Call for Papers

Space for Fashion Thinking & Practice: Review, Reflect, Revise

An Interdisciplinary Fashion Research Network Symposium & Exhibition

Friday 8th September 2017 - Coventry University London

Venue: Coventry University London, University House, 109-117 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7JF

As we move into our fifth year the Fashion Research Network (FRN) invite you to Review, Reflect and Revise. FRN began as a collaborative project with the aim of promoting and sharing the work of PhD and early career fashion and dress researchers; bridging the gaps and exploring the intersections between contemporary, practice based research, historical and theoretical approaches to dress.

From our beginnings as a small group organising a pair of events at the Royal College of Art and Courtauld Institute of Art, the Fashion Research Network has grown and developed through nearly 40 events to become a leading organisation in fashion research. FRN is a space for dialogue, exchange and experimentation about fashion and dress thinking and practice. This symposium draws on our interdisciplinary approach and brings together the themes of our discussions from the last five years to highlight future areas of collaboration, practice and dialogue.

The first in a series of events marking 5 years of the FRN, Space for Fashion Thinking & Practice considers the current state of interdisciplinary fashion thinking and practice. We invite you to participate in the symposium and exhibition and request abstracts on fashion thinking and practice on the following interdisciplinary themes:

Fashion and Space
Image and Spectacle
Sensory and Emotive
Collaboration and Exchange

Fashion and Ethics
Identity and Race
Gender and Society
Culture and Geography

Fashion Making and Display
Curating and Exhibition Making
Digital Futures and Innovation
Industry and Practice

We are particularly keen to receive abstracts from PhD and early-career researchers.

Abstracts for 15-minute paper presentations should be submitted together with the name, affiliation and email address and a short 50-60 word biography of the applicant to fashionresearchnetwork@gmail.com and nathaniel.beard@coventry.ac.uk by Friday 28th July 2017.

In addition, fashion and dress practitioners are also invited to exhibit their work following similar themes as outlined above. Forms of practice-based work can be exhibited either in the form of an A1 sized poster OR artefact based object(s). Applications for the exhibition should take the form of one A4 page rationale of the proposed exhibit together with up to 5 low res jpeg images (or films) together with the name, affiliation and email address and a short 50-60 word biography of the applicant to fashionresearchnetwork@gmail.com and nathaniel.beard@coventry.ac.uk by Friday 28th July 2017.

All participating speakers and exhibitors are exempt from the symposium fee. Exhibitors are responsible for the transport and insurance of their own artefacts or poster to and from the exhibition venue and while in situ. No bursaries are available for travel or other expenses.

Full programme of the event, together with keynote speakers and ticket options, will be announced in due course.

All successful participants and exhibitors are invited to consider contributing the Fashion Research Network’s 5th Anniversary Publication.

General questions are welcome (including about exhibit formats) via: fashionresearchnetwork@gmail.com or nathaniel.beard@coventry.ac.uk

References:

Blau, Herbert (1999) Nothing In Itself: Complexions of Fashion, Bloomington, IND: Indiana University Press.

Breward, Christopher (2003) Fashion, Oxford and New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Church Gibson, Pamela, and Bruzzi, Stella, Editors (2013) Fashion Cultures Revisited: Theories, Explorations and Analysis, London and New York, NY: Routledge.

Craik, Jennifer (1993) The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion, London and New York, NY: Routledge.

Crewe, Louise (2017) The Geographies of Fashion: Consumption, Space, Value, London and New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.

Entwistle, Jo (2000) The Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress, and Modern Social Theory, Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press.

Jenss, Heike, Editor (2016) Fashion Studies: Research Methods, Sites and Practices, London and New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.

Kaiser, Susan B. (2011) Fashion and Cultural Studies, London and New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.

Loschek, Ingrid, Trans. Dr. Lucinda Rennison (2009) When Clothes Become Fashion: Design and Innovation Systems, Oxford and New York, NY: Berg.

Potvin, John, Editor (2009) The Places and Spaces of Fashion, 1800-2007, London and New York, NY: Routledge.

Niklas, Charlotte, and Pollen, Annebella, Editors (2015) Dress History: New Directions in Theory and Practice, London and New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.

Riegels Melchior, Marie, and Svensson, Birgitta (2014) Fashion and Museums: Theory and Practice, London and New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.

Rocamora, Agnès, and Smelik, Anneke, Editors (2015) Thinking Through Fashion: A Guide to Key Theorists, London and New York, NY: I.B. Tauris Ltd.

Svendson, Lars, Trans. John Irons (2006) Fashion: A Philosophy. London: Reaktion Books.

Taylor, Lou (2002) The Study of Dress History, Manchester and New York, NY: Manchester University Press.