Fashion, Culture, Futures

Fashion and Race Presentation
June 17, 2021, 12:10-12:30 p.m. ET

Kimberly Jenkins, a leading voice on the intersection of fashion and race, will launch the symposium with a presentation tracking the influence of Black Americans on the fashion system and why it is important to expand a contemporary design narrative of why it is important to examine the historical and political context of Black Americans and fashion. Additionally, Jenkins’s work is connected to a breadth of various initiatives working in tandem, which she plans to delineate some of those initiatives, contextualizing her within this celebration of marginalized perspective in fashion studies and industry.

This program is being held as part of the symposium, Fashion, Culture, Futures: African American Ingenuity, Activism, and Storytelling. Learn more and sign up to attend.

 

About the Speaker

Kimberly Jenkins is assistant professor of Fashion Studies at Ryerson University. Kim is best known for designing a course and exhibition called Fashion and Race and has shared her insights globally in industry forums and institutions. Her expertise in fashion history and infusing race into fashion theory education has led to consulting work for Gucci, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, Netherlands, and other corporate brands and organizations. Kim is the founder of the Fashion and Race Database, an online platform that expands the narrative of fashion history and challenges misrepresentation within the fashion system.

Special Thanks

Fashion, Culture, Futures: African American Ingenuity, Activism, and Storytelling is co-organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Principal support is provided by  Graphic of a red concentric circles resembling a target

Major support is provided by  Black text against white background spells out [Gucci] in all capital letters

Funding is also provided by The Keith Haring Foundation and One Smithsonian.