Joseph Parker

Joseph Parker

LIS 530

3/7/2026

Building Cher’s Digital Closet/ Fashion Database

        Thinking about databases and searchability it was interesting to think about what would be useful for someone searching through this type of database to find information. Looking at the hierarchy structures we built earlier in the semester and somewhat along the lines of the FRBR ^[1] . We decided to make it so that there was a brand category for the clothing type and then the garment could then be further defined from there getting into its nationality, the materials it was made out of and then finally the colors and patterns that made it unique. The clothing type here would be similar to the work, with a specific kind of garment being a unique idea. That is then connected to the expression, in this case the country of origin, and then broken down into the manifestations of material, color, and pattern.

In this fashion database I thought it would be useful if the users could look at the garments broadly with the first point being the clothing type and then being able to break it down further from there so they can look at the ways that a brand or industry has iterated upon a garment, different styles within the same category, and how patterns may change depending on the country of origin or the manufacturer.  It would be useful to also have date of manufacture as an additional way of looking at the manifestations as it would allow the researcher to gain more context. With this they could better look into the way that clothing styles changed over time and how different materials, patterns, and even the style of garment held up over time and possibly regained popularity like much of the vintage fashions popular right now. We thought it important to be able to filter the work through these different levels all the way to the item level because then the fashion archivist would best be able to both understand the level of wear and the history of the item but also be able to see the subtleties and differences between manifestations.This diagram does not include the item level from the FRBR model but the idea is that those working in this collection would be able to use these entities to look up and understand the origins, details, and history of an item that they bring into the collection so that they can properly tag it during accessions for findability by researchers and other users. The further data that could be added around the origins of materials, the designers, the utility of pieces and their role in popular culture would all be interesting expansions upon this structure but this basis and categories used, if not entirely comprehensive, provide a useful foundation that then could lend itself to these expansions.

        

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