König, Anna

Domestic sewing is arguably one of the most gendered forms of everyday creativity. Indeed, it is only relatively recently that it has been framed as creative at all, largely due to the work of feminist cultural historians in recent decades. Using the instructive needlework manual - The Art of Needlecraft - as a case study, this paper explores the tensions between creativity and conformity in domestic sewing and craft in the 1930s. In doing so, it offers a way of thinking about the manifestation of everyday creativity. 

As this book, first published in 1935, was aimed specifically at a female readership, close reading highlights the ‘hidden’ creativity of women making objects for the home at that time. Analysis of the contents alone reveals an impressive variety of sewing and craft skills. However, deeper investigation of the language and tone of the writing reflects nuanced messages regarding female creativity that warrant further investigation. On the one hand, the text is full of rules and assertions that might be viewed as constraints. On the other hand, within this exclusively female domain, encouragement is given for the development and practice of tastes, skills and self-expression.

Through the exploration of content, tone and language used, I draw on research methods I have previously utilised when analysing fashion writing (König, 2006). In the course of my discussion I will draw on contextual family information, which, though anecdotal in nature, enhances the study by anchoring hypothetical ideas to extant objects and family testimonies. 

• König, A. (2006) Glossy words: an analysis of fashion writing in British Vogue. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture, 10 (1-2). pp. 205-224.

After completing her first degree at Sussex University, Anna König studied design at Central Saint Martins and the London College of Fashion, where she completed her MA in Fashion Theory.  Having taught in specialist art and design institutions for over a decade, she has extensive subject knowledge relating to the fields of fashion and textiles history and theory. Her research interests have been concerned with fashion writing and representation, and latterly, the exploration of different models of sustainability within the fashion and textile systems, with a specific focus on the concepts of craft, mending and quality, and their role in people’s lives.

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