Tun Yuh Hand Mek Fashion:
a Clothing Collection
“Tun Yuh Hand Mek Fashion: Dancehall Fashion as Everyday Resistance in Jamaica and the Caribbean Diaspora” is a dissertation project that analyzes how women use elements of Jamaican dancehall fashion to protest intersectional inequalities of racism, classism, sexism, etc. More specifically, I argue that Jamaican dancehall fashion is a historical palimpsest that speaks to women’s resistance, self-fashioning, and the formation of social networks and labours of care. Throughout the dissertation, I focus on dancehall fashion as a site of everyday resistance and creation for women. I take on Carol Tulloch’s idea that dancehall clothing is a “form of freedom [and] self-invention.”
In this project, the Jamaican saying, “Tun yuh hand mek fashion” becomes concept, theory, and practice. “Tun yuh hand mek fashion” refers to the ability to take what you have and turn it into something new. It speaks to resistances of the everyday because it focuses on innovation and resourcefulness to create something out of necessity. I emphasize how “tun yuh hand mek fashion” is an essential part of women’s engagement with dancehall fashion. I employ the expression “tun yuh hand mek fashion” by literally making fashion (designing and constructing garments) out of old pieces of clothing and fabric and transforming them into something new or different. This reflects women using clothes (either buying new clothing or repurposing clothes they already have) to transform their identities into personas that they present in the dancehall space. In an effort to stay true to the phrase, I have attempted to recycle fabric that is available to me from clothing I no longer wear. As a result, using textiles and fabric as my main method of art-making pushes me to think about the importance of sustainability which is precisely why I have decided to make garments out of clothing I already own. What transpires from “tun yuh hand mek fashion” as a practice are multiple garments that culminates into a clothing collection. Each garment showcased in this collection reflects how elements and aesthetics of Caribbean celebrations of resistance that originated in the 17th century (eg. Jonkonnu, Carnival, etc.) are still prevalent in dancehall fashion.
My project intervenes in existing scholarship on dancehall in three ways. First, it focuses on the fashion and sartorial aspect of dancehall culture rather than the musical aspect. This is of interest because it gives insight into the materiality and visualities of dancehall culture rather than the sonic. Secondly, much of the discourse surrounding dancehall scholarship focuses its emergence since the 1970s onwards. My scholarship on dancehall is grounded in the historical. Each chapter starts with a specific dancehall fashion trend/aesthetic and traces its historical resonances to create a bridge between the past and present. Finally, this project is multimodal. In addition to the written component of the dissertation, I am designing and creating a clothing collection that reflects the research I have done. I put the work in multimodal by writing, designing, sewing, filming, and creating videos. My work advocates for public-facing scholarship and expands ideas of what scholarship can be and the forms it can take.
From April to May 2025, my clothing collection was exhibited in the South College lobby (3rd floor) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. To read the descriptions of each garment, click here.