Ten Years of Fashion Design Research Scientometric Analysis of Research: Research Overview, Frontiers and Evolutionary Paths

Abstract

Background and Aim: Fashion design is a highly creative, interdisciplinary field that covers many aspects such as clothing, accessories, and textiles. Through creative design, material selection, process technology, etc., provide people with unique, beautiful, and practical fashion products and services. There has been a significant surge in research activity in the field of fashion design over the past decade, and by reviewing the data it was found that there is an academic gap in the bibliometrics of Fashion Design. The purpose of this study is 1) To study the research overview of Fashion Design. 2) To analyze the research frontiers of Fashion Design. 3) To analyze the evolution Path of Research Frontiers of Fashion Design. Materials and Methods: The key steps in retrieval: (1) Select database; (2) Enter "Topic"; (3) Select Document Type; (4) Select Document Language; (5) Enter Document Release Time Scope. Enter Topic="Fashion Design". Document types are article, proceeding paper, and English review from 2014-01-01 to 2022-12-31 for recent research. Book Citation Index-Science and Book Citation Index-Social Science & Humanities were excluded, leaving 1,049 documents. Common scientometric software includes CiteSpace, HistCite, Loet Tools, SciMAT, and VOSviewer. This study uses VOSviewer (version 1.6.19) for visualizing and analyzing scientific literature, helping researchers identify patterns, trends, and relationships in data. Results: The result of this research is that there are many prolific authors, Countries, and Publishers in this research field. There are three research fronts: "Impact", "Consumption" and "Industry". The evolution path of the research fronts starts from "Clothing Design" in 2014-2018. and "Arts", to "Innovation" in 2018-2019, to "Creativity" in 2019-2020, then to "Technology" and "Sustainability" in 2020-2021. Conclusion: The quality of articles in the "Fashion Design" research field is generally higher, with more research and very active. Research Frontiers: There are three research fronts: "Impact", "Consumption" and "Industry" The fashion design field’s focus on influence, consumption, and industry reflects its increasing emphasis on business and social impact. Evolution Path of Research Frontiers: The evolutionary path of the research frontier ranges from “Costume Design” and “art” in 2014-2018, to “Innovation” in 2018-2019, to “Creativity” in 2019-2020, and then to “technology” in 2020-2021 and “Sustainable development”. After 2021, it will be "Impact ", "Consumption" and "Industry". The evolution path of the research frontier reflects the shift in the development direction of the field of fashion design from single design and art to more design and art: diversification and comprehensiveness. From focusing on innovative ideas to technology and sustainable development to market, consumer, and industry development, it reveals the changes and evolution in the field of fashion design in the pursuit of excellence, sustainable development, and social impact.