Changes In Fashion Research Articles

An assessment of Africa’s second-hand clothing value chain: a systematic review and research opportunities

A rapid change in fast fashion has significantly accelerated the expansion of the volume of discarded clothing across the globe. Africa is the world’s largest destination for second-hand clothes (SHC, sometimes known as ‘Mitumba’). However, fewer studies have been conducted on Africa’s SHC, making it challenging to evaluate the impact of the market and its value chain. This study examines the economic contribution and assessment of the SHC value chain and the resulting environmental challenges, identifies the trends of scholarly discourse on the topic in Africa, examines their methodologies and develops future research opportunities. The study shows that the SHC trade is an essential supply chain connecting developed and developing countries and a valuable clothing consumption alternative for people experiencing economic decline, poverty and low purchasing power. SHC is crucial in delivering fashion products to customers in underdeveloped African countries. It also creates job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people in the trade, distribution, repairs, laundry services and upcycling. Results further show that Africans are being enriched with new skills and knowledge of the SHC trade, which is expected to help grow and promote small- to medium-sized enterprises. However, poorly made Mitumba become unmarketable, creating environmental challenges in cities across the continent. The study found fewer empirical studies, due largely to limited data on Africa’s SHC trade. This calls for more empirical studies to scale the SHC trade in the region, expand the boundaries of entrepreneurial opportunities for Africa to interact with the global market, and alleviate the widespread problem of extreme poverty while also addressing the environmental challenges posed by SHC.

Fitting and evaluating univariate and multivariate models of within-lineage evolution.

The nature of phenotypic evolution within lineages is central to many unresolved questions in paleontology and evolutionary biology. Analyses of evolutionary time-series of ancestor-descendant populations in the fossil record are likely to make important contributions to many of these debates. However, the limited number of models that have been applied to these types of data may restrict our ability to interpret phenotypic evolution in the fossil record. Using uni- and multivariate models of trait evolution that make different assumptions regarding the dynamics of the adaptive landscape, I evaluate contrasting hypotheses to explain evolution of size in the radiolarian Eucyrtidium calvertense and armor in the stickleback Gaserosteus doryssus. Body size evolution in E. calvertense is best explained by a model where the lineage evolves as a consequence of a shift in the adaptive landscape that coincides with the initiation of neosympatry with its sister lineage. Multivariate evolution of armor traits in a stickleback lineage (Gasterosteus doryssus) show evidence of adaptation towards independent optima on the adaptive landscape at the same time as traits change in a correlated fashion. The fitted models are available in a the R package evoTS, which builds on the commonly used paleoTS framework.

Contemporary changes and challenges in the practice of trend forecasting

This article examines the evolution of trend forecasting and its challenges in complex and fast-paced changing times. This qualitative and exploratory study consisted of nine in-depth interviews with trend forecasting experts and a supportive literature review that contextualizes this research and illuminates the gaps that could benefit from primary qualitative data. The research question that guides this work is: what are the current challenges and changes in fashion forecasting? The findings show that trend forecasting is facing crucial challenges regarding three main areas: (1) the acceleration of change and the chaotic pulverization of information, (2) the complexity of cultural information versus the elitist and exclusive approach to the practice, (3) the intersection between technology and human skills in trend analysis. It concludes that trend forecasting is faulty in dealing with the complexity of more diverse, multidirectional and nonconformist contemporary societies since it works as a tool to conform, compress, flatten and simplify information to guide the industry rather than to communicate the complexity of cultural shifts in all their possibilities, nuances and details.

University Students’ Experience of a Digital Fashion Exhibition: Engagement, Embodiment, and Object-Based Learning

The purpose of this research was to understand students’ experiences viewing a digital narrated video tour of a physical fashion exhibition and evaluate its effectiveness using the constructivist learning perspective as it applies to museum learning. Formally written responses to an open-ended qualitative survey from 62 students were analyzed using a transcendental phenomenological approach. The digital tour offered an effective online object-based learning experience that enhanced students’ understanding of the impact of cultural influences on fashion changes and helped them identify changes in fashion design. The digital tour was also engaging and allowed students to construct their own knowledge and take something meaningful from the exhibition, which contributed to its effectiveness. Best practices for designing digital tours of physical fashion exhibitions were developed and included fostering multisensory engagement, providing viewers’ time for observation and reflection, and including multiple views and close-ups of garments.

The Wild Side: Hunting Guanacos in Patagonia

Abstract This article examines the twentieth-century history of guanaco hunting in southern Patagonia in order to call attention to the significance of commercial hunting in the industrial age. Guanacos, an American camelid related to llamas, are the largest herbivore inhabiting the semi-arid steppe lands of Patagonia. In the nineteenth-century, indigenous Aónikenks traded quillangos, a cape-like garment made from the soft fur of juvenile guanacos, with colonial settlers. The rapid expansion of export-oriented sheep ranching beginning in the 1880s gave rise to a new social ecology based on the violent displacement of Aónikenk and Selk'nam forager/hunters, the introduction of an exotic ungulate and the use of seasonal, migrant labor. I trace the transformation of commercial guanaco hunting from an Aónikenk-dominated activity to one carried out by migrant hunters and small-scale traders who exported guanaquitos, the undressed furs of juvenile guanacos. Drawing on evidence from both Argentina and the United States, I document the hunting and export of millions of guanaquitos between the 1920s and the 1980s. I conclude by suggesting that the persistence of guanacos today is largely due to a decline in sheep ranching in addition to changes in fashion, and Argentina's participation in international conventions to protect wildlife. The recent history of guanacos suggests that rather than thinking of hunting, habitat loss and consumption as separate threats to wildlife, they are best thought of as entangled components that together have shaped modern histories of people and animals.

Rural Fashion of the 20th Century in Ukrainian Clothing and Textiles

The relevance of the article is determined by active efforts to modernize the traditional forms of these days object-material creativity, to adapt them for modern stage and festival use, as well as for everyday life. At the same time, professional fashion designers and amateur craftsmen do not take into account sufficiently the experience of innovations accumulated in the folk surroundings itself. The submitted investigation is aimed at the ascertaining the ways and methods of renewal formed spontaneously in various regions of Ukraine during the 20th century, as well as the determination of the specific character of “rural” fashion, different from a “big” city vogue. The work methodology has included field research, conversations with craftsmen and consumers of their products, study of museum collections and specialized literature in order to trace stage and chronological changes in the cut and decoration of clothing, the use of new materials, ornamentation and local naming. We have concluded that the modification of fashion in rural society has taken place during the 20th century on average every 7–10 years, which is commensurable with the rhythm of urban vogue. The changes in fashion are influenced by a combination of natural and random factors. The main reason is the depletion of the resource of continuous aesthetic action of a certain form, colouring, ornamental design. The new thing in the village is sometimes a well-forgotten old used 2–3 generations ago. The specific character of rural fashion includes restraint, ordinariness, local nature of ornamental pattern, rejection of sudden changes as well as obvious eroticism, multilayered and multitextured clothing. Previously, there were no portrait or landscape images, which are now common in urban youth fashion. The study of folk dress and decor of the 20th century as changes in local fashion has significant cognitive potential.

Long-term Ecological Research: Chasing fashions or being prepared for fashion changes?

Long-term-ecological-research (LTER) faces many challenges, including the difficulty of obtaining long-term funding, changes in research questions and sampling designs, keeping researchers collecting standardized data for many years, impediments to interactions with local people, and the difficulty of integrating the needs of local decision makers with "big science". These issues result in a lack of universally accepted guidelines as to how research should be done and integrated among LTER sites. Here we discuss how the RAPELD (standardized field infrastructure system), can help deal with these issues as a complementary technique in LTER studies, allowing comparisons across landscapes and ecosystems and reducing sampling costs. RAPELD uses local surveys to understand broad spatial and temporal patterns while enhancing decision-making and training of researchers, local indigenous groups and traditional communities. Sampling of ecological data can be carried out by different researchers through standardized protocols, resulting in spatial data that can be used to answer temporal questions, and allow new questions to be investigated. Results can also be integrated into existing biodiversity networks. Integrated systems are the most efficient way to save resources, maximize results, and accumulate information that can be used in the face of the unknown unknowns upon which our future depends.

Мода: эстетические и социальные функции

The unity and interrelation of aesthetic and social components of fashion from the standpoint of philosophy is emphasized. The boundaries of the concept of «fashion» are clarified from the point of view of modern science, in relation to which its aesthetic and social functions were analyzed – fashion in the broad sense of the word, in other words, not only vestigial – related to the style of clothing. An excursion into the history of fashion as a marker of social inequality and an indicator of social inequality with attention to the gender aspect of this issue is carried out. The modern problems of the interpenetration of aesthetic and social as fashion changes are touched upon. Much attention is paid to sources related to the Internet, mass media, advertising. It is concluded that in the context of fashion, aesthetics helps society and individuals to build a particular system of views, while society, through certain value attitudes, acquires certain aesthetic ideas.

Changes in Lung Volumes with Spirometric Disease Progression in COPD.

Abnormal lung volumes representing air trapping identify the subset of smokers with preserved spirometry who develop spirometric chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and adverse outcomes. However, how lung volumes evolve in early COPD as airflow obstruction develops remains unclear. To establish how lung volumes change with the development of spirometric COPD, we examined lung volumes from the pulmonary function data (seated posture) available in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs electronic health records (n=71,356) and lung volumes measured by computed tomography (supine posture) available from the COPD Genetic Epidemiology (COPDGene®) study (n=7969) and the SubPopulations and InterMediate Outcome Measures In COPD Study (SPIROMICS) (n=2552) cohorts, and studied their cross-sectional distributions and longitudinal changes across the airflow obstruction spectrum. Patients with preserved ratio-impaired spirometry (PRISm) were excluded from this analysis. Lung volumes from all 3 cohorts showed similar patterns of distributions and longitudinal changes with worsening airflow obstruction. The distributions for total lung capacity (TLC), vital capacity (VC), and inspiratory capacity (IC) and their patterns of change were nonlinear and included different phases. When stratified by airflow obstruction using Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages, patients with GOLD 1 (mild) COPD had larger lung volumes (TLC, VC, IC) compared to patients with GOLD 0 (smokers with preserved spirometry) or GOLD 2 (moderate) disease. In longitudinal follow-up of baseline GOLD 0 patients who progressed to spirometric COPD, those with an initially higher TLC and VC developed mild obstruction (GOLD 1) while those with an initially lower TLC and VC developed moderate obstruction (GOLD 2). In COPD, TLC, and VC have biphasic distributions, change in nonlinear fashions as obstruction worsens, and could differentiate those GOLD 0 patients at risk for more rapid spirometric disease progression.

Assessing urban adaptability: The key is in the land use plan

Urban adaptability describes the capability to adapt private and public urban elements to necessary changes resulting from technological development, policy transformations, environmental crises and changes in fashion and taste. This paper ties urban adaptability with urban regeneration. We hypothesize that the need for comprehensive institutional intervention, often in the form of a new overall plan, to process the regeneration of veteran residential neighborhoods, indicates an inherent, anti-adaptive component in their structure. Moreover, institutional regeneration plans contain, alongside physical improvements, an opportunity to reformulate urban connections and enhance the neighborhood’s shape, thus potentially transforming an anti-adaptive urban fabric into an adaptive one. The study shows that land use plans affect the degree to which neighborhoods are adaptable for years to come. Based on this, the research aims to develop an evaluation tool for assessing (anti)adaptability in urban regeneration plans, measuring the degree to which they enhance an existing urban structure and provide better chances for spontaneous regeneration in the future. The tool is grounded on analyzing three spatial layers: (A) street pattern, (B) built elements, (C) land use. We demonstrate the tool in five cases, comparing original neighborhood plans to regeneration plans of residential neighborhoods in five Israeli cities. The results show that it is possible to predict anti-adaptability and anticipate it as part of the planning process. However, we expose that not all regeneration plans utilize the opportunity to create a more adaptive urban fabric but keep producing the same anti-adaptive structure.

MUSCLE GROUP SPECIFIC SKELETAL MUSCLE AGING: A FIVE YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY IN SEPTUAGENARIANS

Abstract Most of the scientific literature on human skeletal muscle aging has focused on the quadriceps femoris, with the remaining few hundred skeletal muscles receiving limited specific investigation. This longitudinal investigation compared changes in skeletal muscle size via computed tomography of the quadriceps (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius), hamstrings (biceps femoris short and long heads, semitendinosus, semimembranosus), psoas, rectus abdominis, lateral abdominals (obliques and transversus abdominus), and paraspinal muscles (erector spinae and multifidi) of older individuals from the Health ABC study at baseline and 5.0±0.1 years later (n=469, 73±3y & 78±3y, 49% women, 33% black). Skeletal muscle size decreased (p < 0.05) in quadriceps (-3.3%), hamstrings (-5.9%), psoas (-0.4%), and rectus abdominus (-7.0%). The hamstrings and rectus abdominus atrophied approximately twice as much as the quadriceps (p < 0.05), while the quadriceps atrophied substantially more than the psoas (p < 0.05). The paraspinals (+4.3%) and lateral abdominals (+5.9%) hypertrophied (p < 0.05) to a similar degree (p>0.05) over the 5 years. These data suggest that skeletal muscle mass in older individuals changes in a muscle group specific fashion in the eighth decade, a critical time period in the aging process. A broader understanding of muscle group specific skeletal muscle aging is needed to better guide exercise programs and other interventions that mitigate decrements in physical function with aging.

Direct Evaluation of Treatment Response in Brain Metastatic Disease with Deep Neuroevolution.

Cancer centers have an urgent and unmet clinical and research need for AI that can guide patient management. A core component of advancing cancer treatment research is assessing response to therapy. Doing so by hand, for example, as per RECIST or RANO criteria, is tedious and time-consuming, and can miss important tumor response information. Most notably, the prevalent response criteria often exclude lesions, the non-target lesions, altogether. We wish to assess change in a holistic fashion that includes all lesions, obtaining simple, informative, and automated assessments of tumor progression or regression. Because genetic sub-types of cancer can be fairly specific and patient enrollment in therapy trials is often limited in number and accrual rate, we wish to make response assessments with small training sets. Deep neuroevolution (DNE) is a novel radiology artificial intelligence (AI) optimization approach that performs well on small training sets. Here, we use a DNE parameter search to optimize a convolutional neural network (CNN) that predicts progression versus regression of metastatic brain disease. We analyzed 50 pairs of MRI contrast-enhanced images as our training set. Half of these pairs, separated in time, qualified as disease progression, while the other 25 image pairs constituted regression. We trained the parameters of a CNN via "mutations" that consisted of random CNN weight adjustments and evaluated mutation "fitness" as summed training set accuracy. We then incorporated the best mutations into the next generation's CNN, repeating this process for approximately 50,000 generations. We applied the CNNs to our training set, as well as a separate testing set with the same class balance of 25 progression and 25 regression cases. DNE achieved monotonic convergence to 100% training set accuracy. DNE also converged monotonically to 100% testing set accuracy. We have thus shown thatDNE can accurately classify brain metastatic disease progression versus regression. Future work will extend the input from 2D image slices to full 3D volumes, and include the category of "no change." We believe that an approach such as ours can ultimately provide a useful and informative complement to RANO/RECIST assessment and volumetric AI analysis.

DETERMINANT OF CONSUMER SERVICE CONSUMPTION – A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RURAL AREAS OF MAJOR STATES INCLUDING GUJARAT AND INDIA

Three components, viz., income, consumption and savings are most invaluable indicators for economic development of any nation. From these three indicators, consumption plays vital role for the development process as high consumption encourages production activities which automatically leads to increase in employment and income generation which is again converted to consumption of miscellaneous goods and services. The rise in income results in higher demand of existing goods and services in the short run as well as in the long run. Even due to change in technology and fashion, the taste of population changes which results in demand of goods and services which were not existing previously. In this paper, rural areas of 15 major states, rural areas of 3 minor states and nation as a whole are considered to know the consumption pattern of non-food items. It is tried to analyze the effect of changes in income and relative price on different non-food goods and services. It is important to study the consumption of non-food items in the rural family as a part of service sector. In tis paper, per capita total consumption expenditure is taken as a proxy variable for per capita income, because more reliable data are available for the former as compared to the latter. Various models like linear, quadratic and power, have been fitted on consumer service consumption data, KEYWORDS – Consumer Service Consumption Expenditure, Total Consumption Expenditure, Rural Major States, Rural India, linear model, quadratic model, power model and concluded that power model is the most appropriate.

The Per(ver)formative Aspects of Pandemic Fashion Performances: Moschino’s Deconstructive Marionettes

Abstract It is said that due to the social and economic effects of the recent pandemic, fashion has been caught in a destructive position. One aspect is the material change of the fashion objects and the strong pre-eminence of the so-called “stay-at-home collections” against the earlier dominance of the ready-to-wear and haute couture garments intended for social events. An important feature of recent fashion changes is their reliance on current pandemic rules and the related political decisions. In my presentation, I will focus on an interesting example of these pandemic changes: Moschino’s 2021 Spring/Summer Collection. Moschino’s “Marionette Performance” is a perfect example for infelicitous performativity where the show is created in a per(ver)formative (in the Derridean sense) act in the catwalk space. I intend to show that performativity is broken at every step of the show. In this spring collection, not only are the mannequins substituted by dolls but the viewers – some are well known (e.g. Anna Wintour) – are also transformed into marionettes by Jeremy Scott. With a self-ironic gesture, anyone of us from the possible audience can be changed into a puppet. To analyse the performative character of the show, I use deconstructive approaches and ideas. I wish to emphasize the interweaving performative dimensions that, in a sense, preclude each other with the help of Paul de Man’s interpretation of Kleist’s Über das Marionettentheater. I want to point out the mechanical, meaningless materiality appearing in the marionettes’ movements on Moschino’s special catwalk. My lecture argues that in the movements of the marionettes the possibility of the clear manifestation of performativity becomes uncertain.

The Radiation Temperature Characteristics of Sapphire under Shock Loading

A light gas gun was used to study the radiation temperature from the window material of sapphire. The luminescence characteristics were determined using a multi-wavelength pyrometer in the pressure range of 36–50 GPa. By improving the processing technology for the metal sample and assembly technology for the target, the eight-wavelength light radiation was measured from sapphire under shock pressure without phase transition. The experimental results showed that sapphire has luminous phenomenon from 36.5 GPa. The luminous intensity changes in a linear fashion, revealing the thickness of the radiating layer of shock-compressed sapphire with a constant absorption coefficient. The results indicated that the spectral distribution is a typical thermal radiation, which fits well with the grey-body spectrum. The radiation of sapphire under shock mostly came from the adiabatic shear banding, as determined by comparing the melting line of sapphire using a static high-pressure experiment and theoretical calculations with the radiation temperature. The study is an effective means to obtain the transparent material shock radiation temperature. Moreover, an effective approach is proposed to research the radiation mechanism of transparent material and the high pressure melting line.

Aberrant NOVA1 function disrupts alternative splicing in early stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disease characterized by aberrant alternative splicing (AS). Nuclear loss and cytoplasmic accumulation of the splicing factor TDP-43 in motor neurons (MN) are hallmarks of ALS at late stages of the disease. However, it is unknown if altered AS is present before TDP-43 pathology occurs. Here, we investigate altered AS and its origins in early stages of ALS using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons (MNs) from sporadic and familial ALS patients. We find high levels of the RNA-binding proteins NOVA1, NOVA2, and RBFOX2 in the insoluble protein fractions and observe that AS events in ALS-associated MNs are enriched for binding sites of these proteins. Our study points to an early disrupted function of NOVA1 that drives AS changes in a complex fashion, including events caused by a consistent loss of NOVA1 function. NOVA1 exhibits increased cytoplasmic protein levels in early stage MNs without TDP-43 pathology in ALS postmortem tissue. As nuclear TDP-43 protein level depletes, NOVA1 is reduced. Potential indications for a reduction of NOVA1 also came from mice over-expressing TDP-43 lacking its nuclear localization signal and iPSC-MN stressed with puromycin. This study highlights that additional RBP-RNA perturbations in ALS occur in parallel to TDP-43.

THE IMPACT OF DISCRIMINATION FROM LEGITIMATE POWER LEADS ANDREA SACH TO EXPERIENCE IDENTITY NEGOTIATION THROUGH FASHION IN THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

According to Ting-Toomey, the identity negotiation theory underlines the dialectical tensions and problems that immigrants and minorities face while crossing cultural boundaries from one environment to another. In individuals' numerous boundary-crossing travels, the theory emphasizes the significance of elastically negotiating sociocultural membership identity and personal identity features. Identity negotiation can work. It can be caused by personal identity and social identity. In The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Wisberger (2003), this negotiation occurs because of discrimination in the workplace, where pressure and the work environment play a significant role in Andrea Sach's fashion changes. This film is the primary data used by researchers to dig deeper into this aspect of literature. In this study, researchers will focus on the character of Andrea Sach. Through qualitative analysis assisted by a semiotic approach, information will be obtained regarding the negotiated identity problem caused by direct discrimination by legitimate power and supported by the influence of social identity, which led Andrea to change her fashion appearance as a secretary to suit Miranda's wishes.

Systemic Fashion Change and Wardrobe Research–Related Tools for Supporting Consumers

With strong consensus around the need for holistic, systemic change to the dominant fashion paradigm across the Global North, this article aims to generate practical strategies for better engaging and supporting fashion consumers as one key stakeholder group. It critiques the prevailing discourse of ethical fashion consumption—narrowly focused on fast fashion consumption—as both unjust and considerably limiting the scope of broader consumer awareness and action. Wardrobe research facilitates rich empirical evidence of consumers’ ordinary clothing practices and can support more fair and helpful representations of fashion consumers and consumption. Proposing wardrobe research as a tool to create a more engaging and supportive discourse, the article considers how evidence from wardrobe research might enter circulation and extends to consider everyday wearers engaging in and sharing wardrobe research in ‘amateur’ forms. The article examines large public ‘garment storytelling’ projects as an example and proposes that such accessible and appealing wardrobe research–related tools could be further used and developed.

Transitioning Toward the Slow and Long: Developing Experiential Futures Approach Toward System Change in Fashion

Designing for transitions toward a desirable, sustainable, and socially just world requires design practices that consider long-term futures that extend across scalar frameworks from individuals to planetary stewardship. The applied transition design (TD) framework is valuable in understanding the web of the interconnectedness of problems before forming nested and complementary interventions.

PENGARUH IDENTITAS MEREK, CITRA MEREK, DAN KEPERCAYAAN MEREK TERHADAP LOYALITAS PADA KONSUMEN SEPATU NIKE DI JAKARTA

Globalization, combined with technology advancements, has allowed the shoe industry to flourish and be appreciated by a global audience. The present shoe industry is also threatened by the quick change in fashion. Nike is an example of one of the world's largest corporations. In a competitive environment, characteristics such as brand identity, brand image, brand trust, and brand loyalty are critical to the company's success. Consumers will remember the identity of the brand if they have a loyal attitude and believe in the goods. This will improve the brand's image and credibility, as well as encourage customers to purchase again. As a result, the authors want to investigate the impact of brand identity, brand image, and brand trust on Nike shoe brand loyalty.