“Bespoke: an ethnography of tailoring practice (2018)” by Valéria Oliveira Santos | PhD Thesis

Abstract: “Based on ethnographic research data from Curitiba’s tailors, this work explores the skills and techniques associated with the tailoring process, with the goal of understanding to understand how gestures, materials and work tools interact with each other producing not only clothes, but also the tailors themselves and the bodies of their respective clients. Reflection is devoted on the investigation of these practices as processes of knowledge production, and is in tune with the propositions that rethink the relationship between man and matter. The central axis of observation follows the suggestion of Tim Ingold (2013) that doing is a process of correspondence between the maker and material, not imposition or application of prior knowledge. It is suggested that the client’s body and the tailor’s capabilities are modeled by tailor-made clothing in the compromises established between suits, tailors and clients. In the end, it is intended to contribute to the understanding of the recent transformations of this field of work, especially with regard to the emergence of new ways of practicing tailoring.”

 

This PhD thesis, written by Valéria Oliveira Santos and supervised by Prof. Dr. José Guilherme Cantor Magnani, was defended in 2018 as part of the PhD program in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo. A copy of the dissertation is available in Portuguese in USP’s Repository.

ANO

2018

AUTORES

Valéria Oliveira Santos

EDITORES

José Guilherme Cantor Magnani