Fashion Studies Network:
Events
E/Spaces in Fashion
About the Symposium
We are pleased to announce the second Fashion Studies Network Symposium, hosted by the Masters of Fashion program at Toronto Metropolitan University. The symposium will take place on Thursday, May 28th and Friday, May 29th, 2026.
The field of fashion is composed of numerous spaces—physical and digital spaces; making, consuming and performing spaces; neocolonial and decolonial spaces. The history of fashion is informed by space and its politics: fashion cities, sacrifice zones, extraction geographies, centres and peripheries. Being in fashion is to have fashion impose itself on bodies and spaces through issues of access and acceptance. However, fashion is also a tool to drive change, assert non-normative ideas, symbolize rebellion, and dress resistance. Through these acts, fashion creates various spaces and is instrumental in their improvement.
For this bilingual graduate symposium, we have welcomed submissions in both English and French that explore these “E/Spaces in Fashion.” This symposium will inspire the next student-led special issue of Fashion Studies, scheduled for publication in June, 2027.
Stay tuned, as attendee registration will be opening soon!
Provisional Schedule / Programme provisoire
School of Fashion, Toronto Metropolitan University
40 Gould St, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3
Day 1: Thursday, May 28 / Jour 1 : jeudi 28 mai
0830-0930: Registration / Inscription
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
0930-1000: Opening Remarks / Discours d’ouverture
TBD / À déterminer
1000-1130: Panels 1 & 2 / Ateliers 1 et 2
Panel 1 / Atelier 1 - Crafting Value: An Exploration of Tradition, Technique and Innovation / Quand l’artisanat crée la valeur: tradition, techniques et innovation
Chair /Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Sequins and Scars in the Archive - Amelia June Ferguson, Toronto Metropolitan University
Constructing Identity through Textile Exploration: An Arts-Based Inquiry into Indian Textile Practices and Embodied Knowledge - Kanishka Kumar, Toronto Metropolitan University
Vintage as Usable Past: Identity, Memory, and Fictive Ancestry in Contemporary Fashion Culture - Ekaterina Vorobei, The American University of Paris
Panel 2 / Atelier 2 - Decolonial Orbits: Fashion Beyond the Centre / Trajectoires décoloniales : La Mode au-delà du centre
Chair /Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Building the Futures We Remember: Toward a Decentered Architecture of Fashion - Antoinette Alba, Parsons Paris
The Politics of Space and Mobility in Jet Age Fashion Photography - Weerada Muangsook, University of St Andrews
Consumer Behaviour in West Africa - Ousainou Gaye, Erasmus University, Rotterdam school of Management
1150-1320: Panels 3 & 4 / Ateliers 3 et 4
Panel 3 / Atelier 3 - Breaking the Algorithm: Viral Critiques / Déjouer les algorithmes : critiques virales
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
E/Spaces as Fields of Negotiation: Legitimacy and Identity in Contemporary Luxury Fashion - Wiktoria Sznura, Sapienza University of Rome
The Other Side of TikTok: The Connection between Racism and Fashion in Social Media - Lauren Bell, Fashion Institute of Technology
Researching Muslim fashion images - Laura Haddad, Georg-August-university Goettingen
Panel 4 / Atelier 4 - Fabrics of Time: Museums, Memory and Material Culture / Les Tissus du temps: musées, mémoire et culture matérielle
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Threads of Visibility: Women’s Textile Art and Spatial Agency in Danish Museums since 1900 (online) - Laura Melani, Independent Researcher & Senior Specialist at FERRAGAMO
Dressing the Absent Body: Interpreting Atayal Fashion through Mounting and Silhouette (online) - Viviane Wei An Chen, Viviane Chen Studio
Corps parés, territoires négociés : l’orfèvrerie amazighe de Tiznit entre ancrage local et circuits globalisés (online) - Majda Meftahi, Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches sur l’Interculturel/ Université Chouaib Doukkali
1320-1430: Lunch / Déjeuner
There are a number of options in the area. / Il y a de nombreuses options dans le coin.
1430-1530: Panel 5 / Atelier 5
Panel 5 / Atelier 5 - Forward Thinking? Decoding Tech in Fashion Spaces / Une Vision avant-gardiste ? Décrypter la technologie dans les espaces dédiés à la mode
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Trends and Digital Humanities: New Pathways for Fashion through Artificial Intelligence and 3D Simulation (online) - Macivaldo Santos, Universidade Estadual de Santa Catarina
Advertising as Afrofuturism: Imagining Fashion Marketing through AI - Dominique Norman, Marymount Manhattan College and Fashion Institute of Technology
1600-1700: Provocation
Title TBD / Titre à déterminer
Location TBD / Lieu à déterminer
Led by Nithikul Nimkulrat, OCAD University
1700-1800: Mix & Mingle / Réception
Location TBD / Lieu à déterminer
Day 2: Friday, May 28 / Jour 2 : vendredi 28 mai
930-1100: Panels 6 & 7 / Ateliers 6 et 7
Panel 6 / Atelier 6 - Race, Erasure, and Resistance / Race, effacement et résistance
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Made Up Archive: A Digital Approach to Studying Makeup - Camille Wise, Brown University
Dressing for Success: How Women of Colour Navigate Professional Appearance & Identity in the Workplace - Poppy Martinez, Drexel University
Beyond the Box: How Enslaved Black People in the American South Subverted Sumptuary Laws - Savannah Bryant, Fashion Institute of Technology
Panel 7 / Atelier 7 - Homegrown: Questions in Canada / D’Origine locale : questions au Canada
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Future Artifacts: Flax as a Future-Making Material - Charlotte Little, Toronto Metropolitan University
Showcasing Toronto Fashion through Fashion Week - Samantha Hartmann, Parsons Paris - The New School
Constraints and Opportunities for Critical Fashion Curation in Canada (online) - Amanda Zhang, Concordia University
1145-1315: Actions / Activités
Studio Visit / Visite de studio
Marbled Faces, Community Spaces
Sabine Spare, Chroma Colour Textiles Studio
52 St Lawrence St. #317, Toronto
Workshop / Atelier
From Draft to Publication: A Guide to Publishing in Academic Journals (Workshop + Q&A)
Carlea Blight, Toronto Metropolitan University and York University
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Site Visit / Visite de site
Urban Farm
Rachel MacHenry, School of Fashion TMU
245 Church St., Toronto (Rooftop)
Screening / Visionnement
Re.Stance Collective Film Screenings: Entangled Temporality — A Love Letter to Gaia
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
1315-1400: Lunch / Déjeuner
There are a number of options in the area. / Il y a de nombreuses options dans le coin.
1400-1550: Panels 8 & 9 / Ateliers 8 et 9
Panel 8 / Atelier 8 - Deconstructing the binary: Redefining fashion through inclusion / Déconstruire le binaire: Redéfinir la mode par le biais de l’inclusion
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Pour Femme: The Gendering of Fragrance in the Nineteenth Century - Alex Tremblay, Fashion Institute of Technology
Dressing to Speak: Becoming Someone Else across Private and Public Space in Iran - Shadan Bagherian, Sapienza University of Rome
“Clothes Make the Woman”: Exploring Representations of Cross-Dressing and Impersonation in the Pages of Female Mimics, 1963-1970 - Nico Frederick, Fashion Institute of Technology
Travels In Hyperfemininity: The Play of Ambiguity in Fashion (online) - Nuno Nogueira and Inês Simoes, University of Lisbon
Panel 9 / Atelier 9 - Making the Renaissance: New Fashion Spaces / Construire la renaissance: Les Nouveaux espaces de mode
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
The Uncovering Dressmakers Project - Madeline Snowden, Toronto Metropolitan University
Fashioning Alternative Spaces: Creative Hubs and Sustainable Practice in Prato’s Textile District (online) - Arianna Moroder, Lottozero textile laboratories
The Heirloom as Method: Reimagining Fashion Futures through Care and Generational Time - Sasha de Koninck, Northeastern University
The d_archive (online) - Martina Ponzoni, d_archive
1610-1740: Panels 10 & 11 / Ateliers 10 et 11
Panel 10 / Atelier 10 - Liminal Silhouettes: Frontiers of the Body / Silhouettes au seuil: Les Limbes du corps
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Hanfu as a Decolonial E/Space: Negotiating Identity and Body in the East Asian Cultural Ecosystem - Chenshuo Li, University of Alberta
Breast Dressed: A Sociological Approach to Breast Garment Design and Pedagogy - Alyssa Lutrin, Toronto Metropolitan University
« Tien toy brodé d’or et de pierrerïe ! » Le corps aulique, corps utopique ? - Tristan Fourré, Nantes Université
Panel 11 / Atelier 11 - The Seams of Empire: Patterns of Power / Les Coutures de l’empire: Modèles de pouvoir
Chair / Présidence : TBD / À déterminer
Room: TBD / Salle : À déterminer
Minority Fashion in Diaspora: Comparisons between Jewish and Christian Women’s Dress in Historic Poland (online) - Elena Solomon, University of Manchester and University of Bar Ilan
Sinocentrism in East Asia in Fashion - Jonathan Lee, Toronto Metropolitan University
Fashion as a Site of Power: Gender, Beauty, and Colonial Afterlives in Pakistan - Muhammad Umer Rehman, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture
1750-1800: Closing Remarks / Remarques Finales
Dr. nigel lezama - School of Fashion, TMU
2000-0100: After party / After
Cost / Coût
$15 / $20 / $25
Past Events
About the Symposium
The Fashion Studies Network (FSN) is a collaborative scholarly community focused on sharing innovative research, methodologies, and practices in the field of fashion. Founded in 2023 and led by the School of Fashion at Parsons School of Design – the New School and the Masters of Fashion program at Toronto Metropolitan University, this network is focused on developing connections between fashion-focused New York City and Toronto graduate students, community members, and educational- and cultural-centered institutions. A bi-annual symposium hosted by FSN institutional members is a key goal of the network, resulting in an evolving creative space where innovative research can be shared, conversations can be had, and new connections between communities can be made.
The fashion system's processes of production, circulation, consumption, and expulsion weave stories begging to be told and important lessons to be learned. While the worst cases expose the domination and exploitation prevalent within the industry, there are also inspiring instances of sustainability, equity, and decolonization gaining visibility and momentum as we strive to make fashion a safer and more accessible creative space. Textiles and the garments they construct serve as the physical manifestation of diverse communities' histories, communities, and politics, working to both expose and disrupt oppressive dominant ideologies and provide a means of embodied self-expression. Our upcoming graduate symposium "Unravelling Fashion Narratives" will feature a wide range of panelists investigating fashion from all angles. Alternative fashion narratives will be explored through the lenses of curatorial, material culture, fashion, and performance studies; as well as exhibited through the creations of dyers, weavers, and other makers in the field of fashion.
Potential topics include, but are by no means limited to:
Critiquing and challenging dominant narratives in fashion
Archival collections’, museums’ and curatorial stories
Decolonial perspectives in design and representation
Fashion reality vs. fantasy
Stories concealed and revealed by dress
Global dress and textile stories
Inclusion and accessibility in fashion and dress practices
Sustainability in micro and macro practices
Threads of identity and dress
Fashion studies as an interdisciplinary field
Materiality
Personal and political narratives in dress
Dress history
We welcomed graduate students, makers, and artists from various backgrounds submitted to the field of Fashion Studies. Priority was given to students at institutions affiliated with the network.