Forskaren i provrummet

Abstract

When it comes to weddings, the subject of the author's forthcoming thesis, verbal and textual material is not enough to understand the feelings around choosing and wearing the wedding dress. Trying on the dresses was a methodological experiment to correct this and theoretically the approach owes to the actor network theory of Bruno Latour. As the author and her "bride's maid" entered the wedding gown boutique they had to take off their shoes before browsing through the racks of dresses. There was a vast amount of white, long and expensive dresses to select from. In the article, some of the bodily feelings that these elaborate dresses awoke are suggested. Wedding dresses are not just symbols; they do something by shaping the body and materially forcing the bearer to pay close attention when moving. They are both limiting and enabling in terms of the "inscriptions" of design. Sharp glass pearls can scratch the body and the fact that the wearer can not button the dresses herself creates a dependent position.

Keywords

• actor network theory
• inscriptions of design
• wedding dresses