Description
The past decade has seen significant growth in practice-based fashion research. This growth is evidenced by the increasing number of institutions offering practice-led doctoral and master’s programs (e.g., London College of Fashion, Central Saint Martins, Royal College of Art, Parsons School of Design, Toronto Metropolitan University, RMIT University, University of Technology Sydney) and a small yet significant number of books focusing on practice-based fashion research (e.g., Gaugele and Titton, 2022; Sampson, 2020). Despite the growth of research through practice in fashion studies, there is to date, no global network for fashion practice-based researchers. This new network seeks to address this gap by forming a network which asks how methodologies of making, wearing and performing can expand upon existing research practices in fashion studies and, in turn, broaden access to and participation in the field. The network will create new connections between established and emerging practice-based researchers in the global north and south through four workshops (two in-person and two online), a symposium and an exhibition. Through a combination of targeted invitations and an open call, we will bring together ten U.K. and international researchers who utilise practice-based methods to study fashion (e.g., design, curation, conservation and reconstruction of historical garments, filmmaking and photography, producing fashion shows and performances). Over the course of 18 months, each researcher will be asked to develop a short project and write up a book chapter for an edited volume based on the network in order to reflect upon their methodological processes and the knowledge their work produces.Centrally the workshops will be used to develop a new model for peer-review of practice-based scholarship in fashion studies. Currently, peer-review processes often present challenges for reviewers and barriers to acceptance of practice-based research because they are designed for text-based submissions and because feedback is not offered until practice-based outputs are complete - making amendments difficult to achieve. The iterative and collaborative peer-review model developed through the workshops aims to increase the dissemination and reach of the output of fashion practice-based research and offer a model for how fashion studies can better accommodate and support practice-based research in the future. Over four workshops, participants will meet to share and review their draft chapters in an open and iterative peer-review process which builds upon a studio crit model. These exchanges will allow participants to receive critical feedback from the other researcher-practitioners and, through this, revise and develop their work.
This process of peer mentorship and review will ensure significant rigour and engagement, building an ongoing community of practice and bringing the chapters into conversation with each other. The PI and CI will write up the outcomes of this peer-review process as a journal article, proposing a new model for peer review of practice-based scholarship in fashion studies.
The outcomes of the workshops will be shared through a symposium, an exhibition, an edited volume (Bloomsbury have expressed a strong interest), and a journal co-authored article by the PI and Co-I. Through these combined outputs, the network will foreground the benefits that practice-based research brings to fashion studies and the broader fashion and cultural industries by critically examining how practice-based research can change understandings of the meanings, histories and future of fashion.
| Period | 18 Jun 2025 → 19 Jun 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Workshop |
| Location | NewcastleShow on map |