Fashions and Styles on the Move

The Fashion and Styles department at the IKL of the Academy of Fine Arts, the Department of Humanities and Arts/ Fashion Design at the University of Namibia, and the Department of Fashion Design at the Faculty of Arts, Design, and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg launched a collaboration in spring 2023 under the banner “Decolonizing Fashion Research, Textile Healing, and Social Justice” with the support of the Academy's International Office and the EU program ERASMUS+ International Credit Mobility.

Part 1: Vienna 2024
After the joint project application received funding from the EU's ERASMUS+ International Credit Mobility program, an intensive collaboration between lecturers from the three institutions began, starting with online and then hybrid formats. In the summer of 2024, Kimberly Bediako (lecturer, Department of Fashion Design, researcher), Tinyiko Baloyi (lecturer, Department of Fashion Design, researcher, artist), and Khaya Mchunu (associate professor, head of the Department of Fashion Design, researcher, designer) from the University of Johannesburg were the first to visit the Academy of Fine Arts.

All three colleagues are fashion designers and experts in design/fashion studies and design education, with a focus on social justice and decolonization. In addition to guest lectures and workshops for students and interested teachers, exhibition visits, studio visits to local Black artists (Jojo Gronostay; amaaena, among others) and active participation in the “Re-vision Fashion” conference, the collaborative hybrid format GLOBAL CLASSROOM was created. In line with the democratization of education and the generation of contemporary decolonial global design and fashion knowledge, the GLOBAL CLASSROOM offers lectures, workshop formats, and courses to a broad international audience via low-threshold audio and video productions.

During winter 2024, Elke Gaugele, Sarah Held, Anna Hambira, and David Eisner welcomed the faculty members from the University of Namibia. Maria Caley (fashion and textile studies lecturer, researcher) and Loini Izyinda (fashion and textile studies lecturer, researcher) accompanied the Fashion and Styles Team on a students' excursion to Bregenz, Hittisau, and Lustenau. At the Women's Museum in Hittisau, the group reflected on the local perspectives on gender, craftsmanship, and design presented there. They discussed exhibition practices, explored the history of Vorarlberg embroidery, and found another common point of reference in the “Myth of Craftsmanship” exhibition at the Vorarlberg State Museum.

In hybrid GLOBAL CLASSROOMS, Maria Caley and Loini Izyinda gave workshops, held lectures at the Academy of Fine Arts, and produced podcast episodes in collaboration with the Fashions and Styles Team on textile objects restituted to Namibia, which were part of the Berlin Ethnological Collections. They also presented their work in the selection and repatriation of the textiles to Namibia, in which both were significantly involved. Another focus of the fashion designers' work is textiles and bead work, which historically have great transgenerational significance and healing powers in Namibia.

The collaboration between the three universities continued to grow, and as part of the joint, planning for the Fashion and Styles team's counter visit to Namibia and Johannesburg, Anna Hambira was also invited to give a digital guest lecture at the University of Johannesburg (Fashion Department).