HANG-UPS

The Covid 19 pandemic heightened people s awareness of long standing inequalities within the fashion industry Amid calls for greater accountability and ethical awareness efforts are being made within and beyond the industry chiefly in the cultural and education sectors to decentralize fashion to make the conception creation and consumption of fashionable dress and appearance less western centric Supporting this premise Hang Ups argues that purposeful and permanent change within the fashion industry and fashion education is more likely if it is understood how the contemporary industry became western centric To institute effective change it is necessary to revert to first principles and understand how the fashion industry developed into what it is today During a period when the concepts of fashion history and culture are being intensely scrutinized and with suggestions they are reaching their nadir the imperative to understand the extent to which they relate and facilitate the presentation of people s fashionable bodies is urgent Hang Ups explores the origins and consequences of the fashion industry s western centrism by focusing on nine binaries defined in the crucible of empire that continue to be sites of negotiation as the west s traditions