Fashion | Grocery | Auto | Electrical | Gifts

Original

 

Explanation

Instead of getting interesting letters in the post, in my house we get fashion catalogues. In particular, Jack Wills catalogues – six or more every different season. They're selling us ‘aspirational’ lifestyles, tempting us to buy the commodities they feature. The people in them, the things they have, they want us to want them, and we can fall into the trap of wanting them. We imagine ourselves using this, wearing that, experiencing them together. I asked myself: how could I create a fashion catalogue which highlighted how personal these things were both to me and to the people who had made them? These are interrelated 'lifestyles' and this is the lifestyle catalogue you can browse to buy into them.

References and Further Reading

Castree, N. (2004) The geographical lives of commodities: problems of analysis and critique. Social and cultural Geography 5(1): 21-35

Chakrabortty, A. (2013) The woman who nearly died making your iPad. The Guardian 5 August (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/05/woman-nearly-died-making-ipad last accessed 10 June 2014)

CNN (2009) Factory worker commits suicide over missing iPhone prototype. CNN 22 July (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/07/22/china.apple.iphone.suicide/index.html?eref=rss_latest last accessed 10 June 2010)

Cook, I. et al. (2006) Geographies of food: following. Progress in Human Geography 30(5): 655–666

Cook, I. and Woodyer, T. (2012) Live of things. in Sheppard, E., Barnes, T. and Peck, J. (eds.) The New Companion to Economic Geography. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell: 226-241

Crang, P. (2005) The geographies of material culture. in Cloke, P., Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. (eds.) Introducing Human Geographies (2nd edition). London, Arnold: 168-181

Foster, R. (2006) Tracking globalization: commodities and value in motion. in Tilley, C., Keane, W., Kuchler, S., Rowlands, M. and Spyer, P. (eds.) Handbook of material culture. London, Sage: 285-302

Gonzalez, J. (2013) Supply chain of cheap clothing stained with the blood of Bangladeshi workers. New York Daily News 25 April (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/clothing-supply-chain-stained-bangladeshi-blood-article-1.1327748 last accessed 10 June 2014)

Harvey, D. (2010) Commodities and exchange. in his A companion to Marx’s Capital. London, Verso: 15-53

IUF (2009) Tesco’s finest tea – produced in far from finest conditions? IUF 2 July (http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=6017&view_records=1&en=1 last accessed 10 June 2014)

Marx, K. (1867) Section 4: The fetishism of commodities and the secret thereof. in his Capital: Volume 1. Marx/Engles Internet Archive: www.marxists.org: 46-52

Miller, D. (2008) Consumption. in Tilley, C., Keane, W., Kuchler, S., Rowlands, M. and Spyer, P. (eds.) Handbook of material culture. London, Sage: 341-354

DePalma, A. (2006) Ramapough tribe sues Ford over sludge dumping in New Jerse., The New York Times 19 January (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/nyregion/19ringwood.html?_r=0 last accessed 10 June 2014)

Penny Dreadful Vintage (2011) Ugg Boots: a history of scandal. 9 January (www.pennydreadfulvintage.com/ugg-boots-a-history-and-a-scandal/ last accessed 5 October 2013)

Raynowska, H. (2012) Don’t let children work as slaves in gold mines. ForceChange 23 February (www.forcechange.com/14833/don’t-let-children-work-as-slaves-in-gold-mines last accessed 7 October 2013)

Sandlin, J. and Milam, J. (2008) ‘Mixing pop culture and politics’: culture jamming and anti-consumption activism as critical public pedagogy. Curriculum Inquiry 38(3): 323-350

Shapton, L. (2009) Important artifacts and personal property from the collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, including books, street fashion and jewellery. London, Bloomsbury: 3-17

The Olive Press (2012) Kate Middleton urged to boycott Zara. The Olive Press 14 January (http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2012/01/14/kate-middleton-urged-to-boycott-zara/ last accessed 10 June 2014)

Trapese Collective (2007) Introduction: do it yourself. in the Trapese Collective (eds.) Do it yourself: a handbook for changing our world. London, Pluto: 1-10

Page created as coursework for the ‘Geographies of material culture’ module at the University of Exeter. Reproduced with kind permission of the author. Car photo modified under Creative Commons license from here. Ugg boot photo reproduced under Creative Commons license from here. Tea box photo reproduced under Creative Commons license from here.