Fashion Design Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

A Tribe Laud West 1 : Hip-Hop And Its Influence On Tribal Gear And A New Chicano Generation, Monique Charles

Sociology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

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It should be noted that despite the general counterculture of SoCal in the late 1980s, at the time of Tribal's birth, the laid-back attitude of generation X (1965–80),4 which included apathy and disillusion with the political and 92 economic climate (that “grungy” college educated/tech savvy white American generation Xers experienced under Reagan's neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism), was vastly different to Black and Brown youth in major cities across the United States. Black and Brown people were marginalized on grounds of race, which was exacerbated by police brutality, neighborhoods flooded with drugs (Love, 2016) and weapons, horizontal violence (see Fanon, 2001) …

Negro Cloth: African American Textile Design History, Karen Baker

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Negro cloth is American history. Filled with the contributions to free and enslaved African Americans, this history has gone untold. Even within the narratives and historical archives on African Americans' history with cotton, this conversation goes beyond suffering, pain, and separation. The research reveals how African Americans contributed to indigo and cotton agriculture, weaving, and manufacturing from 1745 to 1865. The historical and narrative research has revealed the buried history of African American textile history, the American Civil War in Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project. The narratives reveal that enslaved African Americans were weavers who carded, spun, dyed, and …

Chiapas Maya Project - Weaving Community, Lori Benson, Helena Rojas Lopez

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Chiapas Maya Project (CMP), https://chiapasmayaproject.org/, was conceived in 2018 to create a virtual archive of the material culture of the Highland Maya of Chiapas, Mexico. The archive includes objects, images, recordings, and written records documenting a rapidly changing culture. Over time, it has become a more comprehensive project, connecting museum collections, weaving cooperatives, collectives, weavers, artists, intellectual property specialists, and academics. The partners and friends involved with the project focus on conversing and documenting - digitizing collections, if they have them.

What is the most critical information that should be searchable? How do the communities want to access …

“Muy Curiosa Y Muy Diestra”: Bobbin Lace Making In Eighteenth-Century Mexico, Elena Kanagy-Loux

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Although bobbin lace was introduced in Mexico through colonization, its local styling—both through making and end use—was by no means a facsimile of its Spanish origins. The appreciation for this “curious and skilled” trimming grew from a long Indigenous history of valuing skilled textile production in the Americas, and lace was quickly interpreted in new ways. Grounded in extant 18th-century objects such as metallic bobbin lace fragments and colchas (or coverlets) with polychrome wool bobbin lace edgings, this project poses the question: what untold stories of the lives of women and girls can these objects reveal? And can this method …

Speculative Futures With Southern California Fibershed, Lesley Roberts

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Regenerative agriculture disruptor Fibershed embraces and gives voice to the fullness of textile paradigms, economies, societies, ecologies, and skill traditions, seeks to address and rectify the sins and the promises of textile making and textile futures, and promotes healthy, holistic wellbeing. Fibershed is a movement of farmers, fashion activists, and makers growing a new textile economy. Founded in 2012 in a bioregion in Northern California, the community has grown to more than 75 chapters worldwide. Fibershed touts a soil-to-soil paradigm that asks us to consider the entire lifecycle of our textiles. It proposes a climate beneficial, regenerative system whose scope …

Threads Of Tradition: Unraveling The Shifting Semiotics Of Phulkari Embroidery From Past To Present, Gurvinder Kaur Gundev, Anjali Karolia

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This research paper examines intricate Phulkari embroidery, originating from the culturally rich region of Punjab, traces its historical roots and examines the evolving semiotics of this vibrant craft. The study commences with an exploration of the language embedded in Phulkari during its inception, analysing the symbolic meanings stitched into the intricate patterns and vibrant colours. Through a meticulous examination of archival materials, oral histories, and traditional artifacts, the research uncovers the nuanced cultural narratives expressed through Phulkari, serving as a communicative art form that transcends language barriers and articulates the wearer's identity, beliefs, and aspirations. A pivotal juncture in Phulkari's …

Repatriation And Conservation, Sandra Sardjono, Kristal Hale, Christopher Buckley, Saiful Bakhri, Absari Hanifah

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Textile represents one of the most important cultural heritages in Indonesia and is an integral part of social and religious lives of traditional communities. Due to colonial impact, shifts in indigenous belief systems and values, modernization, and tourism, many textiles have left their original environments. Many gained new contexts as museum objects housed in regional museums or private collections in Indonesia and abroad.

In Indonesian museums, these objects are cared for by museum staff with various backgrounds and levels of expertise, who are shifted to new positions every two-three years by the Indonesian Ministry. This methodology is intended as a …

The Petticoat: Details Of A Forgotten Garment In Mexico City (1900–1910), Nallely Rangel Vázquez

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

During Porfirian government, Mexican society experienced a flourishing of the textile industry driven by state policies that encouraged both the rise of the national industry and foreign investment. This process was perceived from the daily life of the capital, through the windows of silk shops, shoe shops, warehouses and, above all, the imposing department store El Palacio de Hierro. One of the garments that was designed to fit at the waist and cover the legs was the petticoat, which was assumed to be a piece of female underwear. In this article, I am interested in unravelling details findings about this …

Solidarity Dividend With Us Wool And Community Engagement To Address Socioeconomic Inequities, Helen X. Trejo, Angela Becerril

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

As a long-standing natural fiber, wool provides an opportunity for community engagement and reflexive practice. Our process involved sourcing wool from US sheep and wool farms in lower income areas and hands-on textile development, and intersectional reflection. Being at a Hispanic Serving Institution, informed approaches to engage with concepts, such as the “zerosum paradigm” and “Solidarity Dividend” based on Heather McGhee’s NY Times Best Selling book “The Sum of Us.” It explores how racism affects intergenerational wealth among minorities. The zero-sum paradigm is the idea that progress is a tradeoff; benefits to some is at an expense for others. The …

Nyfw Can't Handle Texture On The Runway, Treashure Lewis

Capstones

NYFW has seemingly made great strides over the years regarding inclusivity and diversity within its runway. But how are they accommodating the models of color that they are hiring? This year, unfortunately, black models are still showing up to runway sets in which the hair stylists hired do not know how to do their hair. This issue dates back to the reign of Naomi Campbell and still has yet to be resolved.

Link: https://brownlewiscapstone.wordpress.com/

Addressing The Lack Of Availability In Diverse Skin Tone Options For Performance Wear, Jessica Batey

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

The following research addresses the lack of availability in diverse skin tone options for performance fabric. The project will discuss the struggles people of color face when finding fabrics that accurately match their skin tone and the difficulties in sourcing the materials needed to successfully design a garment. The research gathered will be used to produce a collection of 4 looks using nude mesh fabrics that are readily available to the average consumer. The garments within the collection will be designed to match the skin color of 4 models. The collection’s theme will be based around the 4 cardinal witches …

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

Representing The Ali'i And Monarchy: Dress, Diplomacy, And Featherwork In Hawai'i, Tess Anderson

Scripps Senior Theses

When Native Hawaiians and haole (foreigners) first met, both participants belonged to fashion systems unknown to the other, composed of different materials, styles, tastes, standards, and construction techniques. As the outside world was introduced to the cultural heritage of Hawaiian hulu manu (featherwork), kūkaulani (chiefly fashion), and European skewed conceptions of Hawaiian indigeneity; the ali‘i (chiefs) and kama‘āina (commoners) received and adapted to incoming materials, technologies, and information. When these encounters transitioned into “prolonged contact” and settlement, dress and adornment proliferated in new ways. Analyzing the case studies of historic pā‘ū, holokū, ‘ahu'ula, and military uniforms shows the significance of …

The Liberatory Potential Of Fashion, David Billie Suoth

Honors Theses and Capstones

Fashion has the potential to be liberatory and this can be seen in the ways fashion has been targeted by systems of oppression. Fashion is the use of clothes as a vessel to create a greater social meaning. According to Edward Sapir, the meaning of fashion “while it is primarily applied to dress and the exhibition of the human body is not essentially concerned with the fact of dress or ornament, but with its symbolism” (Barnard, 2007, p. 65). Fashion with the symbolism behind it is able to show the sentiments and attitudes of civilization at different points in history …

Addressing The Lack Of Availability In Diverse Skin Tone Options For Performance Fabric, Jessica Batey

Honors College Theses

The following research addresses the lack of availability in diverse skin tone options for performance fabric. The project will discuss the struggles people of color face when finding fabrics that accurately match their skin tone and the difficulties in sourcing the materials needed to successfully design a garment. The research gathered will be used to produce a collection of 4 looks using nude mesh fabrics that are readily available to the average consumer. The garments within the collection will be designed to match the skin color of 4 models. The collection’s theme will be based around the 4 cardinal witches …

Using Big Data To Facilitate A Lyrical Analysis Of Poetry And Rap, Remington Yve Giller

English Undergraduate Distinction Projects

Poetry and rap are dissected using text mining techniques in order to determine overall trends in the words used by both. With this data, the way in which ideas and concepts are expressed can be compared and contrasted as a way of showing the legitimacy of rap as a form of literary expression. Other topics within the paper are: a background of the history of rap and the digital humanities, and an example of a close reading featuring a medieval poem and a rap by Eminem. This demonstrates how even in a traditional way of handling texts, both poetry and …

Cosmic Desert Art, Mike Graham De La Rosa

Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest

The Cosmic Desert are the designs inspired by chile hallucinations, desert creatures, and the long weird neon nights in the Borderworld. Made with love on the banks of the Rio Grande.

My family is originally from Northern Mexico but I grew up in Northern New Mexico down river of both where Al Hurricane and Nuclear Annihilation were originally created. Amongst chollas, rattle snakes, and river willow, the imagining of New Mexico permeates the landscapes. The Cosmic Desert is inhabited lowriders, taco trucks, neon adobe bars, cholas, native peoples, immigrants, punk rockers and cowboys. Just beyond the darkness, our imagination takes …

Intertwining The Past And The Present Through Textiles, Experiences In The Communities, A Vision From Peru, Rommel Angeles Falcón

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In recent years in Perú, a number of initiatives have been independently developed by collective groups, taking prehispanic textile heritage as a reference and beginning to replicate and teach ancient techniques. These initiatives were born from diverse interests, in many cases based on the experiences of weavers from the Andean highlands, textile traditions of the coast and a notable interest on the part of young people. Resist dye techniques, warp-faced weaving and tapestry have been most fully developed. This presentation reviews the principle initiatives developed in the Lima region, the ‘norte chico’ region and the far north coast.

Sky Cubacub Interview, Spencer Nieto

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: Rebirth Garments are designed and made by hand by Sky Cubacub. Sky is a non-binary queer and disabled Filipinx human from Chicago, IL with life long anxiety and panic disorders. Sky first dreamed of this collection while in high school and couldn’t find a place where they could buy a chest binder as a person who was under 18, and who didn't have access to a credit card to buy one online. Sky is especially interested in Rebirth Garments being accessible to queer and disabled youth and is working on creating a program for making free/reduced priced garments …

Imaging Exploitation, Complexity, And Paradox In Subaltern Labor Photography, Mahnure Janis

Theses and Dissertations

Imaging Exploitation, Complexity, and Paradox in Subaltern Labor Photography is an expanded cinema performance examining 'cheap' labor in the fast fashion industry through a self-reflexive diasporic lens. The images and narration explores the garment factories in Bangladesh and contains ‘a photographer’s cognitive meta-data’, including ethical dilemmas while taking the images.

Dance Of Exile: The Sakharoffs’ Visual Performances In Montevideo (1935–1948), Pablo Munoz Ponzo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the life-work chronology of the dancers and choreographers Clotilde von Derp (whose surname then was Sakharoff) and Alexander Sakharoff, who were exiled in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 1941 and 1948. During their stay in the Rio de la Plata region, the Sakharoffs stirred up the art scene by performing extremely detailed dances with great attention to costume design. This thesis begins with a review of the reception of the dancers’ performances by the artistic and cultural circles in Montevideo, arguing that the Sakharoffs’ “queer” trajectory resonated with the Uruguayan artistic community, influencing the creation …

The What If Collection, Aisha J. Daniels

Theses and Dissertations

The What If Collection is a visual narrative that confronts white supremacy, the social, economic, and political ideology used to subjugate black civilization via colonial rule and enslavement in history and via structural racism today. Many white people have been socialized into a racial illiteracy that fosters white supremacy. This racial illiteracy fails to realize and understand the destructive effects of Western dominance on the rest of the world, particularly on past and present Africa and her diaspora. In response, utilizing discursive design, the collection constructs a counter-story that depicts a shift in the power structure in which the white …

Asian Excellence In Fashion, Ryder Wong Spurgeon

Asian & Asian American Studies Student Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Precolumbian Textile Conference Vii / Jornadas De Textiles Precolombinos Vii, Lena Bjerregaard, Ann H. Peters

Zea E-Books Collection

Contents:

Introduction — Lena Bjerregaard and Ann Peters

Mexico

1. Mesoamerican Archaeological Textiles: An Overview of Materials, Techniques, and Contexts — Laura Filloy Nadal

2. Urdimbres enlazadas de Mesoamérica. Textil de la Cueva del Gallo, Morelos, México — Patricia Ochoa Castillo & Rosa Lorena Román Torres •

3. Los textiles procedentes del actual estado de Guerrero, México: una revisión a su estudio desde la perspectiva arqueológica y etnohistórica — Elizabeth Jiménez García

4. Classic Textiles from Cueva del Lazo (Chiapas, Mexico). Archaeological context and conservation issues — Davide Domenici & Gloria Martha Sánchez Valenzuela

5. Textiles y otros materiales arqueológicos …

Identity Through Clothing: Argentinian Vs. American Women, Magali Farfan

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

According to Roach-Higgins, Eicher, and Johnson (1995), “individuals acquire identity through social, physical, and biological settings” (pg.12). When acquiring identity, culture plays a vital role. Because of numerous influences on identity, a conflict exists for those who identify with more than one culture. This study focuses specifically on the problems of women who identify both as Argentinian and American. The purpose of this creative project was to create an outfit that could be worn by an Argentinian/American woman in the presence of family and friends, regardless of culture, and not feel that she is disregarding societal norms of either culture. …