Anti-Capitalist Fashion in the Midst of Capitalist Society: Uncovering the Potential of Alternative Fashion Week as an Alternative Cultural Zone

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation of fashion between consumption and political critique. The research is centered around Alternative Fashion Week (AFW), an organization and project aiming to provide a more environmentally and socially sustainable alternative to conventional fashion. The thesis is guided by two inquiries: 1: A macrostructural analysis: Investigating the relationship between Alternative Fashion Week and the socio-economic structure. 2: A Microsocial analysis: Investigating relational desire and shame, in the production of values. I have employed participatory observations of AFW and carried out semi-structured interviews with the organizers of AFW. Here AFW identified problems in the fashion industry and unfolded their creative approach to solving them. I organized this into themes, on which I perform macrostructural analysis as well as a microsocial analysis. I have used Barca’s explanation of the hegemonic Anthropocene narrative and Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory to understand the effects of narratives keeping them in mind as I explore the themes and societal structures. The analysis employs Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of identity and productive desire as well as the philosophical diagnosis of shame in society provided by both Carnera and Gorm Larsen, in order to understand the themes Shame, Identity and Desire, from the empirical evidence. I conclude that there are different political forces in society, pulling the perception and consumption behavior of people in society in different directions. These forces can be rediscovered in opposing approaches to sustainability in the fashion industry. The hegemonic force is capitalist society, whose values are subsuming into social life, influencing people to have a mindset and behavior that support the capitalist societal structure. AFW is an opposing force contributing to sustainable fashion, by creating zones partly separated from the rest of capitalist society working with productive shame and embedded in a non-domination narrative, where people have an opportunity to gain perspective and experience catalyzing new sustainable values.