Research
Larasé begins with research.
Before a garment is reconstructed, we investigate the evidence surrounding it. We study historical photographs, surviving garments, textiles, publications, manuals, museum collections, university archives, and other primary and secondary sources to understand how a garment was made, worn, and situated within its time.
Our research is not about reproducing the past from a single reference. It is a process of gathering evidence, comparing sources, examining details, and understanding what they can tell us about a garment and the people who wore it.
Sources
Our research draws from both historical evidence and contemporary scholarship.
Primary sources such as historical photographs, garments, textiles, manuals, magazines, catalogues, and other period publications provide evidence of how clothing was made, worn, represented, and understood at the time.
Secondary sources, including modern scholarship, museum publications, academic research, and historical studies, help place individual garments within their broader cultural and historical context.
By bringing these sources together, we can build a more informed understanding of the garments we study.
Our Reference Library brings together selected primary and secondary sources that inform our research.
Collections & Archives
Museums, universities, archives, and private collections provide an essential part of our research.
Where surviving garments are available, we examine their construction, proportions, materials, finishing, and signs of use. Historical photographs and archival records help us understand how garments were worn and how their forms may have varied across different periods, communities, and circumstances.
We approach each source as potential evidence. No single photograph, garment, or publication can tell the entire story. Comparing sources allows us to identify patterns, differences, and details that might otherwise remain unseen.
Reconstruction
Our reconstruction process begins with observation and documentation.
We study the available evidence and examine details such as pattern shapes, seams, closures, proportions, fabric behaviour, finishing techniques, and methods of wear. From this research, we develop patterns and prototypes that allow us to test our understanding through making.
Historical records are often incomplete. Where evidence is limited, we distinguish between what is documented, what can reasonably be inferred, and what remains unknown.
This distinction is central to our practice.
We do not seek to create an imagined version of the past. We seek to understand it through the evidence that remains and translate that understanding into garments that can be studied, made, and worn today.
Research as Practice
For Larasé, research does not end when a garment is reconstructed.
Making becomes another form of inquiry. Working with patterns, textiles, and construction allows us to test historical assumptions and discover details that may not be apparent in photographs or written records alone.
The resulting garments and patterns are not simply historical references. They are the outcome of an ongoing dialogue between archive and material, research and making, past and present.
Through this process, we hope to make Southeast Asian dress more
accessible as a subject of study while contributing thoughtfully to its
continued documentation and understanding.