Fashion Design Commons^™

The Politics Of Style: How Black Fashion Redefined Identity In The Civil Rights Movement (1950s-1970s), Ava Saleh

Rushton Journal of Undergraduate Humanities Research

This paper explores how fashion served as a powerful political tool during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-70s, tracing its evolution from the polished Sunday Best to the Afro and militant style of the Black Panther Party. By examining respectability politics, the rise of the Black is Beautiful movement, and the Black Panthers’ visual strategies, this research explores how clothing and style reflected shifting approaches to resistance. It argues that Black Americans used fashion to challenge Eurocentric standards, reclaim heritage, and express pride, leaving a legacy of empowerment that continues to influence social movements.

Archival Fashion: Commodification, Education, And The History Of Halston, Arianna Miller, Kayna Bowman

Student Scholar Symposium

No abstract provided.

Brands & Virtual Personas: How Virtual Influencer Types Impact Brand Awareness, Carol Calderon Ambelis

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As social media continues to shape how consumers interact with brands, virtual influencers (VIs) have emerged as a new type of digital celebrity. While previous research has explored how VIs contribute to brand image and awareness, there has been limited attention on how different types of VIs, both anime-like and human-like, affect consumer perceptions across different markets. This study examines how these two types of VIs impact relatability, aspiration, and brand awareness, with a focus on the differences between luxury and mass market. Using a within-subjects experimental design, this study recruited 574 participants with social media experience using MTurk. The …

Tailoring Black Style And Its Powerful Pieces: From West Africa To The U.S. West Coast And Everything In-Between, Gabriel Capellan

Occasional Essays

Introduction:

On September 19, 2025, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum (MET) with some of the Bronx African American History Project team. The people in attendance were Graduate Assistant, Anthony Rosado, and Undergraduate Assistants, Serena Velasquez and Emma Garr, wonderful people, I tell you. After the tour, we ended up at the American art exhibit and had podcast conversations about history for what felt like both hours and very brief minutes... We went to the MET to see a particular piece that was in the Superfine: Tailoring Black Style exhibit curated by Barnard professor, Monica L. Miller …

Closing The Loop On Textile Waste: Policy, Technology, And Consumer Behavior In Sustainable Fashion, Anthony Amotoe-Bondzie

Collected Student Papers

Textile waste has become one of the most visible consequences of the fashion industry’s linear production and consumption model, where materials are rapidly extracted, transformed, consumed, and discarded. This paper critically examines how sustainable fashion can move beyond isolated recycling efforts toward a more integrated circular economy framework. Rather than treating textile waste as only an end-of-life problem, the study analyzes it as a systems issue shaped by overproduction, weak product design, limited recovery infrastructure, fragmented regulation, and consumer habits that normalize short garment lifespans. The paper argues that closing the loop on textile waste requires coordinated interventions across policy, …

English King And German Commoner: An Exploration Of Sixteenth Century Clothing And Identity, Bradley Moore

The Ozark Historical Review

There is perhaps no other external article which is more closely tied to one’s sense of identity than clothing. With a quick glance, one can readily gauge a person by their dress. So too, in the sixteenth century; clothing was used to construct identity, and in some cases to deconstruct it as well. This paper seeks to explore how identity and clothing are in many ways, inseparable. Concepts of religiosity, gender, nationalism, and “the other” were all intimately tied to dress and fashion. During the sixteenth century, perhaps even more strongly than now, clothing could be read like a book …

Sustainability: Buzz Word Or Future Of Fashion? Measuring The Feasibility Of Outright Sustainability Among Fast Fashion’S Biggest Agents, Ryan Miller

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

The fashion industry is currently experiencing unsustainable rates of pollution within its supply chains. The rapid increase in demand for short lead times perpetrated by large-scale retailers has led to hazardous practices negatively affecting both the environmental conditions and working conditions of producing countries. With this increased pressure, relationships between brands and suppliers have become untenable. Limited transparency and imbalanced power dynamics at the hand of the industry’s leading retailers require restructuring in order to build more sustainable and equitable supply-chain practices. Further, governmental regulation is currently limited in its capacity to enforce sustainable business practices on a global …

Inappropriate Attire: Fashion, Nationality, And Shame In Quicksand And Pachinko, Minyoung Park

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article, Minyoung Park examines how fashion in Quicksand by Nella Larsen and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee functions not simply as a visual strategy for passing but as a site where the wearers’ conflicting feelings—shame, desire, and defiance—emerge and persist. Rather than evaluating the success or failure of passing, the article shifts focus to the process of dressing—selecting, maintaining, and reflecting on clothing—through which identity is negotiated and feelings are embodied. The protagonists, Helga and Sunja, often dismissed as failures, are reconsidered as figures whose attention to their inappropriate or excessive fashion reveals their emotional labor and strenuous …

Tailoring The Law: Protecting Fashion In The Future, Imaad Huda

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

This article identifies how the current legal system in the United States harms fashion designers and the art they produce. It explains how fashion as an industry lacks a system of law that best fits the issues posed by design theft due to fast fashion. Fast fashion companies, through modern technology, are able to reproduce stolen designs with haste. Currently, there are a few notable cases that have spawned from design theft, but their verdicts may be limited in their ability to change policy or raise significant legal issues. This article analyzes both current federal enforcement mechanisms and design practices …

Hope By A Thousand Cuts: Fashion Ethics From Cutting Fabric To Cutting A Fashion Film, Sarah G. Porterfield

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I conducted an experiment during which I learned to sew, created a clothing collection, and wore nothing but my collection for a month. Additionally, I documented my collection and the process in a fashion film. The goal of my experiment was to investigate fashion ethics. To gain a greater understanding of the underlying theories that fashion materializes and to grasp their ethical implications better, I studied the texts of fashion theorists such as Marx, Barthes, Derrida, Deleuze and Guattari, Butler, Benjamin, and Merleau-Ponty throughout my experiment. Therefore, I gained insight into many aspects of fashion ethics, from the beginning stages …

Ray Collection: Forging A New Fashion Genre, Olivia R. Cooper

Graphic Communication

This senior project addresses a gap in the fashion industry by creating a new genre through a unique collection and comprehensive branding. The "RAY" collection draws inspiration from the designer's artistic roots and is a deeply personal homage to influential female artists like Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois, and Leonora Carrington, whose works have inspired the designer's creative journey. Each piece in the collection draws direct inspiration from these artists, reflecting the creator's vision and self-expression, a key element of the streetwear genre incorporated into the designs.

The project also heavily emphasizes fashion branding, encompassing a logo, brand identity, social and …

Green Weave: A Textile Guide To The Future Of Fashion, Simon Braunschweig

University Honors Theses

Fashion and technology are inextricably linked. The more advanced our technology becomes, so too does fashion and our understanding of it. Fashion is also one of the top contributors to climate change. However, modern technology has the potential to change the way fashion impacts our planet, working harmoniously with nature instead of against it. This thesis investigates the connection between technology and fashion, resulting in a handbook for fashion designers who want to implement more sustainable practices into their work with the help of modern technology.

Folding Horizons: Knitted Textiles For A Mobile World, Yutong Li

Masters Theses

We have grown accustomed to living in flux—moving between cities, countries, languages, and digital spaces. Life no longer unfolds in a straight line, but in fragments and transitions, never quite settling. In this restless rhythm—shaped by fast trains, shifting skies, and the invisible current of the internet—we find ourselves suspended in a vast, woven network. Connection is constant, yet motion is unrelenting.

This project begins with a question: how can textiles reflect this state of in-between? I imagine textiles not as fixed surfaces, but as responsive skins—adaptive, expressive, and attuned to change. Inspired by the tensions of contemporary life—surveillance, shrinking …

Visibly Invisible: Reclaiming Atlanta Black Architecture Through Black Expression, Sean M. Spencer

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture has long grappled with questions of self, community, and cultural identity. While the number of Black architects is growing, architecture that genuinely reflects Black identity remains rare. This lack of representation has contributed to a sense of invisibility for Black communities within the built environment—whether by design or neglect. There is an urgent need to define and celebrate Blackness and Black space in ways that reflect the cultural richness of Black communities. As George Will points out, broad labels like African American or African often obscure the unique cultural experiences within Black communities. Historically, the lack of economic and …

The Importance Of Being Earnest: A Costume Designer’S Process, James Hunter Rock

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis is a comprehensive breakdown of the costume design process for Nebraska Repertory Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde during the fall semester of 2024. The author logs the production’s processes in collaborating on the concept and aesthetic of the play to present the Victorian era story for a modern audience. In this thesis, insights into the costume designer’s conceptualization, research, previsualization, and final design process are explored, providing an in-depth look into the creation of characters that remain true to the director’s original vision while being engaging for contemporary theatre. The various challenges …

Araki Hirohiko: Elevating The Craft Of Manga Through Art Nouveau And Art Deco, Andre Polidoro

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Araki Hirohiko is a mangaka for one of the longest running manga in history, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (1987–present). Throughout his several decade career, he has drawn over 20,000 pages for his manga by hand.

The art for his manga was inspired by 20ᵗʰ century fashion illustration. Through his rigorous practice he was able to secure many collaborations with high end fashion brands, and even a temporary exhibition in the Louvre.

Through this practice, he has become a contemporary artist of Art Nouveau and Art Deco which he portrays through the illustrations for his manga.

Repair Through Recycling, Emma Murdock, Karl Aspelund

Senior Honors Projects

Repair Through Recycling is an instructional website I developed to encourage people to mend their garments rather than throw them away.I see this as a way to help address the growing issue of textile waste, where millions of garments are discarded each year. Many of these are made from synthetic materials that do not break down, contributing significantly to environmental pollution. This project features step-by-step instructional videos I created to teach the basics of mending, skills that are no longer commonly taught. These tutorials cover foundational techniques such as threading a needle and hand-stitching torn seams. The website also includes …

Developing Adaptive Clothing For Patients With Advanced Als Disease, Kadence D. Trosper

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

In 2017, over 30,000 people were battling with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells within the brain, brain stem, and spinal cord (ALS Association, 2023). The individual’s brain loses connection with muscles, slowly taking away one’s ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe. The currently is no cure for this disease or even treatment to halt the progression, however the treatment available can help ease the symptoms. Despite the physical challenges associated with ALS, there is a significant lack of adaptive clothing options that provide comfort, functionality, and …

Cavedivers: A Multi-Media Visual And Musical Release, Emily J. Langford

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

For my graduating UNO Honors Program capstone project, I have chosen to undertake a creative project that involves recording and releasing an album with my band, Cavedivers, while also designing the visual media and advertising graphics to accompany the release. The songs we have recorded were all written and developed before the start of this project. Therefore, this project is less of a songwriting endeavor, since most of that process is already complete, and more of an experimentation and workshop in communicating music through recording and identifying effective trends within graphic design.

As an art major and musician, this has …

Cultural Of Authenticity And Commodification: Analyzing The Aesthetic Waves And Collective Culture In The 2010s And 2020s, Stefanny Leung Yu

Student Theses

The “authentic self” is curated, aestheticized, and most notably, commodified. Digital algorithms, likes, views, and engagement are more than just digital metrics, they are the management of performance. For millions of other users — including the author herself — social media is the locus of personal expression. Most notably, sites like Tumblr, where users in the 2010s posted hazy images or overly filtered graphics along with melancholic song lyrics that match the vibe of the moment, expression was earnest and idealized. Today, social media in the 2020s, new creators like Hannah Neelaman, better known as Ballerina Farm, dress in pastoral …