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Over 850,000 people living in the United Kingdom have been diagnosed with dementia, yet knowledge about this condition amongst the general population remains relatively poor. Many studies have evaluated the level of public knowledge and understanding about dementia from a research and professional service perspective, however none have considered this condition from the perspective of the wider public. In this preliminary overview, we analyse and describe high level narratives collected from 143 respondents to a dementia Directive commissioned to the Mass Observation Project. These narratives present a perspective on the public knowledge and understanding about dementia not previously considered, where respondents have written openly about their own experiences, and reflected on their perception of the wider public's knowledge and understanding about dementia. This unique perspective importantly enhances our knowledge about the public's understanding and awareness of dementia, and informs the main areas of public concern found in the analysis: care responsibilities, impact on relationships, and fears about developing dementia.

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This material culture-based text researches the history of a collection of damaged clothing (1900–50s) once worn by farming families in Normandy and Brittany. The clothing was excavated from a textile dump in an abandoned warehouse in Normandy in 2012. This research examines the six life cycle stages of this clothing from original use, to abandonment, resurrection, and upcycling onto the extreme edges of the vintage fashion world. This text then follows the growing use of ragged clothing as design inspiration for both costly couture garments and the cheapest mass high street designs over the last thirty years or more. Carefully destroyed but brand-new and sweet-smelling denim jeans and jackets are now admired by celebrities and young high street fashion consumers around the world as fashionable commodities — worn with little regard to the health dangers faced by workers dealing with sand blasting and bleaches. The research then examines the cultural and social forces behind this interest in destroyed textiles in the world of fashion.

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