Please join us for the symposium on Saturday, February 14th from 9:30- 4:00pm.

We all wear clothing… 

We all have rituals…

We all are confronted with life’s biggest questions…

These universal statements provide a conceptual framework for the exhibition and symposium entitled Fashion - Faith: Rituals and Dialogues (FFRD) that seeks to build on themes that emerged from a day-long public event by the same name held at Parsons on March 24th, 2023, comprising a series of conversations led by scholars and faith practitioners from a variety of academic specialties. 

We aim to provide a democratized space for dialogue towards the generation of intellectual and creative ideas, with a particular emphasis placed on an investigation into what we mean by embodied faith and its relationship to clothing. We aim to better understand how our embodiment, dress, and spiritual practices can generate critical, integrated approaches to fashion, creative making, and scholarship, contributing to the discourse on dress and identity within the fields of fashion and religious studies. 

NOTE: Faith is used in its broadest sense to include religious traditions as well as a wide variety of spiritual practices and worldviews

SCHEDULE:
9:30 am – 10:00 am

Arrival and check in

10:00 am – 10:05 am

Welcome and Introduction of the Steering Committee followed by a Q&A

Fiona Dieffenbacher

10:05 am – 11:00 am

Opening Reflections followed by a Q&A

Fashion-Faith: Rituals and Dialogues 

Fiona Dieffenbacher, Mark Larrimore, Romana Mirza, Melissa Rosales Parra, Shireen Soliman, and Otto von Busch

11:00 am – 11:45 am

Fashion, Faith, and Entrepreneurship 

Fiona Dieffenbacher in conversation with Udochi Nwogu (Building

African Fashion), Kahindo Mateene (KAHINDO) and Korina Emmerich (Relative Arts), followed by Q&A

11:45 am – 12:30 pm

Artist Talk

Inspiration: Sacred & Profane 

In the gallery with Patrick Boylan  

 
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Lunch (provided)

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Muslim Fashion / Fashion, Identity, and the Muslim-American Narrative

Shireen Soliman 

 
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Artist Talk

Ordained Body

In the gallery with John Brendan Guinan

3:00 pm – 3:45 pm

Silhouettes in the Soul followed by a Q&A

Otto von Busch and Jeanine Viau in conversation with Michelle Tonkin and Kodo Nishimura

3:45 pm – 4:00 pm

Closing Remarks

This event is made possible by school-based funding from Parsons’ School of Fashion and School of Design Strategies along with a Culture of Care Award by The Provost Office at The New School.