Historic

Engaging Communities, Empowering Students: Fostering Cross-Cultural Connections Through Dress, 1936-1958

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Abstract

This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges we experienced while co-curating a fashion exhibition on Cornell's campus in Fall 2021. Engaging Communities, Empowering Students: Fostering Cross-Cultural Connections through Dress, 1936-1958 reassesses the founding of Cornell's Fashion + Textile Collection through a social justice lens. In the mid-twentieth century, Professor Beulah Blackmore, Cornell's first faculty member in clothing and textiles, relied on the knowledge and expertise of several international students to disseminate her collection of international fashion. This exhibition focuses on the stories of eight international students who helped to diversify the collection within static and live fashion showcases as well as through their own self-fashioning practices. By sharing our curatorial process, we hope to inspire those who engage with university fashion collections to collect, research, and curate fashion histories that are forward-thinking, equitable, and just. 

Keywords: fashion curation, university fashion collections, social justice, oral history

How to Cite:

Xepoleas, L. M. & Hayflick, E., (2022) “Engaging Communities, Empowering Students: Fostering Cross-Cultural Connections Through Dress, 1936-1958”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15807