About the Recipe
Everyone has their own unique style and fashion sense. But what if we wore someone else’s clothes?
What kind of outfits could we create? Let’s share, swap, wear and play dress-ups
with each other’s clothing!
Participatory Learning
Learning Through Doing
Critical and Creative Thinking
Learning Goals
Challenging preconceived, often negative, assumptions about sharing, swapping and borrowing clothing.
Shifting our relationship with fashion from valuing quantity and trends to quality, material qualities and experiences.
Building clothing communities, enhancing our emotional bonds with others.
Exploring alternative ways of dressing and wearing clothing.
Further Explanation
Head-To-To encourages us to expand both our mental horizons and physical wardrobes through the act of sharing, swapping and borrowing clothing. It asks us to reconsider our relationship with our clothing and challenges our preconceived assumptions about wearing someone else’s clothing.
Using experimental play with clothing and diversifying our wardrobes, Head-To-Toe inspires us to be more creative with our dressing, helping indecision, and encourages us to keep and wear our clothing for longer.
Ingredients
Clothing, shoes, and/or accessories from players’ wardrobes (Ideally, every player provides their own items to swap and share. You could also provide or source your own or other clothing i.e. from thrift/charity stores)
Optional: A mirror, a camera, music
Activity 2 Only: Paper & drawing tools (pencils, pens, crayons etc.)
Activity 2 Only Optional: Random objects - these could be brought in by players or resources used from the classroom.
Designed Resources
You can use these resources digitally or printed:
Activity 1:
Head-To-Toe Task Cards
Activity 2:
How to Draw an Exquisite Corpse Character Activity Sheet
Character Cards
Wear Where? Task Cards
Activity 3:
Wardrobe Diary
Optional: Presentation Slides
Recipe Prep & Play-Space Set Up
RECIPE PREP
You will need different designed resources based on the different activities you will be playing.
They can either be used online/digitally or printed. If printing the Task Cards, they can also be cut out.
The ‘Wardrobe Diary’ can be used digitally, printed or alternatively, the instructions copied on players' own paper or notebook.
PLAY-SPACE SET UP
Ensure there is enough room for everyone to move around and experiment with the clothing.
You can arrange the Play-Space so that everyone is gathered in a circle.
Remember, you’re playing too!
Method
LET’S DRESS UP!
There are three activities within this recipe. The activities can be played in order (1, 2, 3) or they can be played separately (on their own).
ACTIVITY 1 – EXPERIMENTATION
Dressing-Up in Each Other’s Clothing
1. Introduce the recipe to the players - see the ‘About’ section above.
2. Arrange the players into pairs. If there is an uneven number, this can be played in larger groups of 3+.
Don’t forget to place yourself (the leading adult) in a pair or group of three, as you will also be playing.
3. Each player needs to provide a variety of their own clothing, shoes and accessories to play with.
However, you can also provide, either instead or in addition, a range of clothing items.
Optional: Play music while dressing up!
If you are an adult playing with a young person and neither of you can fit into each other’s clothes, try dressing-up using accessories such as scarves, bags, jewellery, hats etc. instead!
It can also be fun for the young person to experiment, try on, wear and dress-up in your adult-sized and adult-style clothing.
Ensure consent is gained from each player for their own items to be shared and played with.
4. Players follow the ‘Head-To-Toe’ task cards. Ideally, you use and dress-up in each other’s clothing (not your own clothing).
The main aim is to dress-up in clothing that isn’t the players’ own, whether that be from the other player in their pair/group or other clothing provided.
Players can play all the cards or some of them. The cards can be played in any order.
After each task, encourage players to show each other their outfit and discuss how they feel while wearing them.
Players can use mirrors to see their outfits as they dress-up!
Optional: Players can document their dress-up creations by taking photos of their outfits. Ensure players ask each other if they are ok with having their photo taken.
5. Players can create their own tasks and dress-up in each other’s clothing freely. Encourage players to be experimental!
ACTIVITY 2 – CHARACTER CREATION
Dressing-Up as a Character
1. Players choose a character from the provided ‘Character Cards’ OR they can create their own character/s using the ‘How to Draw an Exquisite Corpse Character’ Activity Sheet.
2. Players create an outfit that they think this character would wear. Players can use each other’s (or their own or provided) clothing.
Encourage them to be creative - they could use other random items or objects.
Here are some examples:
Perhaps a lampshade could make a nice hat?
Perhaps a towel could make a fun skirt?
Perhaps you could use a cushion as a shoulder pad?
If players need more inspiration, use the ‘Wear Where?’ Task Cards for ideas on how to experiment with your clothing.
Your only limitation is your imagination!
3. Players dress-up in the outfit they have created for their character.
Optional: Players document their dress-up creations by taking photos of their outfits. Ensure players ask each other if they are ok with having their photo taken.
ACTIVITY 3 – SHARING & WEARING
Sharing & Wearing Other Player’s Clothing
This activity can be played as a take-home activity, or a shorter in-person activity
1. Arrange the players into pairs. If there is an uneven number, this can be played in larger groups of 3+. Don’t forget to place yourself (the leading adult) in a pair or group of three, as you will also be playing.
2. Each player needs to provide a variety of their own clothing, shoes and accessories to play with. However, you can also provide either instead or in addition, a range of clothing items.
If you are an adult playing with a young person and neither of you can fit into each other’s clothes, try dressing-up using accessories such as scarves, bags, jewellery, hats etc. instead!
It can also be fun for the young person to experiment, try on, wear and dress-up in your adult-sized and adult-style clothing.
Ensure consent is gained from each player for their own items to be shared and played with.
3. Each player needs to create an entire outfit or choose a clothing item, shoes or accessory, either:
From your clothing selection that you want the other player/s to wear.
OR
From the other player/s clothing selection that they want to wear.
Challenge the players to wear and share an outfit, clothing, shoes or accessories that they usually wouldn’t wear!
The main aim is to dress-up in clothing that isn’t the player's own, whether that be from the other player in their pair/group or other clothing provided.
4. Make sure all players are happy with the chosen outfit, clothing item, shoes and/or accessory. Players can try the outfit/clothing on first if they like.
The players’ task is to share their outfit, clothing item, shoes or accessory with another player and borrow and wear an outfit, clothing item, shoes or accessory from another player
Choose the time period this activity will be played for. It could be played for:
A Day
A Week
A Fortnight
A Month
Alternatively, players can share and borrow each other’s clothing for a very short time period, to complete within the classroom or workshop setting, such as 15 minutes.
Players can choose to share and wear each other’s clothing for a specific occasion, such as a party, on an outdoor adventure, on holiday, or in general.
5. Players need to fill in the ‘Wardrobe Diary’ while they are sharing and wearing each other’s clothing.
If used as a take-home activity, complete the ‘Before Wearing & Sharing’ activity together. Players can complete the ‘During’ section at home. Complete the ‘After’ section together upon completing this activity.
There is a second version of the Wardrobe Diary if players are wearing their own clothing, but their own clothing/outfit was chosen by the other player.
Optional: Players can document their dress-up creations by photographing them!
6. When the time period is complete, players come back together as a group to finish the activity.
Players return the clothing to each other.
Remind the players to make sure the clothing is washed and clean.
7. Players complete the ‘After Wearing’ section of their Wardrobe Diary.
8. Using the ‘Wardrobe Diary’ questions, facilitate a group discussion with the players, discussing how they felt when wearing other players’ clothing.
Remind players to thank each other for sharing and wearing their clothes!