Nostalgia as inspiration for fashion design – Designing the present of future through nostalgia

Nostalgia is a recurring theme throughout the creative process of many fashion designers (Mollow, 2004).

According to Tilburg, Sedikides & Wildschut (2015), nostalgia can particularly favour and encourage creativity. Thanks to their research on creativity and literature, based on a nostalgic daydream of the present and the future, they have come to the conclusion thatnostalgia can be a very efficient tool to spur on a creative process.

But how does nostalgia fuel a creative approach in fashion design? How does the past merge with the present to formulate fashion’s future?

This phenomenon will be explored by using nostalgia as a startingpoint for the creative process of three designers, as well as for threeof the author’s creative projects in fashion design: the 3D Tutu, the 3D dress and the mathDress.

This research aims to concretely demonstrate how nostalgia can be applied in the conception of a garment collection for fashion design students or professionals, and how to gain a deeper insight on this emotion without losing one’s self in it, or feeling overwhelmed.