Queering Fashion: Toward Queer and Trans Pedagogies in Fashion Studies

In fashion education, research and industry we repeatedly encounter the assumption that our field is somehow already and inherently queer and thus understanding of the diverse needs of the LGBTQ+ people who produce, wear, study and teach it. Within the context of fashion studies, where this research is situated, LGBTQ+ history and frameworks from trans studies and queer theory are object subject to exceptionalist logics of inclusion. This can lead to a lack of intersectional consideration and general complacency within institutions which ultimately remain structured by hetero- and cis- normativity.

This paper asks how educators working within this context could look to produce alternative curricula and pedagogies which actively centre queer and trans knowledge. In doing so, it reflects on work spanning a four-year period to establish and run the undergraduate elective Queering Fashion. This was a theoretically focused research and writing module offered to students on a range of practice-based courses within London College of Fashion’s School of Design and Technology.

Drawing on semi-structured interviews, focus groups and ongoing critical reflection, the paper highlights key insights, interventions and impact. It reflects on the author’s evolving critical, queer and feminist pedagogic practice in relation to the affective economies of the classroom; efforts to dismantle perceived hierarchies between theory and practice; and attempts to practice love, care and solidarity within and beyond the classroom. It also notes the limitations and challenges of such an approach at personal, institutional and political levels.