Dear reader,
Our world is due for a new normal. The Research Collective for Decolonial Fashion is working on one carefully. Early in the year, the steering group set its sights on becoming more inclusive and participatory. During the corona lockdown, those sights have guided our activities. A brand new website-savvy editorial team is revamping our on-line presence so that our membership can share more extensively with one another. RCDF is a collective, the total of its membership. Recognizing that, the steering group would like to facilitate more active and decentralized engagements.
The steering group would also like the RCDF to function as a useful resource for academics, teachers and students of decolonial fashion. To facilitate decentralization the steering group is recognizing hubs of decolonial activity. It is deploying the RCDF website and the newsletter to share information from and about hubs of decolonial fashion activity around the world. In this first issue, we are pleased to have news from South Africa, Brazil, Canada and Northern Europe. We know that the number and location of the hubs will grow and shift with time.
The RCDF newsletter appears quarterly. Our ambition is to have members around the world take turns serving as editor. Please take the opportunity to use the newsletter to share the news from your world and enable other RCDF members to learn from and about you and your decolonial fashion work.
As though fate were operating in harmony with our ambition, we have a brand new website. Stay tuned for the launch of the revamped website reflecting our ambitions and new goals. The steering group invites you to take ownership of this collective and to take to heart the open invitation to participate. Fashion decolonization is an important concept during this critical time in history. Let’s build a fair, new fashion world together by linking with each other while operating locally.
We hope you enjoy this newsletter,
RCDF Editorial Team
Research Collective for Decoloniality & Fashion 