Episodes
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In a heartfelt update, I reflect on the challenges of decolonizing fashion education. Amid the hurried pace of academia, I share some experiences from teaching British students and introducing non-Western narratives into my curriculum. Despite occasional frustrations, small triumphs in reshaping how fashion history is taught offer hope.
Links:
Read the transcript on my website.Follow me on Instagram and TikTok.Subscribe to my newsletter.Download mini-resource guide on decolonizing fashion education. -
In the first interview of Redressing Fashion, Laura interviews Faith Cooper about her research on Asian fashion and her work behind the digital project, Asian Fashion Archive. They talk about cultural identity in fashion, some of Faith’s favorite aspects about Asian fashion, and how to redress fashion from Asian perspectives.
About Faith:
Faith Cooper is the creator of the digital resource project Asian Fashion Archive. Currently, she is participating in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program studying Brand and Fashion Management
at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. Previously she taught the Cross Cultural Expressions of Fashion and Dress course at the Fashion Insitute of Technology and worked in the education department at The Museum at FIT. In addition to her experience working in fashion education, Faith’s past professional experience includes working at Christie’s, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vogue, and International Condé Nast. Faith holds a master's degree in Fashion and Textile Studies and a bachelor's degree
in Art History and Museum Professions, both from the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Asian Fashion Archive website: https://asianfashionarchive.com/home Asian Fashion Archive on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asianfashionarchive About Faith Cooper: https://www.faithtcooper.com/Relevant links & references:
Fu Jen Catholic University Chinese Textiles and Clothing Culture Center in Taiwan: https://ctccc.tc.fju.edu.tw/Guo Pei exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum: https://www.nhb.gov.sg/acm/whats-on/exhibitions/guo-pei Book – Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong (2018)Book – Rethinking Fashion Globalization edited by Sarah Cheang, Erica de Greef, and Yoko Takagi (2021)Book – The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion by Yuniya Kawamura (2004)Book – Fashioning Japanese Subcultures by Yuniya Kawamura (2013)—
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Episodes manquant?
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In this (unscripted) episode, I share a bit about my new life in London, especially as I attempt to navigate what decentering/unsettling/decolonizing fashion might look like from one of its global capitals. I also talk about my three favorite—though unconventional and certainly more diverse than what mainstream media has been talking about—runway shows at London Fashion Week. Finally, I offer some reflections on how I’ve been approaching my teaching and research now that I’m back in fashion academia, but in a much more hegemonic site. Stay to the end for three little lessons I’ve learned with these spontaneous reflections!
Relevant links & references (in order of appearance):
Book: Everyday Fashion: Interpreting British Clothing since 1600, ed. Bethan Bide, Jade Halbert and Liz TregenzaVideo of SUNCUN runway show at London Fashion Week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twvgJtvTt0wIndia Day at London Fashion Week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbbd84J1MjAVideo of Jasive Fernández runway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnbx3p6JaQgMy new faculty profile: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/art-design-humanities/laura-beltran-rubio/laura-beltran-rubio.aspx—
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In this episode, Laura shares some of her initial ideas on what it means to redress fashion from a historical perspective. This episode combines a presentation she gave at the Chicago Fashion Lyceum in 2020 with her Ph.D. dissertation and a 2022 published essay. You’ll hear about the separate definitions that we are often given for “fashion,” “costume,” and “dress” and be left with reflection prompts that question the need for such separate categories and the close relationship between categorization and colonialist dynamics.
Relevant links & references (in order of appearance):
Join Laura’s Re/dressing Fashion Book Club: https://patreon.com/laurabelru/ Portrait of Doña María Catalina de Urrutia by José Campeche at The Hispanic Society of America: https://hispanicsociety.org/exhibition/current-exhibitions-works-on-loan/treasures-on-the-terrace_highlights-from-the-hispanic-society-museum-and-library/dona-maria/ Margaret Maynard’s Fashioned from Penury: Dress as Cultural Practice in Colonial Australia (1994): https://search.worldcat.org/title/29031387 Instagram Reel with Dr Hilary Davidson’s comment: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2LpDf0p5PI/--
Visit my blog: https://laurabelru.com/
Find me on social media: @laurabelru & @redressingfashion
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In this episode, Laura introduces herself and shares what it means to “redress fashion.” Listen all the way to the end for a surprise giveaway and to learn more about what to expect in future episodes of this show!
Relevant links & references (in order of appearance):
Laura’s biography: https://laurabelru.com/biography/ Laura’s publication portfolio: https://laurabelru.com/publications/ Digital companion to my dissertation, “Empire of Fashion/Imperio de moda”: https://imperiodemoda.com/en/home/ Prof. Paul Ingram’s Columbia University faculty page: https://business.columbia.edu/faculty/people/paul-ingram Interview with Paul Ingram on creating a values-based culture (Intersections podcast): https://www.hitendra.com/podcast/creating-a-values-based-culture--
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a fashion historian. My reflections have focused on a more practical and perhaps even “philosophical” take on what it means to be a fashion historian in the very disturbed world that we live in today. In this episode, I ponder questions like: What is the purpose—if any—of fashion history? How can we use fashion history to actively reshape an industry that is clearly rotten and needs a good shakeout? And what is the role of a fashion historian in shaping contemporary design or even the future of fashion?
**This was first published as an audioblog on November 9, 2023.
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In this episode, I use Indigenous Peoples Day and Indigenous Resistance Day as an excuse—as if I needed one—to talk just a little bit more about Indigenous fashion, especially in Latin America.
**This was first published as an audioblog on October 12, 2023.
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In this episode I question the point of celebrating “Hispanic Heritage Month” within the fashion industry and offer some thoughts on how to achieve real diversity in fashion—beyond scattered, thematic marketing campaigns.
**This was first published as an audioblog on September 14, 2023.
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In this episode, I reflect on the question: Can actually decolonize the arts—fashion included? To do so, I reflect on what I’ve read and learnt about Indigenous arts (including but definitely not limited to textiles and fashion), as I take a break from fashion after completing my Ph.D.
**This was first published as an audioblog on August 10, 2023.
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In this episode, I reflect on whether there might be a chance to actively change the order of the global fashion system to move away from its colonialist hegemony. To do so, I focus on haute couture and question both how it has been framed historically and what can be done to extend it beyond Paris.
**This was first published as an audioblog on July 13, 2023.
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In this episode, I share how I’ve come to the conclusion that fashion still needs so much more research. I also share some ideas of what fashion designers, brands, and other creators can gain from engaging in deep, thorough, slow research.
**This was first published as an audioblog on June 15, 2023.
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In this episode, I reflect on quiet luxury and offer a short overview of the expressions of luxury in the colonial Spanish Americas. While they were certainly influenced by early modern European thought, ideas about luxury in the colonial Americas were also necessarily tied to Indigenous knowledge and worldviews. As such, they might help us devise alternative (and more inclusive) forms of conceiving luxury worldwide.
**This was first published as an audioblog on May 12, 2023.
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Articles and videos mentioned in this episode:
Frances Solá-Santiago's article, "From Succession To TikTok, There’s Nothing Silent About Quiet Luxury" in Refinery29.Dr. Jonathan Square's words on quiet luxury on InstagramMy own #GRWM reel reflecting on the Eurocentric nature of quiet luxury--
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Collaboration, when successful, is actually quite powerful and life-changing. I could spend a lifetime sharing all the positive experiences that have come out from successful collaborations with colleagues—many of whom have become close friends—even though they, naturally, had their own challenges.
In this episode, I reflect on the power of collaboration as a strategy for decolonization.
**This was first published as an audioblog on September 20, 2022.
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In this mini-episode, I Today I return to the list with which I started this podcast, sharing some action steps towards learning how to constantly think and rethink Latinx fashion in order to strengthen the fashion systems of Abya Yala. My mission today is to highlight the need to question absolutely every narrative we’re told from Euro-North American perspectives about what fashion is and should be—whether it’s Latinx fashion or not.
**This was first published as an audioblog on August 16, 2022.
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Some of you might know that my homecountry of Colombia held presidential elections last Sunday. And—as usual—this has had me thinking. I’ve been thinking about the collective state of panic I’ve seen in the country—especially among some specific social sectors—and about the many comments and predictions. But, most importantly, I’ve been trying to figure out how fashion enters the whole issue.
**This was first published as an audioblog on July 5, 2022.
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Some of you might know that my homecountry of Colombia held presidential elections last Sunday. And—as usual—this has had me thinking. I’ve been thinking about the collective state of panic I’ve seen in the country—especially among some specific social sectors—and about the many comments and predictions. But, most importantly, I’ve been trying to figure out how fashion enters the whole issue.
**This was first published as an audioblog on June 21, 2022.
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In this episode, I reflect about fashion, museums, and the whole point of fashion being in museums… especially in Abya Yala!
**This was first published as an audioblog on May 10, 2022.
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In this mini-episode, I share some of my reflections on fashion education, as I faced my first end of term and my first in-person experience of what a “finals week” looks like for design students as a university professor in a school of design.
**This was first published as an audioblog on April 12, 2022.
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In this mini-episode, I introduce some initial referents that may help us identify some of the aesthetic expressions native to Latin America, well beyond the tropical auto-exotization allowed by the global spread of the so-called “Caribbean chic” style.
**This was first published as an audioblog on March 8, 2022.
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In this mini-episode, I explore one particular expression of fashion in Abya Yala (commonly known as “Latin America”). I do it as a first step towards strengthening the diverse expressions of fashion in Abya Yala, starting by redefining fashion from our local ideas and histories and from a deep knowledge of the diversity of cultures that have inhabited this territory since before the European invasion.
**This was first published as an audioblog on February 8, 2022.
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