FRD Masterclass: Understanding Fashion and Race
Join us for the FRD Masterclass event, "Understanding Fashion and Race." This virtual lecture will conclude our month-long examination of race as a social construct.
“In what ways has the social construct of race filtered the lens through which we perceive beauty and human value?”
As a bookend to March’s theme, “The Construct of Race,” FRD founder Kimberly Jenkins will present a short lecture based on her signature university course, Fashion and Race, which ultimately inspired the founding of The Fashion and Race Database. This is an essential event for anyone who would like to better understand why and how the construct of race matters in fashion, and how its longstanding impact has shaped fashion history and the industry.
Here’s what you will takeaway:
A set of definitions and framework for understanding how “race” works, how it was constructed to exclude, and how we can resist its presence in the fashion system
Examples throughout art and fashion history where “race” was helpful in othering and creating division in fashion, especially when it comes to distinguishing “luxury” and a “tasteful” lifestyle
Understanding what we mean by the “racialized body,” and how the Western beauty canon inspired a dominant, global worldview on how we should look
How language, image-making and everyday practices that we may take for granted perpetuate (perhaps unknowingly) racist ideologies in the fashion system
This engagement will invite reactions and responses throughout the lecture presentation, and time will be set aside at the end for Q&A.
FRD will publish its end-of-month Learning Guide on “The Construct of Race” to provide you with a starter pack on the subject.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
1:00 – 2:30pm EST (virtual)
Zoom Link and Passcode will provided upon registration.
This virtual event offers flexible ticket price options.
About Kimberly Jenkins
Founder, The Fashion and Race Database
Kimberly M. Jenkins is Founder and Principal Researcher of The Fashion and Race Database, and Founder and Director of Artis Solomon Consulting. Kim has spent over ten years studying the impact of our clothes and how we express ourselves, through the lenses of politics, race, psychology and anthropology. She has lectured globally, created a learning platform on fashion and race, and hosted in-person experiences to help us think more deeply about dress. Based in New York with a background in cultural anthropology and art history, Kimberly taught at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute and more recently held the position of Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. Kim is best known for creating the course “Fashion and Race” at Parsons, and partnering with Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger to expand their education programs on fashion and inclusion.
More about our theme for March, “The Construct of Race”:
During the month of March, FRD will present articles, resources and programming that will deepen our understanding of how divisive the construct of race has been historically and remains to this day. Race can also be argued (most notably by writer Isabel Wilkerson) as a kind of caste system. Constructive conversations will be facilitated through month-long virtual events, and a Learning Guide on this topic will be offered to help us learn and un-learn the harmful impact of race within the fashion system.