Volume 5, Issue 1

By Justine Woods

Indigenous fashion encompasses the aesthetic plurality of Indigenous material brilliance, innovation, and resilience. Because of this, Indigenous fashion cannot be singularly defined, nor should it be. Situated within this frame of thought, this article tells a story informed by the author’s own relationship to Indigenous fashion practice within the context of Turtle Island (North America), alongside and in conversation with the words, ideas, and inquiries of decolonial and Indigenous fashion thinkers, makers, and dreamers. […]

by Mia yaguchi-chow

The gender binary is constantly weaponized against queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming individuals, limiting their self-expression and risking their safety—but transphobia affects more than just queer people. Dear Diary, This is My Gender Today is both an active dialogue and expanded discourse of gender identity expressed in everyday dress. […]

by peigi anna urquhart

This essay explores how dress is utilized as a way of shaping and representing the Asiatic body constructed in Western video games to create an idea of the techno-Orientalized “Other.” In the new age of Orientalism, the West now seeks to maintain its ideological dominance in the future and therefore must manufacture an “East.” […]

by Nikita shah

I spent a decade across textile clusters in India as Head Designer for an influential textile-focused fashion brand before I came to the Fashion Institute of Technology to study fashion design. In India, I learned over 13 different craft-based techniques of weaving, dyeing, embroidery, and beading. More importantly, I learned the traditions of it. Among the artisans who work with natural dyes that require time in between processes, a common saying is, “Let it be for today.” This has come to inform my artistic and community practice, Fursat (a South Asian term embodying leisure, reflection, and wisdom). […]

by philippa nesbitt

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the use of visibly disabled models in the global fashion industry, with New York’s fashion industry leading the charge. In tandem with this increased representation of disabilities in fashion media, major American fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Skims, and Victoria’s Secret have begun offering adaptive collections that aim to cater to the needs of a disabled clientele. […]

by aneri shah

This paper examines the role of the traditional Indian garment, the Saree, as a site of both patriarchal control and feminist subversion. Drawing on postcolonial feminist theory, gender studies, and fashion anthropology, this research argues that the Saree operates as a cultural artifact embodying contested narratives of womanhood, gender identity, and political resistance. […]

by Julia Wilmott

This study examines the impact of language on objectively interpreting the tactility of different broad-wool fibres, aiming to provide a clearer understanding of their texture for those who perceive them. These fibres, already present in our ecosystem, are often underutilized due to negative perception of their handle. Previous studies by Sneddon et al. (2011b) and McGregor et al. (2015) have shown that consumers view woollen garments negatively, using terms like “coarse,” “prickly” or “itchy” to describe them. […]

by Lilly COmpeau-Schomberg

In queer women’s fashion literature there is a tendency to focus on the utilization of masculinity to communicate a divergence from expectations of heteronormative femininity. Despite this focus on masculinity, expressions of queer femininity through dress are of equal importance. In 2020 the “lesbian earring trend” emerged on social media platforms. Earrings within this trend typically forgo the ideals of “good taste” and lean into the kitsch, the camp, and the absurd. […]

by cora harrington

When people think about the cost of goods and commodities over time, it is normal to compare prices in the past to prices in the present. Often, this is accompanied by the phrase “in today’s dollars." But what exactly are “today’s dollars?” Is it inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, or is there a more nuanced way to interpret buying power over time? Historical price conversions are a core area of concern and interest in costume studies. […]