Fashion
The Fashion Project: Exploring Critical Issues

Thursday 24th September - Saturday 26th September 2015
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Presentations:
Coco Chanel observed that fashion is 'not something that exists in
dresses only,' and 'has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is
happening.' Scholars, designers, artists, bloggers, and ordinary
individuals who are putting a 'look' together, agree. For them,
fashion is an evolving creative historical, political, economic, and
social process that reflects contemporary preoccupations. Fashion is a
statement, a stylised form of expression, which displays and is part
of what defines a person, a place, a class, a time, a culture, a
society, a nation, and membership in global subcultures and
communities. Georg Simmel described fashion as a system of sense and
social stratification, based on group definitions. This inter- and
trans-disciplinary conference explores the historical, social,
economic, political, psychological, and artistic phenomenon of
fashion, a powerful component of contemporary local and global
culture. While some aspects of fashi! on can be exclusive, fashion is
inclusive and lies at the very heart of persons, their construction of
identity and the communities in which they live. Individuals emerge as
icons of beauty and style, cities are identified as centres of
fashion, and the business of fashion is a billions of dollar per annum
global industry, employing millions of people. The project assesses
the history and meanings of fashion; evaluates its expressions in
politics, business, pop culture, the arts, consumer culture, and
social media; determines its effect on gender, sexuality, class, age,
race, ethnicity, nation, religion, and other sources of identity; and
explores future directions and trends.

Building on the foundations of previous meetings, publications, and
collaborations, the conference will be structured around five main
areas of focus that will appeal to a wide range of fashion-oriented
participants from all countries, formations, and trades, with the goal
of building global pathways, dialogue, and understanding across
disciplines and practices. Academics, theoreticians, designers,
artists, and skilled professionals will have the opportunity to enjoy
specific as well as whole group sessions, designed to provide them
with opportunities for long term engagement beyond their initial
participation. Papers, presentations, demonstrations, and workshops
are invited on the following themes:

1. Understanding Fashion:
- Fashion, Style, Taste-Making, and Chic
- Fashion and Fashionability
- Fashion and Zeitgeist
- History of Fashion
- The Future of Fashion
- The Psychology of Fashion
- Philosophy and Fashion

2. Studying Fashion:
- Tools and Methodologies
- Theorizing Fashion: Disciplines and Perspectives
- Fashion Studies and Fashion Education
- Identifying, Defining and Refining Concepts (e.g., 'style,'
'fashion,' 'look,' 'fad,' 'trend,' 'in and out')
- Documenting and Curating Fashion
- Fashion Construction and Craft
- The Materials of Fashion

3. Representing and Disseminating Fashion:
- Fashion Icons
- Fashion Models
- Fashion and Glamour
- Designers and Muses
- Costumes and uniforms
- Masquerades and other ruses
- Fashion, Popular Culture and Celebrity
- Style Guides and Makeover Shows
- Fashion Photography
- Fashion, Art, Literature, Architecture
- Fashion Magazines, Blogs, and Social Media
- Films and Documentaries about Fashion
- Fashion and the Performing Arts, Music and Television; Costumes

4. Identity and Fashion:
- Fashion and Identity
- Fashion (Sub)Cultures
- Fashion, Politics, and Ideology
- Fashion as Performance
- Fashion, the Body, and Self-Fashioning

5. Economies of Fashion:
– Fashion Professions and Trades
– Fashion Cities, Fashion Weeks, Fashion's Night Out
– Fashion Marketing (e.g., brands, flagship stores, guerilla stores, eCommerce)
– Shopping and Consumption Practices
– Fashion Forecasting
– Marketing Platforms (e.g., communication, streaming video, social media, etc.)
– Fashion Markets: Vintage, Mass, Luxury, Accessories, Emerging, Other
(e.g., food)
– Producing and Displaying Fashion
– Sustainable and Ethical Business Practices

What to Send:
300 word abstracts are due by Friday 10 April, 2015. If an abstract is
accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by
Friday 10th July 2015. Emails containing the abstracts should be
submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be
in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information
and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in
programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of
proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: FASHION7 Abstract Submission.

Please Note: In this email please attach TWO versions of your abstract
as follows:
1) One with title and body of abstract only (no identification of the
author-this version will be for our blind peer review process).
2) The other with the following information about the author(s):
affiliation, email, title of abstract, title and body of abstract

All abstracts will be at least double blind peer reviewed. Please use
plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and 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: jfoltyn@nu.edu
Rob Fisher: fash7@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 proposals accepted
for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be
eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected proposals may be
developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All
publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen
from interested delegates from the conference.

Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and
professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should
attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make
this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation.

For further details of the conference, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ethos/fashion/call-for-papers/