Letter from the Editors

We’re launching Volume 3 from a radically different place than last year, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and culturally. As we construct this letter over Zoom, on a shared Google Doc and from separate cities in cozy loungewear with our masks at the ready when we leave the comfort of the homes we are fortunate to inhabit, and as our internet cuts in and out, we are united about the critical place of Fashion Studies and fashion studies creators in our world. 

Over the last six months, the deep-rooted anti-Black racism in our field has been illuminated for all to witness. Many students and their families have lost their jobs, forcing them to drop out of school. Many faculty have had to adjust to remote teaching while simultaneously managing child and elder care without time or support from their places of work. The impact has been especially great for students and faculty who already live under conditions of duress due to racism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, and other intersectional systems of oppression. 

But there have been rays of hope. In a few short months, masks have become an essential part of our wardrobes, demonstrating the protective nature and life-saving capabilities of simple layers of cloth and the critical role of fashion, textile, and craft designers. A disease transmitted by airborne particles has revealed that far from being peripheral or outdated, we have a pressing societal need for the often-undervalued sewing skills and embodied knowledges. Many people, income and time permitting, have taken up new textile-based skills approaches including finally finding the time to mend or upcycle their clothing, as well as knitting, sewing, natural dyeing, and a multitude of other practices for their mental health and well-being. Others have creatively reinterpreted what dressing means, by using virtual spaces to keep our spirits up with fabulous and uplifting performances of their wardrobes.  

There has also been large-scale amplification of Black fashion scholars and creators, and calls for systemic changes and actions to foster racial justice and end white supremacy in our field and educational institutions. In the School of Fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University, we released our Commitment to Action to address anti-Black racism, including continuing to redesign curriculum to centre Black fashion histories, narratives, and practices and to hire more permanent Black faculty with job postings that recognize diverse ways of knowing and qualifications outside of the doctoral degrees. Our School of Fashion colleague Professor Kim Jenkins re-launched the Fashion and Race Database as an open-access library and resource that centres Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour’s fashion histories, stories, and practices. With this generous support available online to our fashion studies community, educators, scholars, and media can access the knowledge to de-centre whiteness and expand how to teach, practice, and cover fashion.  

We founded Fashion Studies in an effort to create a forum that expands both how we know fashion and how we share those ways of knowing. We hoped to challenge the primacy of the written word, and the exclusive focus on European fashion histories, beliefs, and epistemologies. We also hoped to provide a publishing platform that welcomed-in emerging scholars and creative practitioners who experience challenges trying to have their work published and recognized within the academic journal system. Additionally, we wanted to reduce barriers to accessing knowledge by ensuring that all articles are freely available. The current issue brings you work that comes from a range of perspectives and disciplines, but all of the contributors work to illuminate power dynamics across different contexts and times in and through fashion. 

We ask you, our readers, to help us continue to develop new policies and programs that reduce barriers for underrepresented voices and centre work that shares histories, narratives, and practices that have been marginalized and excluded from our field. As always, we invite you to share your feedback on how Fashion Studies can foster an inclusive and just discipline. 

This journal could not come out in its current form without the care, creativity, and hard work of our team, including and especially that of our dedicated, superbly organized, and brilliant Managing Editor, Jaclyn Marcus, our Editorial Assistant, Ryan Chantree, who has worked hard on accessibility for the journal and our social media platforms, and our Graphic Designer Mia Yaguchi-Chow, who has reimagined how our journal looks and shines as “Academia, but make it fashion.” We also want to thank the School of Fashion, the Faculty of Communication and Design, and the Career Boost and Work Study Research Assistant Program at Toronto Metropolitan University for continuing to provide the financial support to bring this journal to life. 

Enjoy the issue and take good care,

Dr. Ben Barry