I research the history of bodies & beauty ideals.
As an interdisciplinary scholar and curator working at the crossroads of fashion studies, history, critical theory and American studies, I am guided by the mandate to recover forgotten and marginalized stories of dress and self-fashioning, and to contribute to larger conversations about decoloniality, inclusivity and anti-racism in fashion research, education, collecting and curating.
My current research investigates the history of plus-size fashion and how it reverberates in the contemporary fashion systems and practices. I have presented and published on the history of plus-size fashion, the dress practices of self-identifying fat women, the evolution of beauty ideals, online fat fashion communities, plus-size fashion photography, curatorial activism, commodity feminism and the body positivity movement.
I am currently finalizing my first book, Fashion Before Plus-Size: Bodies, Beauty and the Birth of an Industry, which will be published with Bloomsbury academic in 2023.
I teach the designers of tomorrow.
In August 2018, I joined the faculty of Columbia College Chicago where I presently hold the titles of Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies and Director of the Fashion Study Collection. At Columbia, I oversee the fashion history and theory curriculum and am working with my interdisciplinary colleagues to develop forward-thinking and inclusive fashion design, merchandising and product development curricula. You can read more about this work here.
I have also taught at The Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University (where I also earned my doctorate), Parsons School of Design, Parsons Paris and Fordham University.
I also freelance as a consultant.
In addition to my teaching and research practice, I work with businesses to ideate and develop more inclusive and sustainable business and design practices. Recently, I worked with the London-based design and consulting firm IDEO to help a global fashion brand identify gaps in the plus-size market and develop a size- and gender-inclusive denim line.
I can work with your business to develop research insights, present case studies, facilitate recruitment for co-design and market research sessions and serve as a sounding board for designers, merchandisers and product developers.