What is ‘fashion’ and how to research it? Implications of an ‘ecumenical moment’ for globalizing fashion studies

Fashion changes societies, and is also itself shaped by multiple socio-cultural processes, including processes of globalization. At the same time, fashion scholarship is not only speaking about and seeking to understand fashion, but is also actively formulating ideas, assumptions and understandings as to what fashion can be, and where in the history and geographical locations fashion can be found.

This paper addresses the increasingly complex question of the nature of fashion in a globalized and increasingly interconnected world. While it is strikingly obvious that fashion is a global and globalized phenomenon, its specific character, and indeed geographical locations and origins, remain contested. Drawing inspiration from the Greek historian Polybius, and his ideas of an ecumenical analytical approach to studying world-wide phenomena, we discuss the current state of fashion studies in what we consider an ecumenical moment, holding many opportunities for the field.

In order to lay out the roots of current debates on such matters, we review the history of fashion studies from the mid‐19th century through to today, drawing attention to both the ontological assumptions and the epistemological and methodological dilemmas that have shaped the field, and that in some ways continue to do so today. We finish with some suggestions as to what the future may hold for the field if the ecumenical promise of global fashion research is truly realized.