Dress and Identity in the Care Home: An institution and carer perspective

This study examines how carers support dressing for residents living with cognitive frailties in care homes, using a fashion and dress lens to foreground the material, relational, and institutional dimensions of this everyday practice. Dress is fundamental to identity, operating as both an internalised sense of self and an outward expression of personhood. Yet in care homes, increasing dependency shifts dressing decisions to others, reshaping how identity is negotiated and reducing residents’ autonomy. Dressing in institutional environments reflects the needs of both the wearer (the resident) and the dresser (the carer), mediated through organisational structures that prioritise safety, efficiency, and functionality. This study explores how carers navigate these competing demands, revealing the tensions between institutional priorities and the preservation of residents’ identity. Research was conducted across four care home organisations in the North of England, using semi-structured interviews with managers and ‘suitcase conversations’ with carers. Narrative data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and interpreted within the governance frameworks of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Findings show that carers’ accounts foreground institutional definitions of care, often obscuring the relational and interpretive expertise they draw upon to uphold identity through dressing interactions. Dressing routines are formally structured by organisational expectations yet sustained through carers’ informal, embodied, and tacit knowledge. The absence of formal wardrobe management systems positions carers as interpreters of residents’ appearance biographies, navigating identity preservation through adaptive, relational practices. By making visible the relational, sensory, and interpretive dimensions of dressing care, this study reframes dressing as both an institutional metric and a site of co-constructed identity work. Recognising carers’ role in sustaining personhood offers opportunities to enhance training, strengthen reflective practice, and support identity expression and well-being for residents living with cognitive frailties.