CURRENT HOUR
come together -
a world workshop on fashion education for democracy and social & educational justice
to listen to each other in our local concerns, questions and critiques
to share strategies and solutions
to solidarize and support each other
to develop new connections and actions
In light of current politics, we feel a strong need for community and solidarity. We decided to organise a spontaneous Multilogue, a "Current Hour" to create room for community exchange and enablement on fashion education for democracy and social & educational justice. Many of us are alarmed and directly concerned by austerity measures in education in connection with the rise of the far right, and the weakening of global democratic initiatives for social, climate and educational justice. The current degradation of the US federal government by Trump and Musk is further contributing to and converging social, democratic and climate crises globally.
world café format:
interactive, outcome-oriented, facilitated call-to-reflection and action, with brief provocations / calls-to-action from different global perspectives
4 April 2025
6-8pm (CEST)
online
PASCAL MATTHIAS (United Kingdom)
‘Language as a weapon for conflict’
Pascal Matthias is a fierce advocate for educational and organisational reform; he is a strategic thinker, consultant and public speaker and the Associate Vice President for EDI and Social Justice at the University of Southampton. Focusing on organisational awareness as well as individual and collective accountability, Pascal vigorously seeks to reimagine and restructure current frameworks and metrics in the workplace. He strives towards making Higher Education more inclusive, unified and equal, regardless of race, colour or ethnicity or protected characteristics. He is an independent NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion consultant and co-founded FACE (Fashion Academics Creating Equality) in 2020. He is a TEDx Speaker, and public speaker on topics around compassionate conversations, social justice and accountability.
‘Language as a weapon for conflict’
Pascal Matthias is a fierce advocate for educational and organisational reform; he is a strategic thinker, consultant and public speaker and the Associate Vice President for EDI and Social Justice at the University of Southampton. Focusing on organisational awareness as well as individual and collective accountability, Pascal vigorously seeks to reimagine and restructure current frameworks and metrics in the workplace. He strives towards making Higher Education more inclusive, unified and equal, regardless of race, colour or ethnicity or protected characteristics. He is an independent NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion consultant and co-founded FACE (Fashion Academics Creating Equality) in 2020. He is a TEDx Speaker, and public speaker on topics around compassionate conversations, social justice and accountability.
Colectivo Malvestidas (Chile)
TAMARA POBLETE & LORETO MARTINEZ
‘Antifascismo y Ternura para (Re)tejer el Presente. (Antifascism and Tenderness to (Re)Weave the Present)’
Malvestidas (Poorly dressed) is a transfeminist and transdisciplinary collective founded in 2016 by Loreto Martínez and Tamara Poblete in Santiago, Chile. As a space for critical practice, they use clothing as a material and symbolic tool to question dominant discourses on race, gender and class. From Latin America as a place of enunciation, they develop various projects, including performances, curatorial work, exhibitions, academic articles and conference organisation, seeking to intervene in spaces to propose alternatives to established structures.
TAMARA POBLETE & LORETO MARTINEZ
‘Antifascismo y Ternura para (Re)tejer el Presente. (Antifascism and Tenderness to (Re)Weave the Present)’
Malvestidas (Poorly dressed) is a transfeminist and transdisciplinary collective founded in 2016 by Loreto Martínez and Tamara Poblete in Santiago, Chile. As a space for critical practice, they use clothing as a material and symbolic tool to question dominant discourses on race, gender and class. From Latin America as a place of enunciation, they develop various projects, including performances, curatorial work, exhibitions, academic articles and conference organisation, seeking to intervene in spaces to propose alternatives to established structures.
TARA HABIBZADEH (Iran / Germany)
‘Rhizomes of resource and community post-identity: diet to bypass populist
meritocracy in the arts’
Born and raised in Tehran with an academic background in film, mathematics, German law, art and philosophy, Habibzadeh’s work thinks in analogies and metaphors for complex systems and layers in the simplest dialectic visuals and language using the mundane trivial while
challenging the eurocentric colonial and orientalist binaries with scientific and universal methods. Their varied works include video, painting, computer game, drawing, installation, performance and words. They live and work in Tehran and Berlin
‘Rhizomes of resource and community post-identity: diet to bypass populist
meritocracy in the arts’
Born and raised in Tehran with an academic background in film, mathematics, German law, art and philosophy, Habibzadeh’s work thinks in analogies and metaphors for complex systems and layers in the simplest dialectic visuals and language using the mundane trivial while
challenging the eurocentric colonial and orientalist binaries with scientific and universal methods. Their varied works include video, painting, computer game, drawing, installation, performance and words. They live and work in Tehran and Berlin
KARISHMA KELSEY(South Africa / New Zealand) with MACKENZIE JASPER ROSKRUGE (New Zealand)
‘Manakitanga, a moment for radical connection
Karishma SIngh Kelsey is an educator, researcher, designer, and entrepreneur committed to reimagining fashion, education, and enterprise through Indigenous systems thinking and sustainability. Founder of Karishma Design, she pioneers post-growth innovation rooted in artisanal traditions and interconnected communities. Her style activism initiative, Miraculous Me, promotes "Defashioning"—a mindful reconnection to self through conscious dressing. Karishma’s research integrates Indigenous wisdom frameworks into education and enterprise, nurturing ethically-grounded, future-focused leaders. Based in Aotearoa, she teaches secondary and tertiary students entrepreneurship, sustainable design innovation, and style activism, empowering the next generation of changemakers. Karishma serves as Secretary for the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion (UCRF).
Mackenzie Jasper Roskruge is a final year law and commerce student at the University of Auckland.
‘Manakitanga, a moment for radical connection
Karishma SIngh Kelsey is an educator, researcher, designer, and entrepreneur committed to reimagining fashion, education, and enterprise through Indigenous systems thinking and sustainability. Founder of Karishma Design, she pioneers post-growth innovation rooted in artisanal traditions and interconnected communities. Her style activism initiative, Miraculous Me, promotes "Defashioning"—a mindful reconnection to self through conscious dressing. Karishma’s research integrates Indigenous wisdom frameworks into education and enterprise, nurturing ethically-grounded, future-focused leaders. Based in Aotearoa, she teaches secondary and tertiary students entrepreneurship, sustainable design innovation, and style activism, empowering the next generation of changemakers. Karishma serves as Secretary for the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion (UCRF).
Mackenzie Jasper Roskruge is a final year law and commerce student at the University of Auckland.
BEN BARRY (United States)
‘The Hope We Must Make in Fashion Education’
Ben Barry (he/him) is Dean and Associate Professor of Equity and Inclusion in the School of Fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York City. As Dean, he is working with the Parsons community to embed access, equity, and justice as the foundation of the school’s fashion curriculum and culture. His teaching and research center the intersectional fashion experiences of disabled, fat, trans, and queer people, and he collaborates with them through power-shifting practices to design clothing, media, and fashion events. Named to the Vogue Business “100 Innovators” list and recipient of the 2024 Canadian Arts and Fashion Change Maker Award, Ben co-leads the Parsons Disabled Fashion Student Program and the Practice-Based Fashion Research Network. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
‘The Hope We Must Make in Fashion Education’
Ben Barry (he/him) is Dean and Associate Professor of Equity and Inclusion in the School of Fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York City. As Dean, he is working with the Parsons community to embed access, equity, and justice as the foundation of the school’s fashion curriculum and culture. His teaching and research center the intersectional fashion experiences of disabled, fat, trans, and queer people, and he collaborates with them through power-shifting practices to design clothing, media, and fashion events. Named to the Vogue Business “100 Innovators” list and recipient of the 2024 Canadian Arts and Fashion Change Maker Award, Ben co-leads the Parsons Disabled Fashion Student Program and the Practice-Based Fashion Research Network. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
kindly facilitated by
Tanveer Ahmed (United Kingdom), Alla Eizenberg (Russia/United States), Delfina Fantini (Chile/The Netherlands), Elke Gaugele (Germany/Austria), Erica de Greef (South Africa), Paula Keilholz (Germany), Leila Kelleher (Canada), Bianca Kozcan (Germany), Sharon Lloyd (United Kingdom),
Mi Medrado (Brazil), Matthew Needham (United Kingdom), Franziska Schreiber (Germany),Renate Stauss (Germany/France),
Friederike von Wedel-Parlow (Germany) & Jennifer Whitty
(Ireland/Aotearoa)
What is the Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education anyway?
The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education wants to create connections and actions within and across different fashion learning cultures and contexts. It was founded in 2019 as a participatory and outcome-oriented space and a series of conferences focused on the learning and teaching of fashion. It aims to explore and illustrate the diversity and complexity of the field and the practices of fashion education, and to foster a greater understanding of its pasts, presents and futures – methods, values and didactic, pedagogic and epistemological questions – creating a global exchange to inspire mutual learning, collaborative research and shared action.
When is the Multilogue CURRENT HOUR taking place?
4 April 2025
The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education wants to create connections and actions within and across different fashion learning cultures and contexts. It was founded in 2019 as a participatory and outcome-oriented space and a series of conferences focused on the learning and teaching of fashion. It aims to explore and illustrate the diversity and complexity of the field and the practices of fashion education, and to foster a greater understanding of its pasts, presents and futures – methods, values and didactic, pedagogic and epistemological questions – creating a global exchange to inspire mutual learning, collaborative research and shared action.
When is the Multilogue CURRENT HOUR taking place?
4 April 2025
What is it about and why?
Where is it happening: online / hybrid / in-person?
People are called to come together online to connect with global fashion learning communities. Anyway, everyone is invited to meet locally with friends and peers, joining the global community online. Just join Zoom HERE.
Who could participate?
Everyone. The Multilogues are always open-access and free for all. As should all education be! And, as Everyone is a fashion learner.
I have more questions, who can I ask?
Please don’t hesitate to contact us on:
multilogue@fashioneducation.org
In light of current politics, we feel a strong need for community and solidarity. We have decided to organise a spontaneous Multilogue, a "Current Hour" to create room for community exchange and enablement on fashion education for democracy and social & educational justice.
Where is it happening: online / hybrid / in-person?
People are called to come together online to connect with global fashion learning communities. Anyway, everyone is invited to meet locally with friends and peers, joining the global community online. Just join Zoom HERE.
Who could participate?
Everyone. The Multilogues are always open-access and free for all. As should all education be! And, as Everyone is a fashion learner.
I have more questions, who can I ask?
Please don’t hesitate to contact us on:
multilogue@fashioneducation.org
This event is friendly supported by
The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education wants to create connections and actions within and across different fashion learning cultures and contexts. It was founded in 2019 as a participatory and outcome-oriented space and a series of conferences focused on the learning and teaching of fashion. It aims to explore and illustrate the diversity and complexity of the field and the practices of fashion education, and to foster a greater understanding of its pasts, presents and futures – methods, values and didactic, pedagogic and epistemological questions – creating a global exchange to inspire mutual learning, collaborative research and shared action.
The Multilogues are organized by Franziska Schreiber & Dr. Renate Stauss, who are brought together and driven by their love for making and wearing fashion, for learning and thinking through fashion, and their belief in its connective, educational and transformative potential.
The Multilogues are organized by Franziska Schreiber & Dr. Renate Stauss, who are brought together and driven by their love for making and wearing fashion, for learning and thinking through fashion, and their belief in its connective, educational and transformative potential.
ORGANISERS
Dr. Renate Stauss is Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies at The American University of Paris in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture. She is also a lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Franziska Schreiber is a fashion designer
and currently holds a professorship for „fashion I body I digitality“ at the
Berlin University of the Arts.
FASHION IS A GREAT TEACHER – THE FASHION EDUCATION PODCAST
Fashion is a great teacher because it provides a fantastic lens to learn about the world and its people, about history, politics and culture. Join Renate Stauss and Franziska Schreiber, to discover the most inspiring voices in fashion education, their take on the how and why of learning and teaching fashion, their doubts and hopes, their lessons from fashion.
MULTILOGUE MOMENTS
This series of Fashion is a great teacher brings you Provocations and a Choir of Ideas from The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education 2023: De-Fashioning Education; a Critical Thinking and Making Conference. We invited speakers from every continent to share their concerns, questions and ideas: Anjana Das, Mayank Mansingh Kaul, Sandra Niessen, Sunny Dolat, Otto von Busch, and Christina H. Moon, as they navigate the complexities of de-fashioning education, cultural inclusivity, sustainability, and transformative partnerships. This series invites listeners to join a global community rethinking fashion education for essential de-growth and diverse, interconnected futures.
Listen to the latest episode!
MULTILOGUE MOMENTS
Season 2 / Episode
Ben Barry on ‘on Unpicking jackets, instating justice and remembering the joy of fashion'
In this episode you meet Ben Barry - fashion educator, designer-researcher and academic leader who is devoted to equity, inclusion and social justice in fashion education and the fashion industry.
Fashion is a great teacher talks to him about unpicking his suit jackets and inherent notions of masculinity, transformative educational experiences and using ones’ body to navigate the complexities of institutional change. Finding liberatory pockets and fashion utopia in everyday clothing. And how it all started with him playing in his grandmother’s closet.
THE FASHION EDUCATORS’ WORLD MAP
Come together! - towards a collaborative community of fashion educators. Join this global community mapping, inaugurated at The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education 2020
Please join on Padlet!
FASHIONING EDUCATION
Fashioning education is a collaborative research initiative to open, facilitate and formalise the debate on fashion education against the backdrop of global social transformations.
Project website
© 2022 Fashion is a great teacher
Franziska Schreiber & Renate Stauss GbR
Lychener Str. 82
10437 Berlin
design & implementation
Gina Mönch, Anastasia Almosova
We make every effort to keep the information on our Web site current. But we do not accept responsibility for the topicality,correctness and completeness of the information provided on the website. This also applies to the content of external websites linked to this site via direct and indirect hyperlinks. The content on this website is protected by copyright. The copying and/or distribution of the content of this website is only allowed in the case of prior, written permission.