The world’s first Fashion and Race Database

Art piece: “Rest in Peace” by Fabiola Jean-Louis (2016)

The platform is founded by Kimberly M. Jenkins who is an Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies at Ryerson University. While studying fashion she was disappointed with the lack of diverse resources to work on and started to collect her own material that would result in the The Fashion and Race Syllabus to help students to navigate in the intersection of fashion and race.

The Fashion and Race Database is an extension of this work as an open-source tool that expand the narrative of fashion history and challenge mis-representation within the fashion system. It aims to center and amplify BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) fashion scholarship, illuminate under-examined histories and address racism throughout the fashion system.

The Database consists of six categories The Library, Objects that Matter, Profiles, Essays and Opinion, The Directory and The Calendar.

A Sustainable Closet thinks this is a masterpiece, not only for fashion lovers. The Library section has several interesting academic articles and books that you can read. The Objects that Matters really teaches your more about patterns, styles and clothing that too often are misrepresented. You can also check out the calendar and sign up for seminars, many taking place on Zoom!

A new era for fashion is starting to take form and The Fashion and Race Database is on it’s forefront.

Kimberly Jenkins

Photo: Courtesy of Fashion and Race Database