Emotional Textiles: An Introduction

Affective Epiphanies

“…The affective recognition in bodies in action guides us through facial expressions, body language, medieval dress, and the dynamic movements of armies underway during war. Dolan and Holloway (2016) describe the value of such "emotional textiles" as "a discussion of fabric and feeling" that lends to affective epiphanies. In recognition of the "emotional histories of objects," textiles it is argued hold "greater emotional potency" for features that range from texture, body proximity, and embodiment of collective identities (pp.…”

Love and hope: emotions, dress accessories and a plough in later medieval Britain, c. AD 1250–1500

“…It must be emphasised that researchers do not ignore material culture in emotion studies (e.g. Richardson 2010; Moran & O'Brien 2014; Dolan & Holloway 2016; Ilmakunnas 2016; Toivo 2016), but archaeologists, regrettably, are not at the forefront. It is historians of emotion who have engaged with objects within a discipline that has generally embraced ‘material culture history’ only in the last decade or so (Gerritsen & Riello 2015: 3).…”

In their shoes: using fashion objects to explore the duration and complexity of wartime experiences

“…The role of objects in making, preserving and negotiating memories and emotions is well established, particularly in relation to experiences of loss (Hallam and Hockey 2001). As Daniel Miller (2008, p.91) has discussed, there is often a tendency for people to use their accumulated possessions to root themselves in a collection of positive memories that can provide comfort during experiences of loss, but objects can also be emotionally unsettling (Dolan and Holloway 2016). Although the emotional significance of many of the garments in the Museum of London is not officially recorded, the material properties of these objects can still indicate how they might have been used by their wearers to navigate emotions of loss and destructive change.…”

“…In recent years there has been an increased interest in both emotional history and the relationship between emotions and historical objects (Boddice 2018, Plamper 2009. Textiles and fashion objects are seen as being particularly fertile research subjects due to the intimate nature of the interactions between bodies and the making and wearing of garments and textiles (Dolan and Holloway 2016). Investigating the ways that bodies have shaped and marked objects can provide a means of exploring historic emotions in a way that gives the historical subject agency (Fisk 2019, Sampson 2018.…”