Use that knowledge to change the world through fashion
June 26, 2018 4:28 AM   Subscribe

Fashion Studies is the first open-access journal in fashion that celebrates multiple ways of knowing and sharing that knowledge. Published annually by Ryerson University’s Centre for Fashion Diversity and Social Change, it aims to evolve and re-imagine the interdisciplinary field of fashion studies at no cost to authors or readers. The inaugural issue is now out.

The title quote comes from the Letter from the Co-Editors, which further expands on the mission of the journal:
First, we wanted to transform the exploitative system of journal publishing that enables mammoth corporations to double-dip into taxpayer dollars. …
Second, the strength of fashion as an academic field is grounded it its rich transdisciplinarity, yet these diverse theoretical, creative, and industry voices have been siloed.

Third, we hope to encourage researchers to not only advance knowledge but also to use that knowledge to change the world through fashion. Many horrific problems caused by the industry impact the world far beyond it, from the lack of diversity on and off the runway, to exploitative and inequitable labour practices, to ecologically unsustainable production and consumption systems.
posted by Vesihiisi (5 comments total) 27 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is awesome. There’s a lot of really great work being done in critical fashion studies/theory right now and I can’t make FPP’s on the people I’m aware of doing work in this space because they are 1. friends and 2. my wife.

Anyway this is great thank you for posting this!!
posted by nikaspark at 4:53 AM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Thanks for the post. This looks great!
posted by gusottertrout at 5:21 AM on June 26, 2018


Is there a way to subscribe to receive notice of future issues I don't see? After reading the article on the history of the "quizzing glass" and finding it right up my alley, I'm going to need a way to keep updated.
posted by gusottertrout at 5:40 AM on June 26, 2018


I'll post a bunch of links that are relatable to this, some of these links are to the people my wife works with and I know personally in this field, others are people who are just generally awesome. and a couple are my wife's projects. if anyone is interested in this emergent field of study, please use this FPP and these links as a jumping off point! So many amazing people are doing really interesting work.

Two people who contribute to this posted effort come from "The Fashion Praxis Collective":
Christina Moon
Timo Rissanen

Another person who has been at this a long time now is Otto Von Busch
If there's one person you explore, Otto Von Busch is someone who is doing really great and amazing work.

Onto some more Parson's connections, Kim Jenkins IS AWESOME. She and Jonathan Square host a workshop titled "Fashion and Justice". The link is to the event that ran in New York in 2017. My wife hosted Kim and Jonathan for an iteration of the Fashion and Justice workshop in Austin in January of this year as part of the critical fashion theory school she started in 2017, immediate fashion school. Kim and Jonathan will be hosting an Immediate Fashion school event in Brooklyn in October 2018. Immediate is also running a compressed program in Portland in July.

And now I'm gonna tell you all about my wife, because she's been at this for 18 years, starting one of the first DIY/maker online businesses in 2001, sparklecraft.com, to co-founding the Austin Craft Mafia, to be on a DIY network television show (stylicious), to writing a book in 2010 about sustainable DIY fashion, Little Green Dresses. This interview from 2011 covers her history of fashion activism pretty well.. Probably the most notable thing that ever happened was my wife getting mentioned in Wired Magazine for "Systems Supernova, a dress made from ethernet cables. She's long been repurposing materials for fashion as an exploration of fashion activism. Anyway, I'll quit stanning for my wife. This stuff is just really cool and I literally can't make an FPP post on this stuff hahahahah!

So there you have my lens on the world of Critical Fashion Theory/Sustainable Fashion/Fashion Hacktivism. Enjoy!
posted by nikaspark at 7:28 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


Woohoo! Thank you for this post. I look forward to digging in! I've loved fashion since I was in the cradle.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:32 AM on June 26, 2018


« Older NPR Music's 35 Favorite Songs Of 2018 (So Far)   |   "video games... i love you" Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments