A Creative Process in the Art

of Costume Design

Albert Rothenberg
Robert S. Sobel

Abstract
An empirical study of the psychology of creativity carried out over a period of more than 20 years has identified
"
a specific creative operation called "homospatial process. This process has been shown to have an important
function in various types of creative activities in the arts and sciences. As defined, the homospatial process consists
ofactively conceiving two or more discrete entities occupying the same mentally represented space or spatial location,
a conception leading to the articulation of new identities.
A technical method for facilitating homospatial thinking in costume design is described. This method involves
the use of slide transparencies superimposed on a projection screen from two separate light sources and reproduces
the effect of discrete entities occupying the same space. Specific examples demonstrate the feasibiltiy of using such
a technique to facilitate the creative process of costume design.

An understanding of the field of costume naturally

includes the artistic creative process of costume design.
However, the idea of a scientific approach to creativity is
fraught with difficulty. Although artists and others are
keenly interested in understanding and explicating the na-
ture of the creative process, there is a tendency to view the
scientist’s attempts in this area as hopelessly reductionistic.
Scientists themselves are concerned about such a danger
with respect to their work and, in addition, they are con-
fronted with numerous conceptual difficulties in structuring
valid studies. Moreover, when some clarifications and ex-
planations do result, scientists may become interested in
applying their findings to actual creative endeavors. Such
applications are often experienced as suspect and uncom-
fortable to a viewer or an audience because they seem like
The Homospatial Process
The homospatial process was identified through
empirical scientific research with writers, visual artists, and
scientists (Rothenberg, 1976). It consists of actively con-
ceiving two or more discrete entities occupying the same
mentally representedspace orspatiallocation, a conception
leading to the articulation of new identities. Operating in a
wide variety of types of artistic and productive activity, the
homospatial process may involve any of the sensory modali-
ties. Discrete entities occupying the same spatial location
may be derived from any of the following sensory experi-
ences : visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and kin-

tinkering with the creative process, a process all strongly
admire and respect. Despite all these difficulties, scientific
explication of creativity can lead to valuable and interesting
results. The present paper concerns an empirically discov-
ered thought process operating in creativity, homospatial
thinking, and a procedure for the application of this thought
process in the field of creative costume design.
Authors’Address: Albert Rothenberg, M.D., and Robert S. Sobel,
Ph. D., Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, MA 10262.
esthetic. As discrete entities cannot occupy the same space
in physical reality, the homospatial process involves repre-
sentations that superimpose or fuse or are otherwise brought
together into the same spatial location in the mind. Only in
the mind is it possible to defy intrinsic spatial characteristics
to this extent. Such representations are not stable, but mental
images formed during the process of homospatial thinking
are quite fluid and dynamic. There is continual transforma-
tion and interaction until a new entity is formed. In science
this is usually a hypothetical or theoretical construct; in
literature, it is a metaphorical structure, an image, or more
extensive literary integration; the result in music can consist
of new musical patterns and themes. In the visual arts it is a
new design, new shape and composition, or a rather com-

Acknowledgement: Dr. Julia J. Rothenberg, Wendy Menatti, and plete conception of a painting, sculpture, or building. In
Helen R. Linton for help with selection of photographs. costume design, as we shall describe below, it may also
produce new patterns and compositions as well as new fabric

27
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textures and blends. Evidence for the widespread impor-
tance ofthis particular mode of thinking in creative processes
has been derived from extensive and intensive interviews
with outstanding creative persons in the arts and in science,
from documentary historical material, and in direct experi-
mentation with talented persons in literature and visual arts
(Rothenberg, 1979; Rothenberg, 1986; Rothenberg & Sobel,
1980; Sobel & Rothenberg, 1980; Rothenberg & Sobel,
1981).
The homospatial process, it should be emphasized, is an
intentional and conscious one. It is neither a mode nor a type
of unconscious thinking, nor is it a product of an altered state
of consciousness. The fused and superimposed images do
not arise or well up from an unconscious source. Discrete
entities are brought together into the same space because the
artist or scientist creator feels and believes that they ought to
be together and thus he actively produces a new integration.
The homospatial process involves a complicated series of
events and mental activities in which discrete entities are
first selected, a dynamic fusion or superimposition then
fleetingly occurs and, following that, the newly developed
image is related to a particular creative context. Although
homospatial thinking is not the only psychological process
involved in high level creativity, it appears to be an important
one.
Superimpostition and Fusion
Although the fleeting phenomenon, the initial homospa-
tial construct (or conception) of discrete entities occupying
the same space, is an internal mental representation, we have
attempted to externalize and reproduce it by means of a
technical procedure. Because visual imagery is more clear-
cut than other types and because it appears to be a common
factor in various types of creative endeavor, we have used
visual elements to reproduce internal mental images of enti-
ties occupying the same spatial location. To do this, we have
used positive transparencies and slide projectors. Because
positive transparencies, or slide photographs, allow for the
possibility of transillumination, images can be projected
onto a screen superimposed upon one another. Because
physical entities can retain their discreteness or at least their
salient identifying characteristics under such conditions of
superimposition, these projected images seem roughly to ap-
proximate the homospatial mental representation. While
they are somewhat diffuse and even difficult at first to view,
they come closest to representing the unstable mental con-
struct of two or more entities interacting.
Although superimposing photographic images is com-
monplace in the field of photography, it has never before
been used to study creative thinking or to facilitate creative
results outside of that field. Photographer-artists commonly
use superimposition to produce various types of surrealistic
photographic effects and even to suggest and evoke inner
psychological experiences. In psychology only superimpo-
sition of faces has been explored. This was done first by
Galton (1883). In an attempt to photograph prototypical
physiognomies, Galton superimposed multiple images of
actual faces of persons of particular types such as the
following: criminals, sufferers from particular illnesses, and
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members of a particular family. For example, in attempting
to construct the facial image of the prototypical criminal,
he superimposed numerous faces of actual criminals on a
photographic screen and then transformed these images into
still photographs. A more recent investigation involving
superimposition of faces consisted of the use of a stereo-
scope in a study of the cognitive meaning of perceived
combined emotions by Hastorf, Osgood, and Ono (1966).
These investigators used photographs of faces representing
various emotional states; they superimposed them in order
to see if subjects would label the resulting images as compro-
mises between the components. Their results were indefinite
and inconclusive. Singer (1971) attempted to refine their
experiment by using a monocular presentation of rapidly
alternating versions of the facial images. Singer’s technique,
known as flicker fusion, overcame problems with the stereo-
scope consisting of weakness of an image due to binocular
rivalry and dominance factors between the eyes. Results
were that judgments of such factors as pleasantness, control,
and activation of facial composites were intermediary be-
tween previously obtained judgments of the unaltered com-
ponent images.
In addition to psychological studies relating fusion and
superimposition of facial images to cognitive meaning, both
binocular fusion in the stereoscope and flicker fusion have
been well known practical and investigative techniques in
other fields. Flicker fusion is the basic mechanism of projec-
tion of motion pictures, and the stereoscope is the tool for
exploring the binocular mechanism of three-dimensional
perception (Harris & Gregory, 1973; Ross, 1976; Rubin &
Walls, 1969).
Neither flicker fusion nor binocular fusion were appro-
priate for representing the homospatial mental construct. In
order to display two or more visual elements as occupying
the same spatial location, we used the full visual exposure of
a slide projector and screen because it allowed us to eliminate
any dominance or obfuscation effects. Most important, we
needed to select and match slide photographs in very specific
ways.
Most photographic scenes contain elements that domi-
nate perceptually over other elements, and an overall picture
tends to be perceived with particular elements in the fore-
ground and other elements in the background. Shape, clarity,
and thematic interest play a role in this, but we found that
lighting played an especially important part. When bringing
together themes already having strong foreground and back-
ground features, it was crucial that the two be balanced in
foreground lighting particularly. In order for there to be a
superimposition in which neither foreground feature nor
figural element predominated but in which each was recog-
nizable and essentially equally perceived, it was necessary
that the lighting of the slides be carefully balanced. Gestalt
psychological theory posits that all perceptual fields become
organized into wholes having figure and ground relation-
ships. According to this theory, there would be no intermin-
gling and interaction with the major elements of the slides
appearing to be occupying the same space. Major elements .
from each of the slides would in alternation be seen as the ,
figure while the rest became the ground. This would require
a constant shifting of the perceptual field rather than the
interaction of the major or figural elements which we pro-
duced.

Figure 1. Superimposed image (top) of a bedroom scene (left,
bottom) and a war scene (right, bottom) demonstrat-
ing equal balance and representation of foreground
figures.
Figure 1 shows an example of a superimposed represen-
tation which we have used in experiments on creativity in
literature and in the visual arts (Rothenberg & Sobel, 1980;
Rothenberg & Sobel,1981; Sobel & Rothenberg, 1980). On
the lower left and right are the individual scenes or images
that were superimposed to produce the upper image. On the
lower left is a period bedroom with a four-poster bed in the
foreground. On the lower right are gas-masked soldiers
crouching by the side of a tank. In the foreground there are
three distinctly outlined soldiers and the wheels of the tank
and, in the background, there is a fourth soldier in silhouette
together with indistinct portions of the tank and a bright
diffuse upper area. In the superimposed image at the top,
both the soldiers and tank from the lower right hand scene
and the four-poster bed from the lower left hand scene are
recognizable. If the bed had been more vividly highlighted
or, alternately, if the soldiers were less shadowed and more
distinct, one or the other foreground would have predomi-
nated. The tones and values of the two slides are in relative
balance. Degree of detail in the scenes also needed to be kept
roughly equivalent. The drapery behind the bed and the
ornamentation are intricate enough to command some fore-
ground attention in the superimposed image, and the soldiers
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are also in an intricate enough action position not to be
obscured.
By and large, it was necessary for scenes to contain
figures that occupied roughly similar outlines or else one
would clearly dominate over the other. In the example in
Figure 1, the bed and soldiers are located in comparable parts
of the respective photographs with background at the top and
the sides of each. Should the bed have been much smaller,
or should it have been angled from right to left rather than left
to right as shown, or should the background of one photo-
graph have been in another part of the scene than the back-
ground of the other photograph, there would not have been
a homospatial superimposition but an alignment of elements
into a newforeground and background image. Using figures
that are more similar than these, i.e., identical except for a
few essential characteristics, as will be shown presently in
the case of human forms and faces, produces the appropriate
superimposition effect, but some further conditions are re-
quired. In such cases it is vital that the similar objects fit
almost exactly upon one another. Otherwise, the more
dominant, i.e., visually distinct, face or form would appear as
foreground and the other primarily as background. Also,
there would be a disturbing sense of a distorted body image.
In all instances the guiding principle is to produce an image
of intermingled and interacting elements. The properly
superimposed image representing the homospatial construct
does not consist of a combination or compromise formation
between two or more elements, nor does it consist of a
domination of one element over the other; the two elements
are discrete and identifiable, but they interact to modify each
other and to affect the perception of each.
Beyond the discrete and identifiable elements, the over-
all superimposed image has its own particular visual fea-
tures. Thus, while the major elements of gas-masked sol-
diers and period bed are readily visible and identifiable, new
shapes and visual relationships appear in the superimposed
image that are derived from the interaction among the
component elements. There is a jagged, narrow white area
running through the contrasting and related tones to the right
of the image; the silhouetted soldier’s head at the top appears
continuous with the drapery at the head of the bed; the white
area of the bed is constricted and redistributed somewhat,
and the bed’s relationship to the floor area is changed. Also,
overall, there is mutual interaction and modulation among
the thematic elements. The fierceness of the soldiers is
modified by the relationship with the bed, and the bed is
rendered more ominous and threatening. Because of the
sexual connotations of a bed image and aggressive connota-
tions of the war scene, feelings, images, and thoughts are
evoked pertaining both to sex and to violence and to their
interrelationships. Perhaps a simpler instance of the super-
imposed images we constructed, not shown here, consists of
a Saturn rocket launching from its pad superimposed upon a
night scene of an illuminated house with a prominent chim-
ney (Sobel & Rothenberg, 1980). In that case the Saturn
rocket appeared as though it were launched from the chim-
ney of the superimposed house. On one hand, it seemed as
though the fiery rocket were burning the house and creating
havoc whereas, focusing on the house, the violence of the
rocket seemed to be modulated by the quietness of the
domestic scene.
29
 Once the balancing of images is attained, there need be
no restriction whatsoever on subject matter. Naturalistic
scenes and pictures of faces, bodies, animals, as well as
complex objectless photographs can be projected and major
discrete elements superimposed upon one another. We have
carried out an experiment on the function of the homospatial
process in the production of effective literary metaphors in
which we used images of a supermarket superimposed with
a Bangkok river scene, a cloverleaf highway intersection
superimposed on a Norway countryside, a child looking into
a toy store superimposed on a guru in lotus position, a line of
chorus girls superimposed on a graveyard scene, and many
others. We also used some of these same superimposed
images in an experiment on the creative process in painting.
The specific effect does not result when two images are
projected together from a single light source such as putting
two slides in a cassette back to back or two drawings in an
overhead projector. The latter produces both additive and
subtractive effects in which colors and objects are changed;
figure and ground relationships occur, and there are transfor-
mations of the actual shape, or identity, that do not result
from superimposition from two separate light sources.
Positive prints made from superimposed slide images often
do preserve the essential characteristic of an image of two
entities occupying the same space. However, because posi-
tive prints cannot be transilluminated, such reproductions
may appear rather flat and undynamic in visual quality in
comparison with the superimposition produced with slides.
Figure 2. Model with a 1948 style evening dress.
30
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The Homospatial Process in Costume Design
The series of photographs in the accompanying figures
shall serve to demonstrate the mode of facilitating the
homospatial process in the creative process of costume
design. Figures 2 through 4 show the steps in constructing
the superimposed image as a representation of the homospa-
tial mental construct with respect to modelled articles of
clothing. Figure 2 consists of a photograph of a model
wearing a 1948 style evening length dress with red voile
bodice and white chiffon full skirt. In posing the model, care
was taken that she stand in a specific place under controlled
lighting conditions, and that she look directly forward and
position her hands at her sides. No attempt was made to have
her look natural in the clothing nor to enhance any particular
feature of the dress because the purpose of preparing the
photograph was to superimpose this costume with another
one. We made no special effort to obtain a particularly
stylish article of clothing but randomly used more than 100
articles from an historical collection at the University of
Connecticut (Storrs), Department of Fashion Design. The
following features of the dress should be noted: the skirt is
quite full and billowing, the waist is high, and there is a sharp
contrast between the patterned darker upper bodice and the
lighter toned skirt.
Figure 3. Model with 1949 style nightgown and bed jacket.
 Figure 3 consists of a photograph of the same model in
a different costume but posing in the same position and
under the same lighting conditions as in the previous figure.
She is wearing a 1949 style pale peach silk velvet nightgown
with a matching bed jacket. Here, the bed jacket is short but
it falls below the waist; the nightgown is loose but not
billowing at all.
Both photographs are rather ordinary and the costumes
themselves are primarily of interest from an historical point
of view. The styles are distinctly different. The model and
background in both photographs are identical so that only
the images of the two costumes interact when the photo-
graphs are superimposed. As is clear from the hand posi-
tions in the figure, it is not necessary for every portion of the
body to be absolutely aligned in order to produce the inter-
action effect between the images of the costumes. In order
to produce the superimposition effect illustrated by Figure 4,
color slide photographs of the images in Figures 2 and 3 are
superimposed onto a projection screen.
The main point we would emphasize is that the super-
imposed image in Figure 4 suggests a new costume. This
costume is not merely a mixture or combination of features
of the previous two dresses, but it has new qualities and
features of its own. The effect is not merely an additive or
subtractive one in which a neckline is extended or a ruffle is
added, but new characteristics are produced. Neither the
Figure 4. Superimposition. Photograph of images of a model
with evening dress and with nightgown and bed jacket, super-
imposed together. This is not a fanal created style or fashion but
a step in the process.
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dress of Figure 2 nor the nightgown and jacket of Figure 3
consisted of pantlegs, whereas in the new image there
appears a suggestion of loose fitting pants. A new jacket also
appears in Figure 4 that differs sharply from the tops of both
component articles. The jacket manifests a high level waist-
line with a two-toned and loose fitting cuffed effect. Al-
though surely this image of a new costume is not complete
and satisfactory as a new design in itself, it suggests and
facilitates the development of a new entity or a costume
creation.
In addition to the new structures and images, there are
some simpler additive, subtractive, and combination effects.
For example, in comparison to the dress in Figure 2, the
overall width of the costume is reduced and a suggestion of
a transparent sleeve area on both arms down to the elbows
has been added. While these results are less important and
less suggestive in themselves, they do contribute further
elaborations, in the total context, toward a new costume or
fashion idea.
Superimposing two costumes randomly in this manner
produces new patterns and images and a new overall effect.
However, bringing discrete elements into the same spatial
location, as represented by this photographic superimposi-
tion, is only one aspect-and a fleeting one-of the ho-
mospatial process. After images such as this one are brought
together in the artist’s mind, they undergo numerous dy-
namic alterations and transformations until a new integration
of the elements is produced. The resulting creation is a
unified whole in which the discrete elements are intrinsically
interrelated with one another. In poetry, for instance, the
poet articulates superimposed images and homospatial
constructs into an effective metaphor in which the elements
interact with one another in an integrated whole. In the
metaphor &dquo;The sun, a serene and ancient poet, stoops and
writes on the sunrise sea,&dquo; produced from an image of a
Persian pink-turbaned poet superimposed on the sun, the
entire structure has a meaning and evokes associations con-
nected to sea voyages in mystical lands. Also, each major
element, &dquo;sun,&dquo; &dquo;serene and ancient poet,&dquo; &dquo;stoops and
writes,&dquo; and &dquo;sunrise sea,&dquo; as well as minor elements of
specific adjectives and verbs, interact and modify each other.
The idea of the &dquo;sun&dquo; suggests warmth and brightness, while
the &dquo;serene and ancient poet&dquo; in turn emphasizes the antiq-
uity and generativity of the sun as well as its soft qualities of
light. &dquo;Stoops and writes&dquo; also imparts a kind of active
movement to the sun at the same time as it gives the &dquo;ancient
and serene poet&dquo; a kind of sky-high stature. &dquo;Sunrise sea&dquo;
,interacts with &dquo;sun&dquo; and with &dquo;ancient and serene poet&dquo; and
so on. So, too, the creative clothing designer may articulate
the superimposed image into a developed style in which the
elements interact and are in balance in the context of the
entire costume. Upper and lower elements in Figure 4, for
instance, may modulate and balance one another.
Depending on the particular elements used, superimpo-
sition provides a virtually limitless range of new effects that
can be articulated into design creations. Figure 5 shows four
different components and superimposed images as follows:
images of two different pairs of costumes (rows a and b)
brought together to produce the superimposed image in the
third column, a new entity; one costume brought alternately
together with two different others (rows c and d) to produce
31
Figure 5. Superimposition ei’t’ccts: (rows 11 and b) different costumes intermixed.

32
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Figure 5. Superimposition effects: (rows c and d) same costume with different intermixtures.

33
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Figure 6. Superimposition of an architectural object and a costume: (left) apartment building; (right)
superimpositions in column three, which, in each case, are
new entities differing both from the components and from
each other. The upper two rows, therefore, illustrate differ-
ent types of superimposition effects with different costumes
while the lower two rows illustrate how a single costume can
be alternatively superimposed with more than one other type
to produce new effects. One costume can, in this way, be
systematically brought together with numerous other types
until its potentialities for evoking new integrations are ex-
hausted.
The dress in the first row and column comes from the
year 1954. This sleeveless, calf-length dress has a gray and
light blue pattern containing ribbing on the bodice and skirt
with a scooped neck. On the same row, in the second
column, there is a 1960 blue polka-dotted dress with double-
breasted bodice, short kimono sleeves, accordion-pleated
skirt, matching belt, and a white Revere collar. This latter
dress shows the shorter knee length of the later year. Super-
imposing the two images in the third column produces a new
length for the resulting garment that is both a derivation of
the shorter dress and a transparency from the longer one.
Conversely, the transparent sleeves are derived from the
shorter hemmed, longer sleeved dress together with the
visual effect of the longer hemmed, shorter sleeved one. The
34
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full length gown.
resulting fabric is both polka-dotted and patterned with a
lavender color cast. Both the color design and the sleeves are
different from the component dresses and are suggestive of
new patterns.
Row b of Figure 5 shows an even more drastic bringing
together of elements into the same space because the styles
are so radically different from each other. The dress in the
first column consists of a 1937 style navy print chiffon, knee
length with puff sleeves. In the second column the heavy
woolen plaid Mackinaw-type jacket comes from the year
1976 and is worn with navy pants and a turtleneck sweater.
The superimposition effect with these two elements in the
third column consists of the image of pedal pusher length
pants and a jacket top composed of an entirely new fabric.
This fabric, showing both plaid and floral designs interre-
lated, is stimulating and evocative. Also, instead of the dark
turtle neck sweater, there is a transparent lighter colored
fabric with a high neckline.
In rows c and d on Figure 5, the same pant costume
appears in both second columns. This is a 1971 style kalei-
doscope print wrap pant worn with a raspberry leotard top. In
row c, Figure 5, this pant costume is superimposed with,
from the first column, a 1960 floral print mini tent dress made
out of paper. The resulting image consists of a costume with

Figure 6. (Cont.) Superimposition of an architectural object
and a costume. Building and gown superimposed.
ballooning out shorts in a new fabric. This fabric has a white
variegated pattern somewhat reminiscent of the kaleido-
scope one of the original pants. Over the lower part of the
legs there is a transparent pattern which could suggest a
dress, a wraparound, or pants. On the top, the floral print
pattern has taken on a light raspberry color and a smoother
quality fabric style.
When the same pants with leotard top are superimposed
with a 1977 Mexican embroidered peasant dress with ankle
length skirt and puff sleeves in the first column of row d, the
effect is less drastic. Produced instead is a rather simple and
pretty floral figure design running down the center and
shoulders of a raspberry top and pant combination. A new
higher collar appears; thus, simple new effects also result
from superimposing discrete elements.
As long as one of two visual figures does not dominate
over the other but both appear to be occupying the same
space, the homospatial effect is produced. Consequently, it
is not necessary to limit the selection of images only to
apparel forms. Indeed, a variety of features such as struc-
tural, thematic, and pattern effects may be introduced by
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superimposing costumes with architecture, flowers, land-
scape, etc. Figure 6 illustrates the effect of superimposition
of another costume with an architectural form. Shown on the
right bottom portion of the figure is a 1955 style teal blue
taffeta gown with a scoop neckline, fitted bodice, and dropped
waist. The building on the left bottom portion of the figure
is a red brick city apartment dwelling with a somewhat ornate
roof trim and outside steel fire escape structures. Superim-
posed with the gown, a new pattern with stately architectural
features is produced as a basis for a new design.
The Creative Process .
Although we purposely did not select elements that we
ourselves believed in advance would produce suggestive
new designs, the costumes depicted are surely new. Because
of evidence from other artistic fields, we suspect that the type
of superimpositions we have shown approximate events that
occur mentally in the most creative type of costume design.
After a dynamic interaction in the mind among the elements
of a superimposed image, various types of elaborations, al-
terations, and transformations then precipitate out and are
delineated. These result in new fabrics, completely new
styles, or sometimes a new modification of an old style. In
this way, a homospatial process in costume design operates
similarly as in other creative areas. In other visual arts,
bringing together discrete entities into the same space sug-
gests dynamic new relationships among visual shapes, forms,
colors and lines. These new relationships are then articulated
by the artist into new integrations in the form of paintings,
sculptures, or works of architecture. In other creative areas
such as poetry, there are other integrations and unifications.
Poets often choose two or more words which they feel ought
to be related to each other, and they then mentally bring
together images that include both the written words them-
selves and numerous associated sensory experiences, so that
all occupy the same mental space. From this image of super-
imposed words and sensory experiences together, they ar-
ticulate poetic metaphors. So, too, the creative costume de-
signer may mentally bring together into the same space
clothing elements and items that he or she feels ought to be
related to each other.
The technological advantage of externalizing the super-
imposed sensory image aspect of the homospatial process is
that such concrete representation can facilitate creative ideas,
even for accomplished designers. Also, photographs of
apparel rather than mental images of them potentially en-
large the number and scope of elements that are brought
together into the same spatial location. In producing the
images we have presented here, for instance, we first system-
atically superimposed all of the photographs we had without
any preconception about which pairs would be most appro-
priate. After going through some 300 to 400 pairings, we
selected the costumes and superimposed photographic im-
ages that seemed to illustrate best the effectiveness of the
superimposition process. We do not ourselves pretend to be
costume designers and feel sure that a professional designer
would, at the outset, knowledgeably select particular fabrics,
styles, and designs that would produce especially exciting
35
new fashion. The first step of the homospatial process in all
types of creative activity is such selection of potentially
interesting discrete elements to be brought together. Once
such selection is made, the technological procedure of
taking photographs, projecting them onto a screen, and
superimposing them can facilitate the creative process for
both experienced and novice designers. Work such as that
of DeLong (1987) on the visual analysis of apparel and on
the &dquo;apparel-body construct,&dquo; as well as attention to prin-
ciples of structural or surface design, can provide bases for
selection.
In addition to direct creative facilitation, the device of
superimposing costumes can also have a valuable educa-
tional function. Potentially elucidated by this procedure are
topics such as history and evolution of styles and designs. In
order to illustrate evolution and developments, entire cos-
tumes and/or more limited aspects of the image can be
superimposed, then separated and compared. For example,
in order to demonstrate a style change in a shoulder line, a
collar, or a sleeve, two costumes that are highly similar to
each other but differ only in those particular aspects can be
presented both superimposed and separately.
Beside major creative productions, designers using
photographic superimposition could test out minor altera-
tions and revisions without necessarily constructing a com-
pletely new fabric or style. The limitation on all such
construction procedures in clothing design, of course, is that
photographs can neither reproduce tactile qualities nor, by
and large, contour effects. Perhaps eventually some means
can be discovered for carrying out superimposition with the
tactile sense and additional sensory modalities as well. Any
means of facilitating the homospatial process, whether
through increased practice with mental superimpositions
and fusions of any type or modality or through constant
exposure to the externalized representations of those mental
events, as we have described them here, should facilitate
new and valuable art and design.
36
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