Performative Wear: Speculating the Potential to Challenge Designer‐Centric Narratives in Fashion Education

Abstract This paper proposes the concept of ‘performative wear’ as a means to challenge the designer‐centric narratives of fashion education and to reclaim the unacknowledged creativity arising from the materiality of clothing and the performativity of the body. Through Walter Benjamin's concept of the aura, the article explores how the dependence of the fashion industry on the mass production of clothing paradoxically reinforces the uniqueness and mysticism of the design archetype. This reinforces the myth of the ‘designer's creativity’, recalling the authority of works of art before the age of technological reproduction. Meanwhile, by adopting Bertolt Brecht's theory of epic theatre, the paper suggests moving away from the talent‐driven narrative of fashion education that places students in the position of winners. While maintaining a critical distance from the designer's intentions, ‘performative wear’ refers to the agency of the wearer to interpret and perform the garment. Instead of adopting a predetermined design, the user reinterprets the meaning of the item of clothing This expands the notion of creativity within fashion and represents a shift in thinking about wearing as a socio‐political, bodily movement rather than mere consumption. In doing so, the paper draws on the theories of Benjamin and Brecht to challenge the fashion industry's myths and commodification of ‘designer creativity’ and to call for a reflection on fashion education.