Fashioning Education was a collaborative research initiative designed to promote and formalise the discourse on fashion education in the context of global transformation. The circle brought together actors from different areas of fashion education, research and practice to engage in critical conversations and explore the socially transformative potential of fashion. The three-year project was funded by the Einstein Foundation and led by colleagues from the Fashion Institute at Berlin University of the Arts Prof Valeska Schmidt-Thomsen, guest Prof Franziska Schreiber and Dr Renate Stauss. The 13 members discussed culturally diverse and postcolonial perspectives on key questions such as: What does fashion education mean in different educational cultures? How can fashion education achieve cultural and social relevance? What strategies are there for global expansion, diversification and digitalisation in fashion education?
Fashioning Education provided important impetus for reflection, networking and the reorientation of fashion education to meet the requirements of a sustainable, social and conscious future. In the two public events "The End of Fashion Education? Towards New Beginnings" and "Transformation Through Fashion Education. Towards Systemic Change", the capitalist values of fashion and its education were scrutinised, more social and collaborative teaching and learning scenarios beyond tertiary education were discussed and innovative fashion education projects such as CASA 93 (Paris) ARAKELE (Addis Ababa) and ABOUT A WORKER (Paris), Roots Studio (India), The Cutting Room Project (South Africa) and ReGo (UK) were presented.
The hybrid final conference "De-Fashioning Education" on 15-16 September 2023 in Berlin marked the culmination of the circle's work with large international participation. The conference attracted around 900 participants (approx. 430 on site and approx. 470 online) from 50 countries and offered a diverse program of keynotes, paper sessions, project presentations, panel discussions, workshops and walks on the topics of degrowth, collaborative learning and systemic transformation in fashion education, also in cooperation with nonuniversity institutions such as the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Lipperheide Costume Library. Guests included Otto von Busch (Professor of Integrated Design at Parsons School of Design, US), Anjana Das (Creative director, India), Sunny Dolat (The Nest Collective, Kenya), Mayank Mansingh Kaul (Textile Curator, India), Loreto Martínez & Tamara Poblete (Colectivo Malvestidas, Chile), Sandra Niessen (Independent Scholar & Defashion Activist, The Netherlands), Timo Rissanen (Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion UCRF, Australia) et al.
Fashioning Education was made by the following members:
Berit Greinke (Prof Dr, Wearable Computing, Berlin University of Arts (UdK)), Britta Bommert (Dr, Fashion Image Collection, Museum of Decorative Arts Berlin (KGM)), Christina Moon (Prof, Dr, Fashion Studies, The New School – Parsons New York), Dilys Williams (Prof, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion (LCF)), Elisabeth Meier (Prof, Film Costume, Berlin University of Arts (UdK)), Franziska Schreiber (Prof, Fashion Design, Berlin University of Arts (UdK)), Oliver Ibert (Prof, Dr, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS)), Renate Stauss (Prof, Dr, Fashion Theory, Berlin University of Arts (UdK) & Fashion Studies The American University Paris (AUP)), Valeska Schmidt-Thomsen (Prof, Fashion- and Textile Design, Berlin University of Arts (UdK)), Wowo Kraus (Prof, Fashion Design, Berlin University of Arts (UdK)), Zowie Broach (Prof, Fashion Design, Royal College of Art London (RCA)), Lesiba Mabitsela (Co-Founder African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI)), Tanveer Ahmed (Senior Lecturer in Fashion and Race, Central Saint Martin’s College London (CSM))