The 2024 Commonwealth Fashion Education Council (CFC) Symposium’s sub-themes (‘Agitation’; ‘Innovation’; ‘Intersectionality’) provide 21st-century fashion practitioners, educators, designers, businesses, industries, concerned wearers and cultural commentators with an unusual platform to submit not only their theoretical research, but also practice-based research of ‘creative works’. How will the landscape of fashion education and the fashion industry evolve in the future? Using one of the sub-themes, ‘Agitation; Innovation; Intersectionality’, please contemplate the above as well as connected questions of your choice and submit abstracts of the proposed papers or creative works for presentation at the 2024-CFC Symposium. After a successful and meaningful launch of the Commonwealth Fashion Education Symposium ‘Futurity and Inclusion’, in 2022, the second edition entitled “AII” will take place online on the 23rd of February 2024.

The 21st Century Commonwealth Fashion Education landscape needs to be “Agitation” – a call for the soul of fashion; for breaking out the sound barrier like hardened common sense, which perceives, studies, distributes, and employs fashion as a costly design manufacturing for the rich.

Agitation for the soul of fashion is the name we can give to our creative purposefulness; to our intellectual responsibility – to the manual for a struggle to step out of the domain of fashion to look for its moral essence; rejecting the cruelty of the associated exclusiveness; callousness; delighting in the generosity of inclusiveness and accountability towards humans and environment that fashion education has been largely missing out. Because fashion is for humans, and humans have responsible souls, and each human is of infinite value and dignity, which finds meaning within and in habitats they value.

Innovation represents a multifaceted and dynamic phenomenon that intersects creativity, technology, culture, and commerce within the realm of apparel and aesthetics. In fashion, Innovation not only serves as a platform for designers to catalyse their creative responses and push the boundaries but also helps in developing new and inspiring models for reimagining the past, present, and especially the future. Today, innovation is the key to finding solutions to the global challenges faced by the world. Innovation, in its suggested incarnation, is essential for a new desired future which can benefit mankind and the earth.

Intersectionality plays a crucial role in the world of fashion. Fashion is not merely about clothing and trends; it is a reflection of our society and the diverse identities within it. Intersectionality prompts us to recognize that fashion is experienced differently by individuals based on their intersecting social identities. It pushes us to go beyond a narrow, one-dimensional perspective and consider the complexities of race, gender, class, sexuality, and other aspects of identity that shape fashion choices experiences and innovation. It challenges us to celebrate and uplift the voices and perspectives of marginalized communities, who have often been underrepresented or overlooked in the industry. By embracing intersectionality, fashion can become a powerful platform for inclusivity across the board.

Register to join the Commonwealth Fashion Education Symposium on 23 February 2024, starting at 9:00-17:45 GMT and to view sessions later.