In November 2019 the Centre for Fashion Curation (CfFC), based at London College of Fashion (LCF), CfFC celebrated the 25th anniversary of Streetstyle: from sidewalk to catwalk, a seminal fashion exhibition staged at the Victoria & Albert Museum in November 1994 (16/11/94-19/02/95).
This exhibition (curated by Professor Amy de la Haye, co-director of CfFC, Cathie Dingwall and Ted Polhemus) paved the way for street cultures and subcultures to be analysed in-depth in a national museum and remains influential in broadening debates around how fashion (as subculture) was presented and mediated in exhibitions.
On Thursday October 31st 2019 three PhD research students, in conjunction with CfFC hosted a one-day symposium Subcultures and mediated representations at LCF.
Topics included how music fanzines documented and transmitted the acid house music scene, the Marquis de Sade’s influence on British punk, myth and membership of the Northern Soul scene, using black language and musical expression to explore the relationships between social and cultural ways of understanding identity formation through ideas of ‘high’, ‘low’ and ‘popular’ culture and Adam Ant’s performance personas, as dandy, highway man and Prince Charming as an entry point for discussion about military identities, masculinity and popular culture.
Our symposium was ideally placed to kick-start a year-long series of events under the banner Subcultures: Then and Now (physical and digital exhibitions, symposiums, film screenings).
Ellie Foden (LCF), Ray Kinsella (CSM), Kevin Quinn (CSM)
Subculture Interest Group
Following the symposium in the 19/20 academic year, we plan to hold a series of discussions and events that seek to continue the identification, definition, transmission and dissemination of subcultural styles, attitudes, effects.
By continually posing such questions ‘What are subcultures?’, ‘What are their functions and meaning both historically and contemporarily’? and ‘How do subcultural properties survive and thrive’? we seek to gain greater knowledge and understanding of these socio-historical networks of resistance, grandeur and taste.
The aim is to bring together undergraduate and postgraduate students and the wider UAL research community to interrogate this subject.
All interest can be sent to Kevin Quinn k.quinn@fashion.arts.ac.uk
Post-Grad Interest Groups at UAL
A growing number of issue specific, cross-disciplinary interest groups led by postgraduate students and academics are supported by us.
These groups connect creatives with shared research interests across different subject areas.
Go back to the Post-Grad Interest Group Directory
