From home to school, clothes are involved in every aspect of children’s lives, from getting dressed, to socialising and learning about themselves and their culture. However, clothing is overlooked in school education. “Tell me” is an invitation for children to explore the world through clothing.
“Tell me” is the first project with children, developed under the Glasgow and Paris Local chapters of D4CR within the framework of IN2FROCC (Children and clothing). This project builds from the child-led experiments of Illustrious Lab and is nourished by the methods and practice of Studio Abi, pioneering creative empowerment of children through textile education.
From the visual analysis of what they are wearing and how they define themselves through their clothes, children from schools around the world share their everyday life in clothing.
“Tell me 1” was the initial experience held between January and April 2022 with 2 groups of 6 to 7 years old children, one in the South of Scotland (UK) and one in the suburb of Paris (France).
“Tell me 2” creates a link between children from the suburbs of Paris (France) and the City of Wuxi in eastern China, aged 8 to 9, from October to December 2022. Following a child-led approach, this experience explores their interactions with clothing.
In 2020, Laetitia Barbu, Anne-Charlotte Hartmann-Bragard and Aude Campbell Le Guennec decided to combine their international networks, expertise and practice to explore children’s direct interaction with clothing.
In November 2021, they convey their approach to design a project exploring children's interactions with clothing: "Tell me". 120 children have participated in the first two chapters of “tell me”, coordinated by 4 teachers, 3 investigators and 1 research assistant. This experimentation is now open to groups of children in other geographical areas to keep exploring what children can express through clothing.
https://d4crscottishchapter.wordpress.com/gallery/
“Tell me” is an experience open to all age groups around the world. As a teacher or educator, you will be given a light-touch guideline to ensure that children are all set in the initial phase of the experiment. The children work individually or in group on the visualisation of their dress codes via collage, drawings, photos etc. Children access the visual material digitally or physically.
