In celebration of the back-to-school season, Dr. Laura Beltrán-Rubio discusses the need to redress fashion history education by incorporating diverse perspectives and personal narratives, while also emphasizing the significance of engaging students’ passions and values in their learning process. The conversation highlights various strategies for educators to create a more inclusive and meaningful fashion curriculum.
This is not a fashion history podcast nor a practical note on fashion and style, but it has bits and pieces of both. While this is intended for mostly fashion educators and students, I also hope it will be relevant to those who are not fashion students or educators or are not returning to fashion school this year.
Special thanks to Katie Ibsen, Serena Dyer, Jonathan Square, and Kimberly Jenkins for their generous contributions to this episode!
Chapters
00:00 Reflecting on Fashion Education
04:58 Dismantling the Fashion History Survey
09:33 Making History Personal
12:02 Redressing Fashion History
15:47 Engaging and Personal Histories
22:30 Antidotes to AI
26:00 Outside the History Classroom
27:55 Personal Style and Fashion Scholarship
32:12 Third Spaces for Fashion in Schools
35:20 Three Little Things
Takeaways
- Critical thinking should precede reliance on AI tools.
- Fashion education needs to reflect diverse cultural narratives.
- Personal style development is a continuous journey.
- Engaging students' passions is crucial for effective learning.
- Redressing fashion history involves questioning traditional narratives.
- Diversity in fashion education enhances student engagement.
- Fashion history should include non-Western perspectives.
- Teaching strategies should adapt to student backgrounds.
- Fashion education can foster personal and social values.
Meet the scholars (in order of mention/appearance)
Professor Hazel Clark: https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/faculty/hazel-clark/
Katie Ibsen: https://www.katieibsen.com/
Dr Serena Dyer: https://www.serenadyer.co.uk/
Dr Jonathan Square: https://www.jonathansquare.com/
Kimberly Jenkins: https://www.kimberlymjenkins.com/
Relevant links & references
Fashion Education: The Systemic Revolution: https://www.intellectbooks.com/fashion-education
Learn about the history of boteh: https://fashionandrace.org/database/boteh/
Join my group style coaching program: https://laurabelru.com/style/
More about Laura
Visit my website: https://laurabelru.com/
Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurabelru
Find me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurabelru
Sign up to my newsletter: https://laurabelru.substack.com/