After the conclusion of our first brief, Methods of Investigating, we were immediately given our second brief. Slight panic aside, I felt more prepared of what to expect in terms of meeting the brief guidelines. For this project, we were tasked with selecting a catalogue of our choosing, and then identifying, analysing and reconfiguring the relationships between the parts of this set. After encountering difficulties from selecting a broad subject in the first project, I knew that this time I need to focus on something small and specific that could be covered more in depth, especially given the shorter timeframe of this task.
This brief provided us with a lot of scope to focus our project on as we could loosely interpret a catalogue as being any kind of systemised collection. However, I knew I wanted to work with the classic example of a catalogue, such as a retail catalogue that itemised list of products to be sold as it would restrain my project enough to allow for a thorough investigation. I didn’t want to fall into the past mistake of proceeding with a open-ended subject. After scouring through the library database, I narrowed down to multiple different catalogues of furniture, accessories and fashion. Through individually examining the books physically, I decided to choose the one that most visually resonated with me.
Christian Dior – Spring Summer 2001, as it is identified in the database, is a catalogue or look book of that season’s ready-to-wear collection by John Galliano. The small book bears no name or even hardly any text. It is purely visual. I cannot seem to find much information about the catalogue online either, but I presume it was sent to customers or provided in-store to showcase the products. What I found interesting about the catalogue is the colourful photography that were intentionally artful as it was commercial and consumerist. The most interesting prospect with working with a fashion catalogue is I find that there is a lot of similarities between the systematic categorisation of vintage clothes by archivists, and of biological systems by taxonomists. From the start of this project, I was keen to introduce my scientific background as a biologist to create a new form of categorisation for a subject you wouldn’t necessarily expect with the full intention of bridging science with the arts.
1. Classifying
First, I needed to identify the products that were presented in the Christian Dior – Spring Summer 2001 catalogue before I could analyse and manipulate them. The method to this investigation involved itemising on a spreadsheet every product as they first appear in the catalogue. Each product was categorised by the type they fit into such as tops or trousers, colour and material. A detailed description was also created. This identification was first attempted from observing the details in the catalogue which was then supplemented with information from resellers and vintage retails online including Vestiaire, 1stDibs, Etsy and Ebay. However, not all information could be ascertained.
This method of classification draws principles from scientific classification where researchers would systematically categorise specimens by shared common characteristics. This exercise was helpful in cataloguing the products present in the book and condensing it into manageable system as before it was purely visual.
2. Taxonomising
Within evolutionary biology, there is this discipline of taxonomy. It is the scientific practice of classifying specimens into groups, normally resulting in a hierarchical system. Taxonomy organises groups into taxonomic units known as “taxa”. However, taxonomy is not just limited to the natural sciences. It has also been applied to organise objects or concepts in areas such as computing, business and economics. After having identified the products within my chosen catalogue, I am interested in seeing whether it would be possible to organise a subject such as apparel in which taxonomy is not normally applied to.
3. (Re)drawing
Following on the vein from evolutionary biology, I wanted to replicate the specimen drawings researchers would produce. These drawings were purely from first hand observation.