An international fashion research project exploring the 'craft of use'

Never Washed

Laundering is high impact and yet not laundering is socially unacceptable. But some pieces defy social pressure and are never washed, often motivated by the fear that laundering causes something precious to be lost: a scent, a memory, the particular way a garment fits, the quality of handwork, and even a political stance.

I like it as it is

"I’ve never washed this skirt because I haven’t really needed to… It’s got a hole in it there as well; I hadn’t noticed that, I’ll have to sew that up. I don’t really want to wash it because I’m worried that the sequins and things will come off, as some of them have, but I quite like the fact that it’s quite tatty as well."

London - January 2010
Photograph by Sean Michael