(Dis-)engaged older men? Hegemonic masculinity, fashion and ageing
- Submitting institution
-
Nottingham Trent University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 1R - 698359
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1386/cc.4.3.185_1
- Title of journal
- Clothing Cultures
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 185
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3
- ISSN
- 2050-0742
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- December
- Year of publication
- 2017
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
3
- Research group(s)
-
C - Fashion and Textiles Research Centre
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- Yes
- Additional information
- This article was published in a Special ‘Methodology’ Issue Clothing Cultures. It addresses a significant gap in existing literature by discussing older men’s experiences of ageing through the lens of fashion and clothing. It explores the nature of cultural and theoretical disengagement in relation to older heterosexual men’s lived experience of fashion by drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews and personal inventories with a small sample of British men. By analysing the findings through Connell’s (2005) influential concept of hegemonic masculinity, the authors argue that some men both resist and reproduce such stereotypical disengagement.
The article draws on Townsend’s previous PhD and postdoctoral research into the history and theory of clothing in relation to fashioning the changing/ageing body (Entwistle and Townsend 2020) and her tacit knowledge as a womens and menswear designer in the 1980s. She was instrumental in identifying the convenience sample, drawn from Nottingham, UK. The research methodology was tested through a complementary investigation conducted by Townsend and Sadkowska into the role of ‘Emotional Fit’ (Townsend et al 2015-2019) within clothing longevity. The study also employed wardrobe studies and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of interviews to accrue first hand evidence of older (female) consumer’s meaningful engagements with dress objects, towards sustainable fashion design.
The article is supplemented by a short commentary piece by Sadkowska and Townsend published via The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/cardigans-and-anoraks-wont-cut-it-why-there-should-be-more-fashion-for-older-men-92201) which has attracted over 7,000 reads and has been shared via: RTE, Good Men Project, Newsify (App), Bude and Beyond, Newsblur, Inoreader (Rss Reader) and The Independent.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -