Fashion - Exploring Critical Issues

2nd Global Conference

Fashion - Exploring Critical Issues

Thursday 23rd September - Sunday 26th September 2010

Oriel College, Oxford

Call for Papers

Fashion is a statement, a stylised form of

expression which displays and begins to define a

person, a place, a class, a time, a religion, a

culture, and even a nation. This interdisciplinary

and transdisciplinary conference seeks to explore the historical,

social, cultural, psychological and artistic

phenomenon of fashion. Fashion lies at the

very heart of persons, their sense of identity and

the communities in which they live. Individuals

emerge as icons of beauty and style; cities are

identified as centres of fashion. The project will

assess the history and meanings of fashion;

evaluate its expressions in politics,

music, film, media and consumer culture; determine

its effect on gender, sexuality, class, race, age

and identity; examine the practice, tools, and

business of fashion; consider the methodologies of

studying fashion; and explore future directions

and trends.

Papers, presentations, workshops and pre-formed panels

are invited on issues related to any of the

following themes:

1. Understanding Fashion

~ Fashion, Style, Taste-Making, and Chic

~ Fashion and Fashionability

~ Fashion and Zeitgeist

~ History of Fashion

~ Fashion Theory

~ Fashion, Politics, and Ideology: e.g., 'message'

fashion; fashion as a political platform, fashion

as defiance; graffiti as a fashion statement

2. Studying Fashion

~ Tools and Methodology; disciplines and

perspectives; professions and trades

~ Documentation

~ Identifying, defining and refining concepts:

e.g., 'style,' 'fashion,' 'look,' 'fad,' 'trend,'

'in & out'

~ 'Chasing' Fashion: Studying fashion collections,

archives, and museums

~ Fashion collections; fashion archives

~ Designers and Muses

3. Cultures of Fashion

~ Fashion in the City

~ Men and Fashion; Children and Fashion

~ Fashion Subcultures: e.g., pets and fashion,

sports and fashion, supermodels, The Red Carpet,

celebrity, vintage, glamour, gothic, etc.

~ Fashion and Nostalgia

~ Fashion and Professional Dress: e.g., Fashion

and the Law

~ Ethical Issues in Fashion: e.g., cruelty free

fashion; PETA anti-fur movement; slave labour,

sweatshops, child labour; the growing 'fakes' market

4. Fashion and Identity

~ Fashion, Culture, and the Human body (e.g.,

beauty standards, body

art, weight, plastic surgery

~ Self-fashioning: e.g., fashion as performance;

body modifications, including make-up, hair

design, piercings, tattoos, body sculpting,

plastic surgery

~ Fashion and Social Status: Gender, Sexuality,

Class, Race, Age and Fashion

~ Fashion and National Identities

~ Fashion and Transnational Identities

~ Fashion and Religion

5. Fashion, Representation, and Evolving Patterns

of Communication & Criticism

~ Fashion Photography, Magazines, Blogs, and Twitter

~ Fashion Icons

~ Fashion, Film and the Performing Arts

~ Fashion and Music

~ Fashion and Fantasy

~ Fashion and Television

6. Fashion Practice

~ Fashion and Curatorial Practice: e.g.,

possibilities and problems of

creating fashion Archives; creating and accessing

private and public fashion collections

~ Fashion Design

~ Fashion Specialists: e.g., pattern makers,

fitters, embroiderers, tailors, textile experts

~ Fashion Economies and the business of fashion,

e.g., traditional markets, the luxury industry,

the design industry, producing and displaying

fashion (building showrooms, production sites, runway)

~ Beyond Dress: e.g., architecture, food,

furniture, kitchens, perfume

~ Style Guides and Makeover Shows

7. The Future of Fashion

~ Trends and Cycles; predicting fashion

~ The Materials of Fashion: e.g., eco-fashion,

intelligent textiles, nano-technology, etc.

~ The rise of the Accessory as the Driving Force

of Fashion: e.g., handbags and shoes

~ Branding, the Mass Market, and Consumerism:

e.g., designer collections at H & M, Top Shop, M &

S, Target, Wal-Mart

~ Celebrities as Fashion Designers: e.g. J. Lo,

Jessica Simpson, Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham, P.Diddy.

~ Anti-Fashion

Papers will be accepted which deal with related

areas and themes.

The 2010 meeting of Fashion - Exploring Critical

Issues will run alongside our project on

Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging and we

anticipate holding sessions in common between the

two projects. We welcome any papers considering

the problems or addressing issues of

Fashion and Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging.

Papers will be considered on any related theme.

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday

26th March 2010. If an abstract is

accepted for the conference, a full draft paper

should be submitted by Friday 13th August 2010.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to the

Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word,

WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d)

title of abstract, e) body of abstract

E-mails should be entitled: Fashion Abstract

Submission

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain

from using any special formatting, characters or

emphasis (such as bold, italics or

underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to

all paper proposals submitted. If you do not

receive a reply from us in a week you should

assume we did not receive your proposal; it might

be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look

for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs

Jacque Lynn Foltyn

Chair, Dept of Social Sciences, College of Letters

and Sciences,

National University, CA, USA

E-mail: jfoltyn@nu.edu

Rob Fisher

Network Founder and Network Leader,

Inter-Disciplinary.Net, Freeland,

Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

E-mail: fashion2@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the Critical Issues

series of research projects. The aim of the

conference is to bring together people from

different areas and interests to share ideas and

explore various discussions which are innovative

and exciting. All papers accepted for

and presented at this conference are eligible for

publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may

be invited to go forward for development into

a themed ISBN hard copy volume.

For further details about the project please visit:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ethos/fashion/

For further details about the conference please visit:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ethos/fashion/call-for-papers/