Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Art History and Visual Culture

Department

Fashion Business

First Advisor

Chajuana Trawick Ferguson

Second Advisor

Trenton Olsen

Third Advisor

Joseph Weber

Abstract

This thesis examines the usage of practice-led methodology for historic dress recreation projects and how to implement and objectively analyze the findings from such research in an academically rigorous fashion. In section one, I examine the distinction between different types of recreation practices, the establishment of embodied practice within historic dress research, address concerns centering practice-led methodology, and develop a methodology for practice-led historic dress recreation projects and rubric for assessment of that methodology. In section two, I fully test the methodology and rubric by utilizing it in my own recreation and present this process using the methodology’s proposed deliverables system and peer review rubric. Finally, in section three, I assess the methodology and rubric’s success and discuss potential improvements and further research. I conclude that the establishment of this methodological outline will help bring practice-led projects into an accessible and academically viable format, which will help the field of dress history expand more rapidly.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: Dress history academia lacks an objective, academically rigorous methodology for evaluating and analyzing the findings of practice-led historic dress recreation projects.

  • The Method: The researcher developed a specialized deliverables system and peer-review rubric for practice-led actualistic recreations, testing the framework by reconstructing an 1885 green silk taffeta ensemble held by the Gregg Museum of Art and Design at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

  • Quantitative Finding: The historical recreation project achieved a self-assessment rubric score of 31 out of 35 points (88.6 percent); the original garment featured machine stitching averaging 24 stitches per inch, straight hand stitches at 5 stitches per inch, and whip stitches at 8 stitches per inch; cutting and basting the replica required 23 hours of labor.

  • Qualitative Finding: The reconstruction process demonstrated that the original 1885 maker prioritized time-saving, non-standard construction methods like eye-measured pleating and raw hems, which illustrated the material constraints and resourcefulness of middle-class women in Appalachia.

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