What can fashion education
do?

IF ‘THE GREAT AIM OF EDUCATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE BUT ACTION,’ (SPENCER), THEN:
What can fashion education do? This question leads the third edition of the Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education. While the Multilogue 2021 brought the community of fashion educators together for a two-day conference to create multiple dialogues and initiate collaboration, this year’s edition will be a rich three-hour online experience geared towards global connection and interaction to explore activist learning and transformative teaching in fashion education. Clare Farrel (Extinction Rebellion, London), Lesiba Mabitsela (fashion practitioner, co-founder African Research Institute (AFRI), Johannesburg), and Tanveer Ahmed (Senior Lecturer for Fashion and Race, Central Saint Martins College London) will join and voice their provocations.
The event will be moderated by conversation designer Ruben Klerkx.
The event will be moderated by conversation designer Ruben Klerkx.


Clare Farrell is an active citizen, devoting her creativity, her energy, and occasionally her personal liberty, to fight against climate collapse and the wider environmental crisis. As one of the cofounders of Extinction Rebellion her work to date has included coordinating the creative team that delivered the name, identity, and messaging that the movement set out with in 2018, co-editing the bestselling book, This is Not a Drill, and now works with the UK media team and acts as a spokesperson. Clare has a professional background in the UK fashion industry, working across the high street, luxury and ethical sectors. She has been educating on fashion, ethics and sustainability for over a decade.

Lesiba Mabitsela is a South African interdisciplinary artist, designer and Fashion Practitioner currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mabitsela’s practice incorporates visual art and design with critical fashion and performance studies in his exploration of African masculine identities. Mabitsela is a former recipient of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation scholarship, contributing to the completion of his master’s degree in theatre and performance at the University of Cape Town which was guided by the multidisciplinary studies offered under the auspices of the Institute for Creative Arts (formerly known as GIPCA). Mabitsela is also a founding member of the African Fashion Research Institute.

Tanveer Ahmed (she/her) is a final year AHRC funded PhD candidate at The Open University, UK investigating how Eurocentric and racist ideas underpin the design process in fashion design education. Tanveer has been recently appointed as senior lecturer in Fashion and Race as part of a programme wide drive towards implementing anti-racist fashion pedagogies at Central Saint Martins College, University of the Arts London. Tanveer is also a visiting tutor in History of Design at The Royal College of Art in London.

no CFP, no CFC – join in & share, collaborate & co-create