From Material Memory to Algorithmic Consumption: New Materialism and The Digital–Analog Fashion Divide in Zadie Smith's White Teeth

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the current ecological and material problems of fast fashion by examining the shift from analogue to hyper-digital fashion practices. Combining the approaches of new materialism, material ecocriticism, and cognitive narratology, the paper presents the paradigm of the digital-analogue fashion divide. Focusing on Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth (2000) as a historical point of departure for heavy analogue material storytelling, the paper examines contrasting depictions of lively, story-filled fabrics against the lightness and imagery of the fashion world of the 2020s. By analysing the characters of Smith's novel together with current practices of digital fashion, the paper reveals how the virtualisation of clothing leads to environmental devastation. The research claims that the shift from analogue to digital practices of dressmaking cuts off the vital physical and storied ties which provide the basis of material engagement and ecologically informed sensibility. Consequently, this research shows how literary fiction can become material practice, bringing weight back into contemporary clothing practices.