstresses as my collegiate students. How could I possibly be so harsh
on my high schoolers? My fashion design students at the university were well
accommodated with materials, a spacious lab, and of course their own sewing machine.
Not to mention the fact that the class size at the university level was smaller also favored
my university students. One of my high school students questioned why she couldn’t use
the handouts I provided with the instructions on how to sew each basic seam. I
responded back, “If you have to write the ‘how to’ instructions for each seam by
paraphrasing, you are more likely to remember them. Furthermore, I want you to be able
to explain it to someone if asked and not have to rely on a handout.” As one of my
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professors always said, “Students should be able to give you an elevator explanation.”
That is an explication that is done in passing while having a conversation on any elevator.
I want my students to be elevator conversationalists.
Coco Chanel
After reviewing the Chanel website, I was impressed with the thorough
descriptive narratives the company provided on the history of its founder, Gabrielle
Chanel, as well as the current designer, Karl Lagerfeld. The website even provides
detailed chapters with engaging film to capture these narratives. Here is a scant excerpt
from Chapter 5, Coco:
Once upon a time a revolution came to pass, when in a stroke of genius, Coco
Chanel transformed the female silhouette. She shortened dresses, revealed
ankles, freed the waist, eliminated corsets, revived jersey, cut her hair, and
bronzed her skin. Chanel closed one era and launched a new century of fashion.
Once upon a time at 31 Rue Cambon, Mademoiselle Chanel opened her first
couture house at Paris in 1918. The little country girl, the orphan of Aubazine
had become the queen of Paris before liberating women; she had liberated herself
(www.chanel.com, chapter 5).
This website as well as many other resources served as useful resources for my
students while they researched Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. The first part of the assignment
included watching Coco Chanel starring Shirley MacLaine as an older Chanel. Using a
Venn Diagram to map out their concepts, students compared and contrasted the film for
accuracy. Then they wrote an essay titled Fact or Fiction. The final part of the
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assignment included students becoming fashion critics. As fashion critics, students were
asked to sit in the front row of Karl Lagerfeld’s latest show which was featured on the
Smart board as students scrutinized the fashion to make sure that Karl Lagerfeld’s
aesthetic is aligned with the integrity of the company. The students were to observe if he
had continued to keep Coco’s concepts alive.
What is a maquiladora?
What is a maquiladora? I still recollect the very first time my eyes were fixated
on this Spanish term which is commonly used in the fashion industry. I had read about
maquiladoras which are Mexican sweatshops, particularly pertaining to those that
manufacture clothing at lower labor costs, in Sharon Tate’s Inside Fashion Design, one
of my collegiate fashion design textbooks. One of my assistant principals recommended
my students to manufacture 300 serape Mexican blanket stolls, for a Latin American
Association from the local university campus. What a perfect way to introduce my
students to the concept of maquiladora. Students can learn about them as we construct
the required number of serape stolls. That’s when I introduced Casa Serape
Manufacturing Company to my students.
The following day, students walked in to the syncopatic beats and the rhythmo of
Cumbia music. Casa Serape was open for production and the minute students entered the
classroom they were clocked in to work at the sweatshop. I had arranged all classroom
tables with a Spanish sign labeling the assigned manufacturing task for all students’
tables. After training each group with their assigned tasks, I quickly put the group to
work: “Orale, a trabajar!” which translates to “Alright, let’s get to work!” I had (1)
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alfiladores, the pinners of fabric; (2) cortadores, cutters of fabric; (3) planchadores, the
ironing crew; (4) cosadores, the sewing crew; (5) voltiadores, the workers who turned the
serape stolls inside out; (6) a manijador, the manager who oversees all production. (7) La
supervisora, my job as I supervised all workers including the manijador; and finally (8)
El gerente, the owner of the company (my assistant principal). Students enjoyed the
project as they learned a little bit of Spanish and danced while working to the rhythm of
latin pop, salsa, cumbia, and Tejano music. They also learned about the labor laws, or
lack thereof, in a maquiladora, the organizational chart of the maquiladora, and the
common nomenclature used in sewing manufacturing companies.
Celebrating Vogue: The Past, The Present, and The Future
Celebrating Vogue: The Past, The Present, and The Future was a style show
inspired from a literature review (Personal Archival Data) I wrote about the evolution of
20th
Century Fashion in a 1994 Graduate Research Seminar course, my very first
graduate course to be exact. After rereading the literature review, I realized those were
the days that I did not fully grasp the concept of a literature review. Nonetheless, I found
inspiration from the research I had read, and the thought of incorporating the fashion of
the roaring twenties and Jazz age; the sophisticated apparel of the Golden Age; the
fashions of the age of optimism with exposed midriffs, short mini-skirts, hippie look and
the free spirit; the punk fashion of the age of rock and MTV; the fashion revivals of the
technology age; and the futuristic look of the space invaders was appealing. Therefore, I
quickly assigned six cooperative groups with approximately seven students and two
group leaders for each era: 1920’s, 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s, 1980’s, 2000, and
futuristic. The teams were required to research the fashions of their era and assemble a
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collection of 10-15 completed garments to feature in the end-of-the year style show. In
the process, students created promotional posters and descriptive commentary for the
style show script for their respective era. In addition, they had to compile a look book
which revealed the make-up, hair, and nails for each model and provide a detailed model
call list as well as organize the music list for their respective era. It was a massive
project, but rewarding at the end of it when students featured their talent and efforts to an
attentive audience in our historic auditorium.
THE PROSPECTIVE SELF
Around the World in a Day
This was my vision: I pictured models in iconic Frida Kahlo unibrows and
braided floral wigs, wearing the vibrant festive folkloric colors of full-flared Mexican
dresses; beaded Indian saris and scarves in gold leap inspired by the colorful spices of
Mumbai markets; models in flared flounces and fringed frills of the flamenco dancer of
Spain; full length Mediterranean caftans and colorful hijabs reminiscent of those worn on
a beautiful Arabian night; models in tribal patterns and animal prints accented with bold
collared necklaces symbolic of those worn by Queen Nefertiti; models representing the
old west, in fringed chaps and skirts or deerskin ensembles with feathered headdresses;
and finally models in Harajuku styling street wear sporting a modern twist to Japanese
fashion with anything goes together in color, print, make-up, accessories, and hair. These
are the creative visions in my head as my students begin to plan and prepare for our
annual style show. My student assistants have already prepared seven Power Points to
feature in the two fashion courses I teach. I used these Power Points much like a book
talk by demonstrating them and commentating while students selected their first, second,
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and third choices. Then I grouped my teams based on their selections. I had previously
selected a couple of my strongest fashion students to serve as group leaders for each
team. Students are currently preparing trend boards to feature their countries and to have
a display of them in the foyer prior to the style show. Come join us and travel around the
world in day.
Fashion Forward
When I returned to the school district after having left the Apparel Design and
Manufacturing program at the university, one of the first things my Career Technology
Coordinator proposed to me was that I should start a fashion program for the district and
house it in our Career Technology Center. I must confess I was overwhelmed about the
thought of devising a program of that magnitude. It would require years of planning and
writing curriculum. I prioritized and took baby steps. Before we got a program started,
there had to be interest on our individual district campuses; therefore, I piloted the
program first on my respective campus. That’s when I began the fashion program at the
high school where I currently teach. The next step involved bringing in my university
colleagues as advisers to the program which was accomplished through advisory council.
I was in the middle of planning it all, when I had a better idea than the original
proposal, why not begin a dual credit program that feeds directly into the university. It
would be the first of its kind and bring credibility to our Family and Consumer Sciences
program, because the work would be the same as that of a college class. Having taught at
the collegiate level and being able to collaborate and communicate with those colleagues
will be beneficial for the planning of a dual credit program. I could easily teach an
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Introduction to Apparel Design Course or Basic Clothing Construction; introductory
course requirements for all fashion students at the university. These two courses would
befit our high school campus because they are beginning courses, and I’ve previously
taught them at the university campus. Furthermore, I would be in alignment with my
campus and district goals of preparing students for career and college readiness. I’m
ready to be a little fashion forward and begin some of these programs for our school
district.
Fashion Fiction and Forecasting
Starting a fashion library in my classroom has been a dream and future goal of
mine. However, finding the storage space to put it all is daunting particularly because I
have very little storage in my fashion classroom. However, Kindles could prove to be
instrumental technological tool in the classroom. With House Bill 5, promoting Career
and Technology Education and a substantial budget set aside, my goal of having a
classroom library is a possibility. For the past two years, I’ve also included WGSN in my
proposed budget, but it has yet to be granted. WGSN stands for World Global Style
Network and is a forecasting trend service used by designers, manufacturers, retailers,
and educators in fashion. However, I’m persistent and will continue to ask and hopefully
we will have this wonderful forecasting research website on my campus soon.
A Pioneer in Fashion Literacy
Since there was has been very little evidence of research in the realm of fashion
literacy, I would love to be a pioneer in the field. Telling my story and juxtaposing these
ideas on paper has made me realize that my life events in the realm of my career fit nicely
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together like an intricate tessellation. I am prepared to start a new chapter, one that will
make me a better professional. Thus, I am looking forward to “digging excavations into
new layers of meaning” as I continue to research new topics as suggested by Frank
Serafini (2007, p.21). I will contribute to the educational discussions particularly those
pertaining to the literacies of fashion.
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CHAPTER V
FINAL CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
This personal journey and study of identity construction required me to take a
retrospective and introspective look at my career as affected by my past experiences. This
naturalistic inquiry served to explain my beginnings and narrate my journey, noting
significant points of literacy epiphanies along the way. The inquiry also provided
insights to help me more clearly view myself as a teacher of literacy and as an agent of
change in the fashion classroom. Chapters from my life emerged: as a child struggling
with reading, as a fashion design student finding my identity, and as an educator striving
to become a master teacher. Furthermore, I examined the present and looked to the
future as I merged fashion and literacy as a teacher and as an advocate for the classroom.
When I began this study, I was dismayed to find very little research pertaining to
fashion and literacy. Besides my own research, I have found no evidence on another
educator’s journey through the literacies of fashion. This study is important because I
have provided a detailed narrative of my evolution as a literate fashion instructor, one
that I hope will prove to be instrumental for others who are in fashion education or who
are starting a fashion program. This study will also serve as a venue for sharing
knowledge that I find meaningful—and hopefully—whose relevance will resonate with
others (Ellis, 2000).
Befitting of autoethnography, and inspired by Dethloff’s (2005) concluding his
dissertation in narrative prose, I too wrote my final chapter in a narrative; however, I
wrote in a more conversational voice, as suggested by Richardson (2000), to tell my
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story. Just as Richardson (2006) averred about writing as inquiry, I learned that the
researcher is a primary data source, constructing data throughout the writing process. I
experienced the truth of this assertion. Thus, while writing to learn, while concurrently
processing the data, I eventually identified these emerging themes: fear of failure,
perceptions of the fashionista, fashion struggles, fashion as rigor, fashion successes,
literacy as inspiration, gaining confidence in literacy, innovation, acknowledging
multiliteracies, improving literacy, and literacy and real world application.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT IN FASHION: MOLDING IDENTITY AND
PEDAGOGY AS FASHION INSTRUCTOR
Fear of Failure
One of the questions that inspired me to conduct this study is: In what ways has
my personal development in the world of fashion shaped my identity and practice as a
fashion instructor? Honestly, it began with fear of failure. As a middle school student, I
had proven that I was not the best of seamstresses after constructing a “hand embroidered
lopsided oval ruffled pillow and an almost hairless and crooked- eyed Gonk, a stuffed
animal with button eyes and yarned hair, ” (Reflexive Journal, p. 74), and an apron which
required a month of after-school tutoring. My family, while supportive, had expressed
doubts about my ability to complete my degree in fashion. Even worse, I doubted my
own abilities to succeed as a fashion designer and wondered if I could fit into this artistic
world:
It was during a self-deprecating moment in fashion illustration class, that I felt
less than my peers because I couldn’t draw, sew, or design like them. I was
exhausted, frustrated, anxious, and just wanted to walk out of the classroom to
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never return. However, I wanted to prove to myself, my family and my friends
that I did belong. The only thing that kept me there was the following: I looked
at the room full of aspiring fashion designers. Then I took an introspective look at
myself. It was then that I realized, I was one of the most fashion forward students
in the room—I was daring, trendy, innovative, intelligent, hardworking,
persistent, and I had staying power. That’s the day I knew I was in a league of my
own (Reflexive Journal, p.76).
I didn’t understand it at the time, but I was obviously going through an identity crisis,
trying to find my place in the world of fashion.
I never expected this memory to resurface; however, I experienced a flashback to
that scene in the fashion illustration room when Polly, my fashion design student, sat in
my office telling me she was going to quit Apparel Design. I was very disappointed. I
considered Polly to be the best of all my fashion design students at the time. In fact, I
was planning to enlist her to be my student assistant. I couldn’t bear to think she was
planning to quit. I remember thinking how delighted I would have been, as a freshman
fashion student, to have possessed the technical skills Polly had. It would’ve spared me
so much anxiety. In my interview with her, Polly informed me that the day I met her in
the hallway, she had been on her way to the advisor’s office to change her major. That’s
when I asked her what courses she would be taking next semester. In my recent
interview with her, Polly reminded that my words to her that day had encouraged her to
stay in a program she was about to abandon:
I said, “Oh, well… I’m changing my major.”
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She [Ms. Leos] said, “No! No! You have so much talent! You can’t do that!!
I said, “Oh, Ms. Leos, it’s so much work. I don’t know if I’m right for it. I feel
so slow. I don’t know if I fit in.
She said, “No, you have great talent! You need to stay in the major. It’s great for
you! You do such good work!”
And so I just kept going!”
I felt compassion for Polly because I empathized with her experiencing an identity crisis,
much as I had my freshman year. I had to convince Polly that if she stuck to her original
plan, she would successfully complete the program, just as I had done. When her senior
year arrived, I was honored to attend Polly’s senior style show as her distinguished guest.
I couldn’t have been prouder to see her collections on the runway that evening. Moments
like this remind us educators that teachable moments are not just about teaching the
content. They are also about seizing opportunities to encourage our students, especially
when they are vulnerable.
Perceptions of the Fashionista
The initial negative perceptions about fashion design students held by my family
and friends was another major factor in my personal development as a fashionista and as
an instructor of my fashion students today. I grew up hearing, “Your major is easy”
(Reflexive Journal, p.75), even from my twin sister, who was supposed to be my number
one advocate. Her perceptions altered, however, after she saw the many hours I spent
working on projects (Reflexive Journal, p.75). While some of my fashion students’
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friends or relatives regarded them as unique individuals full of creativity and talent, one
student’s friends and family’s negative perceptions were similar to mine. This student
reported that her relatives stereotyped fashion designers as less intellectual than
professionals such as doctors or lawyers. Negative perceptions like these prompted me to
incorporate literacy strategies so that fashion students would be more reflective about the
processes involved in fashion. I hoped that incorporating reading and writing assignments
would lend more substance and rigor to the courses, and that fashion would carry more
gravitas among the other disciplines. I was surprised to learn from interviewing former
students, that they, in contrast to those who see fashion as frivolous, expected their
courses to be daunting to some extent.
Fashion Design Struggles
My struggles as a fashion design student helped me to have compassion for my
own students who experienced mastering the technicalities of fashion. Since I was not a
natural at designing apparel, I tried not to assume that all my students knew the basics of
fashion. I used different approaches in teaching for success. For example, when
presenting large amounts of conceptual knowledge, I would chunk informational material
into smaller segments: in this way my students—who might be learning the 40 parts of
the sewing machine—found the task less overwhelming. I also provided step by step
instructions and demonstrations. During the interviews for this study, my former students
reported that the strategies I implemented were instrumental in their learning and
retaining course information. The students also noted the absence of such strategies in
their other fashion coursework. Occasionally, I was reminded of my own need, as a
student, for extra help. This was the case when my student Kary, a student athlete,
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confided to me that she felt “out of [her] element” (Reflexive Journal, p.95) in the
unfamiliar world of fashion and needed additional assistance. I found an exceptional
student tutor (and fashion major) for Kary and provided day-to-day assistance for her in
my classroom.
Fashion Rigor: The Fashion Student is a True Polyglot
I discovered that fashion designers are polyglots. From my own experience as a
student I learned that fashion designers have to be proficient in the language of
computers. One of my required courses was an AutoCAD class, both rigorous and
challenging for me. After much blood, sweat, and tutoring, I survived the class and
earned an “A.” My fashion students were also required to take AutoCAD in order to
reproduce computerized patterns and fashion illustration. In addition, they took Adobe
Illustrator to create computerized illustrations; Adobe Photoshop to refine all computer
illustrations and photos; and Portfolio Design, to reproduce a comprehensive digital
fashion portfolio. It’s quite evident these students had to be knowledgeable about various
computerized programs and to be literate in each program’s language.
In addition to being technologically savvy, fashion design students are chemists
as well. I saw the value and necessity of fashionistas’ understanding both the beneficial
uses of chemical and their possible danger when I taught a Surface Design course my
first semester on the university campus. My cumulative experiences and those of my
students confirm that, yes, fashion design students are polyglots. Fashion design students
must possess the knowledge, lexicon, and skills of other disciplines in order to produce
fashion. This realization has influenced my creating a plethora of assignments and
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projects for my students that are academically integrated: researching history and laws
behind a maquiladora; mixing chemicals to produce vibrant colors in the surface lab;
applying the principles and elements of art; or constructing patterns for apparel by
utilizing mathematical equations and elements of geometry.
Fashion Success
What I gleaned from overcoming initial challenges, earning a degree in fashion
design, and garnering recognition in the process, was to foster an environment of success
in my own fashion classroom—one where students felt inspired, encouraged, and
confident. How gratifying it was to see positive outcomes of my efforts. I especially
remember how pleased I was when every fashion senior of mine passed their university
portfolio review. In previous semesters student failures were all too common. I was
gratified to see that all the assignments I had required of my students led to this success:
vocabulary studies on the fashion lexicon; critiques of styles and scripts of portfolio
books, peer edits of portfolios; creation of self-generated designs inspired by
cinematography and period costumes (Reflexive Journal, p. 98). Presently watching my
high school students create accessories and ensembles and plan makeup and hairstyles for
style shows has also been inspiring. Recollecting Kary and Polly’s perseverance to
continue fashion despite their struggles evokes memories of my own triumphs over
challenges. Overall, it has been rewarding to observe and share the successes of my
students.
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PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT IN LITERACY: MOLDING IDENTITY AND
PEDAGOGY AS A FASHION INSTRUCTOR
Literacy as Inspiration
Another question that was answered throughout the study was: In what ways has
my personal development in literacy shaped my identity and practice as a fashion
instructor? As I look back over my own notes for this autoethnography, I recognized
events and factors that foreshadowed my future preferences and career choices. I now
realize, for example, that (Reflexive Journal, p.71) Color Theory, one of the elements of
design, explains my attraction, from childhood on, to beautifully designed covers. My
childhood summers spent at the neighborhood library and my underclassmen days spent
in the stacks at the campus library were also instrumental to my teaching fashion. I
learned that fashion designers can be inspired by books, whether it be reading them or
scanning the illustrations. Knowing the value of literacy resources prompted my
decision to assign Fashion Independent Study students to read novels, plays, and designer
biographies (Reflexive Journal, p.96). In one of my interviews, a former student
reminded me how I used literacy in the classroom to motivate fashion: “You always told
us to keep our eyes and our ears open for any styles, new trends-- whether it was in the
news or in the newspaper. To keep reading, especially the W magazine [although] …it
didn’t really matter what magazine it was or book because everything has style in it.”
My España La Moda collection was a literacy-generated creation, inspired by my
reading an article on designer Christian Lacroix (Reflexive Journal, p.78). I was so
engrossed in the article and wanted to learn more about Lacroix’s collections that I
visited the campus library to seek more books on the designer (Reflexive Journal, p.78).
This was not my first visit the TT503 section of the library which housed volumes of
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fashion books. It was where I often retreated to seek inspiration for my design concepts.
Later, as a fashion instructor who recollected these library visits and how instrumental
they were to creating her fashion collections, I planned trips to the campus library for my
fashion design students, introducing to them the fashion biographies and fashion texts, in
hopes that they, too, would draw inspiration from these sources (Reflexive Journal, p.96).
Gaining Confidence in Literacy
I was not an avid reader growing up and even now would not consider myself a
recreational reader (Reflexive Journal, p.87). However, I gained confidence in literacy
because I had parents and mentors who encouraged me, parents who purposely placed me
in a private school with literacy-rich practices. I had elementary teachers who fueled my
love for learning with their daily readings of chapter books. I had the fashion professor
who called on me to write fashion commentary. Another one of my fashion instructors
convinced me I was a decent writer, noted in this journal entry: “In my formative years
as a design student, I was asked to research and write about my preferred designer. This
literacy assignment was one I proudly claimed because I earned an “A,” and my fashion
instructor commented “Well written” on the front of my essay” (Reflexive Journal, p.
78). Another of my fashion professors often asked me to write commentary for the style
shows. Her invitation to supply these scripts for fashion contributed to my growing self-
confidence as a writer (Reflexive Journal, p 84). I recall how much I enjoyed weaving
alliterations and other figurative language into my commentary. One of the most
important literacy events for me occurred, years later, as a new language and literacy
graduate student taking an Adolescent Literacy class. For the first time ever, I began to
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enjoy reading (Reflexive Journal, p.90)! My professor’s enthusiasm for reading was
contagious as she brought books to class that she knew would entice us to read.
I wanted to encourage my fashion students to be readers and writers of books, just
as my fashion instructor, fashion professor, and language and literacy professor had
encouraged me. This is why I employed differentiated instruction in my Independent
Study of Fashion. I offered students choices in selecting books, plays, or biographies to
peruse as inspiration for their fashion collections (Reflexive Journal, p.96). In the
interviews I conducted for this study, several students mentioned that I taught them to be
literate fashionistas by teaching them to read fashion patterns and by encouraging them to
read news, newspapers, fashion magazines—in short, to be well informed about fashion.
FASHION AND LITERACY INFORMING TEACHING IN THE FASHION
COLLEGIATE CLASSROOM
Acknowledging Multiliteracies
Another question examined in this study was: In what ways has my development
in these two disparate fields informed my teaching in the collegiate fashion classroom?
In my Language and Literacy courses I learned about content area literacy and
multiliteracies. Only then did I understand that my perusing Mexican novelas as a child
(Reflexive Journal, p. 67-68) and creating my own fashion inspired from magazine
articles as collegiate student were forms of literacy known as multiliteracies. These were
forms of literacy I enjoyed; therefore, how could they possibly be schoolwork?
Similarly, the fashion student relies heavily on sources that would mostly be considered
out-of-school literacies. However, magazines such as Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Town
and Country, and Marie Claire, are informational texts deemed essential to the apparel
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designer (Reflexive Journal, p.107). Another vital resource for fashion students is World
Global Style Network (WGSN). WGSN is a forecasting trend service used by designers,
manufacturers, retailers, and educators in fashion (Reflexive Journal, p 107) and was
utilized often by my university fashion students. In similar fashion, I encouraged my
high school fashion students to look beyond their textbook to research shopping websites
such as Coco Chanel to learn about the designer and her label’s current collections
(Reflexive Journal, p.101). My students, at both high school and collegiate level, gained
appreciation for surfing designers’ websites as bona fide online sources for fashion
information. Learning how to read apparel patterns and using computer- aided designs
were other critical aspects of my fashion students’ schooling. These multiliteracies were
particularly helpful for students constructing patterns for innovative apparel designs.
Innovation
One thing is certain—I have learned that I am an innovator—in both fashion and
literacy. In fashion, I tend to be one who stands out in a crowd, such as the time I wore
Spanish Gypsy attire to my doctoral orientation (Reflexive Journal, p.88 ), or when I
designed daisy print hip hugger pants that were vintage revolutionary (Reflexive Journal,
p.77). I have also gained attention and recognition, via local television coverage, because
of my students’ and my innovative sets, music, and presentations for Project Runway
challenges in both collegiate and high school projects.
Inviting my fashion students to join me at the movies to watch Alice in
Wonderland (2010) was another innovative assignment involving both fashion and
literacy. The Alice in Wonderland project required students to watch a movie of a
literacy classic, take what was seen on the big screen, and translate it into creative
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collections drawing inspiration from the movie (Reflexive Journal, p. 98). This
multiliteracy approach, defined as transmediation, takes one form of media and
transforms it into another (Lesley et al, 2011). The university students enjoyed this
project because every step of the creative process was engaging. As I re-read the student
interviews and revisited my own journal notes, I realized that innovation was a crucial
element for each assignment and project for my fashion students. All my data confirms
that innovative teaching in my collegiate fashion classroom promotes enthusiastic,
engaging student participation.
Improving Literacy in the classroom
Having taught reading in the middle school and having done graduate course
work in Language and Literacy, I constantly looked for new approaches to improve
literacy in my university fashion classroom. I wanted to start a classroom library
(Tovani, 2001) after learning their value and advantage to students from my literacy
courses. In one instance I noticed my fashion students’ deficiency in their knowledge of
textiles. I therefore asked students to research common natural and manufactured fabrics
so they could create volumes of textiles books to put in the fashion library. I knew it
would be advantageous to include informative textile books created by fashion students
for future fashion students (Reflexive Journal, p.91-92). One of the students I
interviewed mentioned this assignment as one she most remembered: “I do remember
when you assigned us the umm…the fabric project. We had to go get a swatch, and then
do a little bit of research on it and write a page on some bullet points. The student also
informed me that this assignment was instrumental to her fashion learning and that she
still remembers the fabric she was assigned. It was Poplin, which she used in subsequent
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design project because she was familiar with the characteristics of that particular fiber.
Students also prepared basic construction sample notebooks with paraphrased
instructions; researched their favorite designers to obtain inspiration for fashion
collections; learned proper vernacular for the sewing machine and its parts; and visited
the campus library (Reflexive Journal, p.92). These were a few of many strategies I
employed in the fashion classroom to boost my students’ literacy acumen.
Literacy and Real World Application
In the college classroom, I frequently stressed the importance of literacy playing a
role in students being credible designers. Nellie, one of my college fashion students, took
this to heart and applied what she had learned in the fashion classroom to her part-time
job at Stein Mart. As noted in my reflexive journal, “[Nellie] spent her time identifying
the various seams, fabric weaves, and applying the terminology that she had learned in
class” (Reflexive Journal, p. 95). Nellie stated that her in-depth knowledge of fabrics and
sewing techniques was appreciated by her customers (Reflexive Journal, p.95). Several
of the interviewed fashion students averred the importance of designers becoming
excellent readers and writers in order to articulate their design concepts globally,
especially if garments are produced in other countries. Finally, I encouraged my
students to be fluent in fashion vernacular and even asked my Fashion Portfolio students
to practice their fashion lexicon during their mock interviews in order to present
themselves as credible professional designers and as desirable employees (Reflexive
Journal, p.98-99).
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An Introspective Look: The Implications
In my preliminary research about autoethnography as a form of research, I learned that
qualitative research studies do not have to be soporific reading, which Richardson (2000)
confessed, was never her favorite approach to learning:
I have a confession to make. For 30 years, I had yawned my way through
numerous supposedly exemplary qualitative studies. Countless numbers of texts,
I had abandoned half read, half scanned. I would order a new book with great
anticipation—the topic was one I was interested in, the author was someone I
wanted to read—only to find the text boring. It was not that the writing was
complex and difficult, but that it suffered from acute and chronic passivity;
passive-voiced author; passive “subjects.” (924).
Autoethnography offered a far more personal venue for a researcher like me. I could
write my study in an active rather than passive voice; I could write a study that was bold,
evocative, cathartic, and passionate, consumed in, and compassionate about, participants
and the manipulation of data (Bochner, 2005; Ellis, 2000). Throughout this process, I
also discovered that in order to be a better educator, I had to be willing to improve my
teaching practices and to take time to investigate them. In addition, I have learned that
educators should be willing to take risks despite fear of failure. It is through these
failures, triumphs, and vulnerable states of being that we become better educators.
This autoethnographical study also increased my awareness that fashion students
and professionals are rigorous researchers who are well versed in hermeneutics and in
reading and writing multiple texts relevant to their content. Furthermore, I concluded that
the fashionista is indeed a polyglot (Griffith, 2000; Yuniya, 2008). I also learned that
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employing explicit literacy strategies in the fashion classroom were instrumental to my
students’ success as they learned the content. As a fashion student and fashion instructor,
I also wanted to challenge public perceptions of fashionistas as frivolous because I had
experienced such stereotypical labels and wanted my students to transcend them.
This study indicated that more explicit and innovative literacy instruction should
accompany demonstrative instruction in order to provide students with more in depth
learning about fashion concepts. Incorporating literacy strategies coupled with research
on fashion topics can assist students in becoming more knowledgeable and credible
designers. When multiliteracy approaches are used such as reading fashion magazines to
transmediate what is viewed or read on these pages into design collections or researching
WGSN or Chanel websites to obtain inspiration for fashion collections, learning becomes
effortless as students are engaged in the learning process. Educators should also make
learning relevant so students can apply this real world knowledge in their professional
environments. Furthermore, fashion departments need to consider professional
development and research for faculty to reflect on their current teaching to perfect
pedagogical practices. There are also needs for fashion professors and instructors to
conduct more fashion literacy studies and more research such as this study which
highlighted fashion students as readers, writers, and individuals who are knowledgeable
in multiple disciplines, to dispel the perception of the fashionista viewed as frivolous and
unscholarly.
Recommendations and Concluding Words
I would recommend that my educator colleagues investigate and self-reflect on
their own pedagogical practices. I asked my students each semester which of my
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assignments was most helpful in their development as designers and literate
professionals. Therefore, I suggest to my colleagues to do the same: ask their students
for feedback. I encourage my colleagues to be courageous and engage in their attempts
to share literacy practices with those who also teach in their content area. (Full disclosure
here: I had limited success with this practice. However, I did persuade my department
coordinator to change curriculum that replaced general information with explicit
instruction. She ordered textbooks that were more informative with more explicit details
on sewing with various fabrics). This study underscores the importance of educators’
incorporating explicit literacy strategies in their respective content areas to afford their
students various venues for deeper conceptual learning. I discovered that by my
incorporating literacy components into the fashion curriculum, my students gained a
better grasp of fashion design concepts, developed fashion vernacular fluency, and
became cognoscenti in their field. As one member of a growing group of innovative
literacy instructors, I encourage my colleagues of traditional instruction to join those of
us who are willing to explore new approaches to learning in this ever challenging,
multiliteracy-social media age. Looking back on my journey, I recognize that my
mispronouncing haute couture and the feelings of self-doubt and humiliation experienced
afterward became a catalyst for life changes. This experience propelled my evolving into
an accomplished and confident fashion professional, as well as an innovative, literacy
promoting educator.
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APPENDIX A
STUDENT INTERVIEW SCRIPT
1. What is your student classification?
2. How did you become interested in fashion?
3. Before you got to campus, if someone mentioned the term fashion, what did
you think of?
4. What perceptions did you have of those in fashion?
5. How did your friends react when you mentioned you were going to study
fashion?
6. When you arrived on campus, what did you expect your classes to be like?
7. What kinds of skills did you expect to learn?
8. Were your expectations accurate about your classes and the skills you would
be taught? Why or why not?
9. Is it important that a fashion student be an excellent reader and writer?
Why or why not?
10. Did your fashion professors use reading and writing assignments to teach
you concepts of fashion? If so, what were they?
11. Did you find these reading and writing assignments to be helpful? Why or
why not?
12. You have been enrolled in some of the fashion courses I taught, do you
remember any reading or writing assignments?
13. Which of these assignments were most helpful? Least helpful?
14. What was your first impression of me as your fashion instructor?
15. How would you describe me in terms of my reading and writing skills?
16. Were my approaches to teaching fashion similar or different from those of
other professors/instructors? If so, how?
17. After having had my class for a semester or several semesters, did your
impression of me as an instructor differ from your first impression? If so,
how?
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18. Have I taught you to be readers and writers of fashion texts? If so, how?
19. Did I meet the goal of helping you become a fashion professional? If so, how?
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APPENDIX B
HISTORY OF AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
HISTORY OF AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
Autoethnography is a term that has been in existence for several decades (Ellis,
2004). Carolyn Ellis, though an authority and a pioneer of autoethnography (Dyson,
2007) was not the first to coin the term (Ellis, 2004). Reed-Danahay (1997) ascertained
that the history of autoethnography can be “traced through two veins – that concerned
primarily with ethnography and that concerned with life history” ( p.4). The term
autoethnography was first acknowledged in 1975 by anthropologist Karl Hieder in an
article in the Journal of Anthropological Research (Ellis, 2004; Reed-Danahay, 1997).
However, another anthropologist, David Hayano, is credited with coining the term when
he used it to explain “going native,” a phrase used to describe an ethnographer who not
only studies a specific culture, but is fully immersed into the culture by living it (Ellis,
2004, p.9). The concept of going native would signify that an ethnographer may study a
specific culture and be communicatively competent (Troike-Saville, 2001) with the
spoken vernacular or the local colloquialisms used by this specific culture.
Communicative competence is a lexicon used by ethnographers to refer to researchers
having achieved proficiency in communicating with a culture (Troike-Saville, 2001).
Furthermore, the researcher may adopt the fashion worn by those researched and eat the
cuisine that is a part of the culture studied. Thus, the researcher is not only looking at the
participants from the stance of an outsider, but has now also become one of the
participants.
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In the 1980’s, scholars were perplexed by the confinements brought forth by
social science’s epistemological, ontological, and axiological limitations of sterile
research (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011)—in other words, the research that was not
invested in the participants. This form of research allowed ethnographers to
authoritatively enter a culture, exploit the natives, and depart to write the natives’ story
for professional or personal gain with little consideration or relationship ties to the culture
under scrutiny (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). This decade of authoritative, lawless
research prompted calls for reforming research in a way that encouraged meaningful
writing, was grounded in personal experience, “identity politics,” and was relevant to
others (Ellis, 2004; Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011, p. 3). This research genre is what we
now refer to today as autoethnography.
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APPENDIX C
DEFINING OF AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
What is autoethnography? Autoethnography is a methodological approach that
allows the researcher to conduct a self-investigation regarding the relationship the
researcher has with the culture and the environment within the culture being studied
(Ellis, 2004). It is a form of study coauthored by the researcher and its participants (Ellis,
1997). It was in 1995 that Carolyn Ellis (2004) first used the term autoethnography in
her publication Final Negotiations, using the following descriptors to signify
autoethnography: “self-ethnography, ethnographic novel, interpretive ethnography,
experimental ethnography, autobiographical sociology, introspective novel, introspective
ethnography, impressionistic tale, and personal narrative” (p. 42). Ellis (2004) explained
autoethnography as a copulative counterpart of ethnography; however, it is disparate in
that it is reflexive, which is why Ellis felt called to delineate this style of research from
the traditional ethnography. Conversely, the traditional ethnographer is required to
research a culture as a person looking in, as if from a camera lens. The researcher is
limited by what she sees through the camera lens because the entire picture is not
captured—the photographer is missing. However, once the researcher removes the
camera, a more holistic view is observed as the photographer is a part of the milieu and
stands in the middle of it all. Ellis further defines autoethnography through the
autoethnographer’s eyes in this descriptive commentary:
First they look through an ethnographic wide angle lens, focusing outward on
social and cultural aspects of their personal experience; then they look inward,
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exposing a vulnerable self that is moved by and may move through refract, and
resist cultural interpretations. As they zoom, backward and forward, inward and
outward, distinctions between the personal and cultural become blurred,
sometimes beyond distinct recognition (pp. 37-38).
Autoethnography also requires the researcher to be self-absorbed (Ellis, 1997). Ellis
(1997) posed the question, “How can you write about your topic if you’re not absorbed
with it” (p.116). Ellis has a point—the researcher cannot write about a specific content
without feeling passionate or emotional about what is being written or without becoming
consumed with the participants or the manipulation of the data.
This research is written in first person (Ellis, 2004) and is not formulaic in how it
is translated onto the page. As Dyson (2007) noted, autoethnography is not procedural,
nor does it generate experiences into a good narrative. Autoethnography is written in
disparate forms such as poetry, journals, short stories, social scientific prose, scripted
plays, fiction novels, and photographic and personal essays (Ellis, 2004). Furthermore,
there are several approaches to autoethnography. Some of these approaches include
personal narratives, reflexive ethnography, co-constructed narrative, community
autoethnography, and interactive interviews (Ellis, 2004: Ellis, Adams, & Bochner,
2011). The approach to autoethnography varies depending upon where the emphasis is
placed on the study of others, the interviewer’s self and the interaction with other
participants, type of analysis, type of interviews conducted, and on power relationships
(Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). To best articulate my story, my autoethnographical
account was written using personal narrative.
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Autoethnography is cathartic, unconventional, and evocative. Arthur Bochner
(2005) narrated what he felt as he read through an autoethnographical manuscript written
by Carolyn Ellis in which she described the death of her brother in a plane crash.
Bochner (2005) commented on Ellis’ revolutionary research style:
As I contemplated the feelings that were running through me, I felt a rush of
optimism about the future of social science inquiry. Yes! I shouted to myself.
This is what social science is missing! This is what social science needs to
become in order to make a difference in the world – daring, honest, intimate,
personal, emotional, moral, embodied, and evocative. (p. 145)
Thus, autoethnography is “daring, honest, intimate, personal, emotional, moral,
embodied, and evocative,” as well the chosen methodological approach for my
educational study (Bochner, 2005, p. 145).