Reading the Thread

Reading the Thread brings together artists, theorists, and designers to explore the nature and use of cloth as a means of record and communication.

Cloth is constructed from threads and, in acknowledging its qualities of recording or communicating a story, we are reading the threads – the read thread. There is also, however, an East Asian myth that when you are born you are linked by an invisible red thread to your soul mate; no matter what you do, this red thread connects you to your fate and, although the thread may become tangled or infinitely long, it will never break.

Exploring histories of making and cultural practices, a multidisciplinary team of international scholars use the metaphorical thread to link the experiences of cloth production, lineage practices, contemporary challenges, and sustainable futures. They explore, through imagery and ideas, the agency of cloth to shape and communicate the sensations and emotions connected with human experience.

Divided into four sections on reading cloth, challenging the stories it tells, following the thread of its narrative, and finally anticipating its future, The Read Thread allows a variety of viewpoints and a diversity of voices, without favouring theory or specific cultural approaches. It interrogates cloth as a record of experience within its social, historical, psychological, and cultural context. The authors explore our encounters with cloth and its role in the exploration of identity and biography, representative of passage, exchange, life, and death.

Provocative and timely, and beautifully illustrated with over 50 colour images, it is vital reading for students and scholars of textiles, fashion, material culture, art, and anthropology.