Politicising Fashion and Fashion Politics Symposium

Welcome to the Politicising Fashion and Fashion Politics Symposium! Join us at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK and online via Teams. From French Revolutionary cockades to Pussy hats, leather jackets to Mao suits, garments have been fundamental to the expression of political allegiance and resistance around the globe. Over the centuries, clothing has been symbolically and materially imbued with political affiliations: embroidered, woven and stitched to align with a political party, ideology or cause. Dress has become a sartorial banner under which marches have been lead and revolutions have been waged. It is an identifying marker of political groups and movements. Often designated as dangerous, seditious or even illegal to wear, clothing has always been at the forefront of political change. Fashion has become a wearable platform for political statements, activism and engagement. Used by designers, artists, politicians, activists and revolutionaries, dress and fashion are inherently political.

This symposium brings together scholars, curators, and artistic practitioners to reflect on the ways in which clothing has been brought to the heart of political expression and debate, how it has been mobilised as a rallying point for political movements and used to represent and incite political change. The symposium, titled Politicising Fashion and Fashioning Politics, will explore the relationship between clothing and the political landscape in both historical and contemporary contexts with keynote speaker Eleri Lynn.

9:30 – Welcome

10:00 – Keynote – Eleri Lynn

11:10 – Panel 1: Fashioning Parliament

Alison Toplis – Workmen’s Clothing and the Political Hierarchy in Victorian and Edwardian Britain

Emmeline Ledgerwood – Standing out or Fitting in?: Dressing for a Parliamentary Career in the Twentieth Century

12:00 – Lunch

13:00 – Panel 2: Accessorizing Empire

Yona Lesger – Hattitude: The Politics of Global Headwear

Meha Priyadarshini – The Mantón de Manila in Spain: From Imperial Commodity to National Symbol

14:00 – Panel 3: Political Women

Charlotte Vallis – ‘…men’s clothes suited her marvelously…’: Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, 1741-61, Fashion, Politics and Identity

Brenda Mondragón Toledo – ‘Knitting and Embroidery, another way of fighting’: Online Craftivism as a Way of Crafting a Feminist Self

14:50 – Tea Break

15:30 – Panel 4: Political Expression

Laura Dickenson – A Social Policy for Gentrification: Fashion & Policymaking in the East Midlands

Pauline Rushton – Rage Hard! Political imagery and messaging on the clothing merchandise of Liverpool band, Frankie goes to Hollywood, c. 1984-87

Christine Checinska & Elisabeth Murray – Quiet and Loud: The Politics of the Contemporary African Fashion Scene

16:40 – Close

Please email Dr Lis Gernerd with any dietary requirements and with any question.

[email protected]

For ONLINE registration, please visit:

Politicising Fashion and Fashioning Politics Symposium (dmu.ac.uk)

Event Venue

Trinity House, Castle View, Leicester, United Kingdom