Eleni from Greece and Niyati from India met in London. They were both pursuing MA in Fashion Curation at London College of Fashion together and were fascinated by material culture studies and memory. It was particularly a strange time to be studying in 2020, as many would relate, the times felt isolating even when the world was connected ‘online’. Meanwhile, these two confided through a few email exchanges talking about material objects, about where they were at the time, sharing readings, poetry, personal reflections.
Soon, that wasn’t enough, and they naturally began making an anthology compiling their reflective writing pieces. And soon, that wasn’t enough either. They found the need to expand the space. They saw the possibility of what was merely email exchanges could turn into a bigger network, where similar conversations around dress and memory could be tended and nurtured.
And that’s how Dress Memory Archive was manifesting itself as a repository storing works of academicians & creative professionals and as a networking platform for anyone who simply engages in dialogues about dress or any wearable object holding intimate memories of certain events or personal biography. It is through these collective memories that we can further unfold multiple threads of personal histories relating to individual identities and regions, otherwise unknown or marginalised.