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Conference in Edinburgh

Harnessing uncertainty: social, cultural and economic capital in fashion

This free public conference in Edinburgh on 10 March 2016 was organised by the Heriot-Watt and Leeds teams.

Taking place at the James Watt Conference Centre at Heriot-Watt University, Harnessing uncertainty: social, cultural and economic capital in fashion took delegates on a journey through contemporary fashion. This one-day conference examined the current state of fashion against the backdrop of an uncertain world and considered some of the ways in which fashion attempts to address global concerns rather than being part of the problem in terms of environmental degradation.

The event provided a platform for speakers and delegates to question assumptions about the contemporary fashion industry and to scrutinise the place of fashion amidst some of the most important questions of our time.

Over the course of the day, speakers from the UK, the USA and the Netherlands addressed topics such as sustainability, Chinese identity and fashion, fashion blogging as labour and leisure, new perspectives on the man’s suit, challenges and opportunities facing fashion designers, and conscientious fashion.

Following introductory remarks by Dr Andrew MacLaren of the Heriot-Watt team, Professor Regina Lee Blaszczyk, Project Leader, launched the day’s events with a summary of the EOC’s research with reference to the relevance to fashion studies. She was followed by Professor Fiona Waldron, Head of the School of Textiles and Design at Heriot-Watt University, who examined the history of this school as one of the UK’s most important training grounds for textile designers and elaborated on its efforts to adapt to the contemporary business environment.

Dr Wessie Ling from the University of Northumbria shifted the discussion from the UK to East Asia and Africa with an in-depth case study of the Red-White-Blue carrying bag, which originated in Hong Kong but has travelled around the world and has come to be associated with both migrant communities and global luxury brands. Dr Ling’s insightful paper showed how an inexpensive commodity could be appropriated by global brands and turned into a costly luxury, much to the dismay of migrant users.

The next set of papers focused on the environmental dimension of fashion today. Dr Alana James from the School of Textiles at Heriot-Watt University presented a paper that homed in on fast fashion, making suggestions for moving fast-fashion producers toward a more sustainable future whilst highlighting some of the realities that currently prevent change.  Students Eshiva Wright, Laurence Meeuwis and Wida Arian from The New Fashion Society (NFS) in Edinburgh and Rotterdam offered their insights on how fashion makes an impact on the environment, and considered the role of organisations such as the NFS in raising awareness of ecological issues within the fashion system.

The next set of papers turned to entrepreneurship and cultural capital in the recent fashion system with a unique series of case studies. Dr Agnès Rocomara from the London College of Fashion looked at fashion bloggers, interrogating the ways in which they define blogging and practice it.  As a sociologist, Rocomara considered fashion blogging as an ‘invented job’ and a creative process tied to uncertainty. Drawing on interviews with bloggers, she considered how these authors have harnessed the inherent uncertainties of the fashion system, the widespread cultural uneasiness about the future and the ephemeral nature of the Web to build a new fashion-related occupation.

Sonnet Stanfill, senior acting curator of twentieth century and contemporary fashion at the V&A and AP on the EOC, offered a case study of the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A in 2015.  Her talk provided insight on the challenges that face today’s curators, who must serve a public that is accustomed to ever-faster, ever-more-enticing digital images.  The ‘fast fashion’ in Stanfill’s talk was not the designs of the couturier McQueen but the ‘fast fashion’ of museum exhibition design.

This section of the conference was rounded out by the voice of Elissa Bloom, the executive director of the Philadelphia Fashion Incubator, an organisation that supports and promotes the work of emerging fashion designers from a space at Macy’s Center City.  She directed the audience back to the theme of entrepreneurship within the fashion system, providing insight into the challenges facing young entrepreneurs in today’s fast-fashion environment.

The conference drew to a close with a paper by Professor Christopher Breward, principal of the Edinburgh College of Art and one of the world’s leading fashion historians. Breward talked about his new book, The Suit: Form, Function and Style, and put a historical cap on a long day of papers that were largely focused on the contemporary scene.  His talk reminded the audience that the suit is a complex garment with a deep history that cannot be understood without in-depth analysis.  This keynote address offered a word of caution to those who seek ‘fast’ answers as an anecdote to ‘fast fashion’.

The day ended with a roundtable discussion that included Professor Robert Macintosh (PI at Heriot-Watt), speakers Bloom and Breward, and Fatima Mahmood and Ashleigh Slater from Ala Mairi, a luxury ethical fashion brand. Chaired by MacLaren, the panel considered a number of important questions: Is the fashion industry getting it right or wrong? What are the certainties for the fashion industry? What has been the most positive impact that fashion has made on European culture since 1945?

Delegates had the opportunity to network at various points across the day with a diverse range of attendees, including academics, fashion industry practitioners, students, archivists, museum curators, entrepreneurs and the general public. The conference was supported by a team of volunteer student helpers from Heriot-Watt University who are involved in the new Scottish arm of The New Fashion Society (NFS), a student organisation which originated at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

An analysis of the audience questionnaires show the majority of the participants considered the conference to be a positive learning experience. Comments included:

  • ‘All talks were interesting and were both about different varied topics but all tied into each other’;
  • ‘All speakers engaged the audience extremely well and the vast range of content in each kept particular audience members interested at different times’;
  • ‘All had good points that sparked further interest into topics’;
  • ‘Lots of imagery and content. Speakers made it interesting even though there was a lot of information to be taken in’;
  • ‘Mix of domestic and international issues. Mix of generations presenting’.

Delegates liked the event for a variety of reasons:

  • ‘The range of different talks. Highlighting new companies/businesses’;
  • ‘Feeling enriched, networking’;
  • ‘Touching upon different subject of ethical fashion’;
  • ‘Being enlightened’.

In terms of learning, participants had the following takeaways: ‘To be more cautious about the environment’; ‘The vast range of uncertainties within employment in the industry’; ‘Reiterated the vastness of the fashion industry and the important role it has to play in the business world against social and cultural issues’; ‘How fashion is not only about aesthetic qualities but is about how it effects our lives as consumers’; and, highlighting the importance of bringing people together in public conferences, ‘Made new contacts’.