Crochet Chronicles: Embodying Refugee Experiences Through Artwear
Zoran Dobric
Assistant Professor, Fashion Institute of Technology, School of Graduate Studies, MFA Fashion Design
The purpose of the practice-based research project Crochet Chronicles is a to explore the refugee experience and healing through artwear. The garment is informed by the designer’s refugee experience when he fled the war in the former Yugoslavia in the early 90’s. The author expresses the memories of his lost home by incorporating the motif of his grandmother’s hand-crochet doily. The doilies and other handicrafts were cherished heirlooms that many Eastern/Central European refugees and immigrants carried with them as they fled their homes.
Dobric hand screen printed the enlarged doily motif on a gold emergency blanket - material often seen wrapped around refugees fleeing their homes. The use of the emergency blanket draws attention to the issue of global refugee crises and the designer’s recollection of his childhood memories of southern European Byzantine, Baroque, and Secession gilding. The Crochet Chronicles dress is overlaid with hand-sculpted gold-painted clay pieces inlaid in black cording symbolizing the Byzantine mosaics that, along with the use of mournful black palette, imbue contemplation and healing.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (2024), there are currently over 117.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, 29.4 million of which are refugees. It is rare for designers to engage with refugee topics, however, there are two prominent examples. Hussein Chalayan depicted refugees fleeing their homes in his seminal Between the Words (2000) collection (Chalayan and Evans, 2005). Demna Gvasalia engaged with his own experience by referencing fleeing his native Georgia in the 90s in several Balenciaga and Vetements collections (Mower, 2018). Crochet Chronicles contributes to this under-researched area by offering a unique, personal approach through autoethnographic storytelling—forming futures of care and healing through artwear.
The design uses a bold color contrast of black and gold to create a striking visual impact. A rich textural effect is created through the crinkles of the emergency blanket, the screen-printed enlarged black doilies, and the rough surface of clay elements and rope. The oversized layered cape-like silhouette references refugees wrapped in emergency blankets and clergy wearing ecclesiastical vestments. This silhouette presents a monumental, sculptural effect with evocative connotations. Asymmetrical balance was employed to create a visually dynamic and unified composition. The design’s conceptual narrative is successfully conveyed through the unique use of design principles and elements.
Through this practice-based research project, autoethnography has emerged as a methodology through which the author was able to tell his story about displacement. Autoethnography seeks to understand and examine cultural phenomena through the analysis of personal experiences. Researchers employ autoethnography to use personal experience to illustrate facets of cultural experience (Ellis, Adams, and Bochner, 2011). Autoethnography takes account of one’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences as a form of data in its own right (Luvaas, 2016, cited in Kawamura, 2022) and has allowed the author to imbue his designs with personal narrative.
In terms of material development, multiple bonding options were tested to select the most effective backing for the challenging and fragile emergency blanket material. The original crochet doily was scanned, digitally manipulated, and resized to create a motif that was exposed to a screen using photo sensitive emulsion. After the blanket material was heat-bonded onto a cotton backing, the doily motif was screen printed by hand using black acrylic ink. The dress overlay was hand-sculpted using polymer clay before hand-painting to add a 3d lace-like texture. To create the meandering motif, rope was pinned in place on a cork board with the intersections secured using zip ties. Once the rope was secured into a net-like structure, the clay elements were sewn in place by hand. Working with the security blanket material was challenging due to its fragility and unique properties, moreover multiple bonding, printing inks, and clay types were tested to arrive at the desired outcome.
Although several designers have explored refugeeism, notably Gvasalia and Chalayan, the current work offers a different, novel response to existing artefacts by engaging with autoethnography to retell the author’s lived experiences. The Crochet Chronicles illustrates how fashion can foreground displaced and marginalized voices and create empathy through storytelling. Not only does this work make refugee stories more visible, but it also highlights the need for further research into the intersecting issues of refugeeism and fashion studies. Through this practice-based research project, autoethnography has emerged as a methodology that recounted the author’s stories of loss, mourning, and hope. Despite the negative aspects of refugee experiences, such as war and grief, the author also shares his positive realizations and the political priorities stemming from his experience: the utopian need for unity and peace. These evocative narratives, expressed through fashion, highlight the increasing global issues of displacement, healing, and hope to help form a more empathic and peaceful future.