Digital Fashion: Theory, Practice, Implications

This collection of topical essays by academics and industry professionals brings a unique lens to the issues broached, questions raised, and solutions offered regarding the history and advancement of digital fashion. While digital fashion’s roots can be traced back to the development of the Jacquard loom, its modern-day antecedents are found in video games and Instagram filters – allowing users to apply virtual makeup, accessories, and clothes to their posts. With 12 essays and four specialist interviews, this collection begins with digital fashion’s origins, its placement in the history of fashion, and its status as an aesthetic object. Part 2 focuses on the practice of making digital fashion, including NFTs, sneaker culture, cyborg vs skins and education. Part 3 provides a critical overview of digital fashion’s potential to impact wider society, including questions of social equity, sustainability and African decoloniality and the future of the industry. Interviewees: Julie Zerbo, founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Fashion Law Idiat Shiole (Hadeeart), Web3 startup founder and 3D designer Jonathan M. Square, writer, historian, and curator of Afro-Diasporic fashion and visual culture Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Innovation Agency, London College of Fashion