About the project
This research project considers the Impact and legacy of Portsmouth’s underground nightclub scene in the 1980s and the formation of identity through dress. It will involve developing oral history and wardrobe projects, and working closely with Portsmouth Museums’ local and social history collections.
The project will be jointly supervised by Rebecca Wallis (Collections Manager) and Grace Scott (programming and engagement Manager) Portsmouth City Museums, and Prof. Jo Turney and Dr Shaun Cole, department of Fashion and Textiles, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton.
The student will be expected to spend time at both Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and Portsmouth City Council and Museums as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK.
The student will be embedded with the activities of the Intersectionality: Politics, Identities, Cultures, (iPIC) Research Group (Research | Intersectionality: Politics - Identities - Cultures Research Group | University of Southampton).
The aim of this research project is to investigate the impact of engagement with alternative nightclub spaces in the 1980s on identity formation over time. It will explore the ‘underground’ non-mainstream (including alternative, indie and LGBTQ+) nightclub scene of Portsmouth in the 1980s.
Nightclubs create a space in which one can truly be oneself and a space in which clothing and style plays a particular role in the formation of individual and collective identities. In the space of escape and safety offered by nightclubs identities, systems of belief and identities are formed through consumption, of space, music, clothes, and other accoutrements that indicate ‘belonging’ many of which are linked directly to regional identity.
Clothing and style are vital to identity formation and specifically to those who are considered as ‘marginal’. The project addresses experiences of marginality in the 1980s and how these were explored in Portsmouth nightclubs. Focusing on the complexities of identity and dress at the time, the project revisits 1980s clubbers to consider how these formative years have impacted on their identity and dress now.
The project will gather recollections, experiences, photographs and testimony of under-represented groups to consider the long-term impact of nightclubs on personal style. It aims to engage with a vast array of the wider Portsmouth/Hampshire region aged 50+ population who participated in alternative club scenes from the 1980s onwards. Indicative research considerations include:
- Understand how space and place inform the development of dress and style identity over time
- Consider the pivotal role of nightlife spaces in developing sense of self and determining how to understand self and others
- Reflect on the role of Portsmouth and surrounding towns and its nightlife in formative experiences and how do these continue to live on through life spans.
- Recognise how a community sense of belonging manifested for marginalised people through dressed appearance over an individual life span.
- Understand the impact of ageing and the development of identity and style.
- Consider notions of ‘marginality’ and the impact and shifts (if any) of this term in relation to lived experience and socio-cultural and political change.
The successful student will be expected to spend time carrying out research and gaining relevant experience with Portsmouth Museums and Portsmouth City Council as part of the studentship.
