Portrait Youth

How can we use the universal language of fashion and dress to explore and articulate the hopes, concerns and vision of the region’s diverse youth networks?

Portrait Youth is a collaborative, participatory research project that aims to explore the personal and collective identities of young people in the Greater Manchester region, through the lens of styling and dress. In 2017 the first ‘wear your identity’ workshops took place with the Manchester Youth Council (MYC), a politically active group who represent their communities, their city and the voice of young people nationally. The workshop model was based on Goffman’s (1961;1995) theory of ‘Identity Kits’. Participants were asked to bring clothing or artefacts that represented their individual and civic identities to a styling workshop and photoshoot. The images from these workshops were displayed in October 2017 at Manchester Central Library during the Design Manchester Festival. Collaborations since have included a group of autistic young people, the MYCS comic relief sponsored Getting Out for Good initiative, a LGBT+ group from the Proud Trust and the Reclaiming the Narrative project, a Manchester Metropolitan University Arts and Research project aimed at challenging Islamophobia and empowering young British Muslims.

Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmate. New York: Doubleday.

Goffman, E. (1995). ‘Identity kits’, in M. E. Roach-Higgins, J. B. Eicher and K. K. Johnson (eds), Dress and Identity. New York: Fairchild
Publications, pp. 119–21.

Collaborative Partners

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Manchester Central Library, Manchester Youth Council (MYC), Design Manchester, Manchester Art Gallery, The Manchester Centre for Youth Studies (MCYS), The Getting out for Good Project (MMU), The Proud Trust, Jack Arts, The Reclaiming the Narrative project (MMU).

Outputs

Exhibitions

Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J. & Glazzard, H. (2019, August 21) Portrait Youth X The Proud Trust [Exhibition]. Kampus, Manchester.

Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J. & Powell, M. (2019, June 21) Portrait Youth X Getting Out for Good [Exhibition]. Brooks Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester.

Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J. & Gwatkin, A. (2019, March 30) Portrait Youth: Wearing Identity. [Exhibition]. Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester.

Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Gwatkin, A., 2019. Portrait Youth: Wearing Identity, IFFTI Conference. Fashion: ID. Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester Art Gallery., 30/3/2019 – 7/7/2019.

Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., & Hitchen, Z. (2018, May 7). Youth Transforming [Exhibition]. Bunka Fashion Colllege, Japan.

Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., & Hitchen, Z. (2017, October 7). Portrait Youth [Exhibition]. Central Library, Manchester.

Articles

Jenkinson, J., 2020. ”Wear your identity’: Styling identities of youth through dress ‐ A conceptual model’, Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 7 (1), pp. 73-99.

Jenkinson, J., 2018. ‘Cultures of Youth: New narratives of style and identity’, Document 17, pp. 44-49.

Impact

Portrait Youth offers a model for social and cultural interaction and a medium through which diverse groups of young people are able to explore their individual identity but also generate a collective vision of contemporary youth. Framing styling as a method through which participants can explore their own relationship with dress and use this as a powerful conduit to self-reflection.
‘I think everything in my life has helped me shape my identity… coming here today, I realised that the clothes I wear would give me a further understanding of what my identity is.’ Sam, 16.

The research has direct significance and impact regionally but the methods and practices extend debate around youth, dress and identity internationally, as the research model and outcomes traverse geographical and cultural boundaries. The outcomes from the research have been disseminated through local and international exhibitions, conferences, public talks and journal articles. These public events and exhibitions have disseminated a powerful expression of identity and youth through the lens of fashion and dress, as articulated by the regions young people.

Funding

The project workshops have been internally funded by Manchester Fashion Institute, the Manchester School of Art Research Centre and the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies (MCYS). We are also very grateful to Design Manchester and The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) who funded the first exhibition at Central Library, and included the exhibition on the Design Manchester Schedule. Manchester Art Gallery, Central Library and Jacks Arts have also generously supported the project providing exhibition space across the city.

Research Led Training

The project has been presented to UG students on L6 Fashion Cultures (FDT/FP), L5 Fashion Collaboration (FDT) and PG students on the Perform Unit.