What lays between two toes : Deconstruction and Affect: Exploring the Tabi boots

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to explore the affective capacity of the Tabi boots by examining the object through the ideas of deconstruction. The boots by Maison Martin Margiela were first introduced in 1989 and sold in different variations over the course of the past 30 years. Although there have been several attempts to acknowledge the importance of the body in fashion studies, scholars have not focused on the literal experience of wearing a garment, examined through the touch. Thus, this study begins with a close object study of a pair of Tabi boots and draws on phenomenology to capture the feeling of being dressed. The emphasis is laid upon exploring how the ideas of deconstruction are embedded in the Tabi boots while staying open to other theoretical inquiries. Striving to test the affective potential of the boots, deduced in the first chapter, the second part of this thesis moves from the perception of the ‘I’ to other wearers of the Tabi boots. In conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews, the aim is to understand how the characteristics of the boots may affect the wearer and how this affective capacity may lead to a becoming, as defined by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Guided by ‘applied theory’, this thesis allowed material, theory, and methods to continuously interact and affect each other.