Multi-sensory methods: Toward a crip methodology in fashion studies

Abstract

Cripistemologies are ways of knowing that emerge from the embodied experiences of disabled bodyminds, while multi-sensory methods value knowledge produced through haptic, visual, auditory and other sensory forms. Drawing on these approaches, this article proposes a crip methodology for fashion studies by exploring the value of combining research methods to honour the knowledge of disabled people and their sensory engagement in the world. We reflect on the four phases of our project, ‘Cripping Masculinity’, and its entangled methodologies and methods. The project engaged 50 disabled, D/deaf and neurodivergent men and masculine people – who we refer to as collaborators – to examine how they produced masculinity and disability through their engagement with fashion and dress. Collaborators took part in wardrobe studies where they shared their experiences with their clothing; fashion hacking where they worked with design students to deconstruct and remake one of their existing garments to better support their bodyminds, and a fashion exhibition and fashion show where they co-produced events to disseminate their dress experiences and hacked clothing. Our analysis demonstrates that combining multi-sensory methods in one project recognizes the different ways that people inhabit the world as sources for generating and disseminating knowledge about the relationship between disability and fashion. While a crip methodology poses challenges for producing research in legible scholarly forms, it also urges fashion studies scholars to intervene into academic ableism through inclusive and expansive research methodologies and methods.