Clothing, Age and the Body

Twigg, Julia (2015). Clothing, Age and the Body. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-851801

This research explores the role of clothing and dress in the social lives of older people. It addresses arguments about the changing nature of ageing in modern culture and the possible role of consumption in this. It looks at the interlinkages between dress, the body and ageing, addressing how identities are constructed through clothing choices, and the ways in which women in particular negotiate changes in the body and self as they grow older. Though the research focuses on women, its themes apply to men also, and further work is planned on this group.
The study explores the cultural meanings of dress, looking at how clothes operate within a system of age ordering: how we use clothes to display and express social and cultural meanings, and how these are challenged, subverted and subtly altered by the behaviour and choices of individuals, although always operating within a social context. In particular it explores the tensions in modern society between age denial and age resistance.

It is based on qualitative interviews with older women and key respondents in the fashion/clothing system, in conjunction with an analysis of the media and secondary data sources. It uses visual methods.

Data description (abstract)

The study explored the role of clothing and dress in the constitution of age through 33 face-to-face interviews.. It addressed questions of the persistence or otherwise of age ordering in dress; the role of clothing in the lives of older women; the tension between personal agency and cultural structures in later years; the role of the cultural economy.

Interview were carried out with 20 women over the age of 55 years old, 4 magazine/fashion editors, and with 5 design directors for retailers with a focus on the older age group. 4 additional interviews were conducted in the fashion world.

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