sam hudson-miles

I am currently studying year four of a part-time PhD, titled ‘THAT dress: soul-shopping in charity shops as a contribution to the slow fashion movement, and a methodology for regenerative fashion design practice.

The research is centred around five decades spent second-hand shopping in UK charity shops. This first-hand experience of charity shopping is forwarded as an autoethnographic investigation of locality, memory, sustainability, and anti-capitalist societal relations.

The active emotional, material, and psychological attachment to our clothes, and one that is against the consumer logic of fast fashion, has been defined by Kate Fletcher as Craft of Use (2016). My research aims to further Fletcher’s Craft of Use, building upon theories of active consumption. It proposes that shopping can be a legitimate form of academic research through defining ways in which second-hand shopping can distinguish itself as other to buying new clothes, as an inter-relational, creative, experiential, active, co-created, resourceful, and connected process; an original methodology that I term soul-shopping. 

The research is centred within and around a defined locale of Dewsbury, a once thriving shoddy and mungo textiles hub and market town, within what is historically termed as the Heavy Woollen District of the West Riding of Yorkshire. My personal archive, that I frame academically as an incidental archive, of second-hand vintage clothing purchased from charity shops in and around Dewsbury over a three-decade period, forms the nucleus to theoretically develop the practice of soul-shopping. As a contribution to pedagogy, the material culture and use-value of a selection of the archive pieces will be analysed to explore their DNA. Styling projects using a selection of the archive pieces, will promote the longevity and creative potential of our clothing. These studies will also contribute to the circular economy as an inclusive methodology, demonstrating that soul-shopping can be employed without prerequisite technical skills in, for example, fashion making. 

In the context of this PhD study, I’m most proud of the co-creative project that I organised as a practice-based aspect of my study. In July 2023, and within very tight timeframes, two photoshoots were completed. 

The black dress featured in both shoots is a 1980’s black jacquard satin-backed crepe knee-length, low-backed fit ‘n’ flare cocktail dress. I found the dress on top of a 50p-an-item pile of clothes at a flea market in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in 1996. Although I no longer fit the dress, it forms a key piece in my personal archive of second-hand / vintage clothing purchased from charity shops in Dewsbury over a 30-year period. The photos were shot in two town-centre locations in Dewsbury; The Arcade, Dewsbury, a Victorian shopping arcade that is currently undergoing a multi-million-pound renovation to become the UK’s first community-owned shopping centre, and Natalie, one of the model’s, home/studio, a space that takes over an entire floor of, what was once, home to Bickers & Co., an elegant boutique department store, and a destination for discerning shoppers for almost 100 years. Natalie’s flat also overlooks the original Shoddy and Mungo textile recycling mill. 

The model used for the arcade shoot, Inaya, is a non-professional model from Dewsbury, street-cast (literally) in Dewsbury. Dewsbury is mine and Johnny, the photographer’s, hometown. The location, model, and styling, of this shoot represent the town, which has a history steeped in textile recycling (known as shoddy), in both its historical and contemporary context, drawing reference to its predominant South Asian demographic.  

All items have been curated from my personal archive of clothing, purchased in Dewsbury charity shops or flea markets from 1995 to present, and costing no more than £10 per item.  

Both of these shoots have been featured as a multi-page editorial in the ASBO Magazine’s 2023 International Graduate issue (see PDF link). 

Totally unconnected, but Galliano’s Maison Margiela Artisanal Collection Fall 2024. It has been described I the media as a collection that will change fashion forever through Galliano’s ability to portray an innate reflection of a creative process that transcends clothing, per se, or set design. For me, it was reminiscent of early Lee McQueen, which is exciting. Think Voss, 2001.

I’m always collaborating – I’m the Queen of Collabs!

To complete my PhD to schedule! I’m at a stage now, where I’m joining the dots between theory and practice, which I’m finding an insightful and enjoyable process.

Other than finding snippets of time to read for my PhD, I struggle to find time to read for leisure. That said, I have Bell Hooks’ All About Love on my reading pile, which I aim to delve into over the Easter break. I’m determined to weave Hooks into my PhD somehow – I like her attitude toward inclusivity in that women of all educational backgrounds and social classes could engage with her work.