ZoneModa Journal: Announcements

ZMJ Call For Papers. Activating the Archive: Uses and Reuses of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of Fashion Companies

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 09:25:37 +0200

For long-lived fashion companies, the archive serves as a means of preserving and, when necessary, activating historical memory for strategic and operational purposes. It is a valuable resource that preserves the company's history and ensures the transmission of assets to future generations. It provides access to a tangible and intangible heritage increasingly used as a key input for projects. Generally closed to public consultation, the archive of fashion houses stratifies heterogeneous and polymaterial objects with high symbolic value, repositories of expressive qualities, styles, technical skills, knowledge, shared experiences, and meanings that can be exploited to define innovative products, processes, and services.

Together with garments and accessories, this type of archive usually preserves sources that reconstruct the process of creating and producing specific iconic pieces and entire collections. In addition, it includes a wealth of material that tracks brands' strategies and communication codes, allowing luxury companies to trace the events that shaped their history and prestige. Correspondence folders, invitations, posters, press kits, lookbooks, corporate catalogues, brochures, periodicals, newspaper cuttings, institutional monographs, as well as large sets of photographs and audiovisuals, allow to document and maintain the links with unique and inimitable past, which is a decisive factor in distinctively positioning the brand. Although the list is not exhaustive, it provides a glimpse of the range of objects that fashion houses preserve. When properly reformulated, updated, and contextualised, these objects may have an unanticipated strategic value, contributing to a sustainable competitive advantage. To achieve this goal, companies have recently started organising their heritage through product archives, leading to a series of connected enhancement actions. Viewed from this perspective, the archive functions as an 'active agent': not only ensuring the preservation of a tangible and intangible historical legacy, but also facilitating its utilisation and creative repurposing in the development of new products or collections, as well as in the storytelling and displaying practices of the brand.

This Call for Papers aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on empowering the enhancement of historical and cultural heritage preserved by corporate fashion archives – a topic that has gained renewed attention through the new opportunities offered by digital transformation. More specifically, it aims to encourage reflection on initiatives focused on heritage communication and promotion, highlighting actions a company can take to make it strategically accessible beyond the narrow circle of professionals. In this direction, ZoneModa Journal is currently accepting proposals for a monographic issue dedicated to the analysis of practices of presentation, incorporation, replicability, recombination, revisitation and transformation of these peculiar archival sources, exploring the following possible, but not exclusive, points of reflection:

Re-edition of historical products: physical and digital remixes and remakes
Heritage merchandising and iconic product replicas
Corporate publishing to support the consolidation and dissemination of brand heritage (institutional and biographical monographs, exhibition catalogues, photo books, etc.)
From the corporate website to social media: digital storytelling as a resource for know-how, traditions, and memories transfer
Advertising campaign, corporate videos or fashion films: audiovisual narratives on the history of the brand, its founder and iconic products
The narrative potential of gaming in the transmission of brand heritage
From shop window to pop-up store to heritage boutique: installations, setups and retail spaces to evoke the brand's history and values
Exhibitions and celebrations of historical and cultural heritage as means for brand mythopoesis
Corporate fashion museums: typologies, functions and displays
The opportunities offered by the metaverse to enhance the heritage of fashion companies

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to zmj@unibo.it.

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines

abstract submission: May 20, 2024
notification of acceptance/rejection: June 3, 2024 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: August 18, 2024.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor's decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): September 19, 2024.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by October 3, 2024.

ZMJ 14.2 is scheduled to be published by December 2024.

References

Arezzi Boza, Alessandra. “Gli archivi delle imprese di moda: conservare e valorizzare la creatività.” In L’impresa dell’archivio. Organizzazione, gestione e conservazione dell’archivio d’impresa, edited by Roberto Baglioni e Fabio Del Giudice, 145-157. Firenze: Edizioni Polistampa, 2012.

Augello, Matteo. Curating Italian Fashion: Heritage, Industry, Institutions. London: Bloomsbury, 2022.

Brunetti, Federica e Paola Castellani. “Musei, Archivi e Monografie d’impresa: il passato come risorsa per la continuità aziendale.” In Invecchiamento della popolazione e passaggi generazionali, edited by Brunetti Federico and Demo Edoardo, 1381- 1416. Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2022.

Calanca, Daniela and Cinzia Capalbo (eds). “Moda e Patrimonio Culturale.” ZoneModa Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2018): 1-229.

Ciappei, Cristiano e Michela Surchi (eds). La Mitopoiesi della Marca Moda. Strategie di brand building nelle imprese moda. Milano: Franco Angeli, 2011.

Diaz Soloaga, Paloma, Gemma Muñoz Dominguez and Jing Zhou. “Legacy transmission through fashion films: Visual and narrative brand heritage integration.” Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 4 (2023): 429-448.

Fornaciari, Federica. Archiviare la moda. Evoluzioni di inizio millennio. Milano: Mondadori, 2022.

Fulco, Elisa. “L'impresa storica come fabbrica di cultura: tra Heritage e contaminazioni.” Economia della cultura, no. 1 (2019): 15-28.

Gilodi, Cecilia. “Il Museo d’impresa. Forma esclusiva per il corporate marketing.” Liuc Papers, No. 101 (marzo 2002): 1-37.

Lupo, Eleonora. “Design e innovazione del patrimonio culturale. Connessioni phygital per un Patrimonio di prossimità.” AGATHÓN – International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design, No. 10 (2021): 186-199.

Martin, Marcella and Federica Vacca. "Heritage narratives in the digital era: How digital technologies have improved approaches and tools for fashion know-how, traditions, and memories," Research Journal of Textile and Apparel. Vol. 22 No. 4 (2018): 335-351.

Martino, Valentina. “Un popolo di «impr-editori». Libri e culture d’impresa nella tradizione italiana.” Studi culturali, Rivista quadrimestrale, n. 1 (2023): 31-56.

Martino, Valentina. “L’impresa, nero su bianco. Libri e comunicazione dello ‘stile italiano’.” In Tra le pagine del Made in Italy. Quaderno del primo workshop Sapienza-CoRiS sulla letteratura aziendale, edited by Valentina Martino and Angelo Bardelloni, 15-33. Roma: Nuova Cultura, 2019.

Montemaggi, Marco and Fabio Severino. Heritage Marketing. La storia dell'impresa italiana come vantaggio competitivo. Milano: Franco Angeli, 2017.

Mosca, Fabrizio. Heritage di prodotto e di marca. Modelli teorici e strumenti operativi di marketing per le imprese nei mercati globali del lusso. Milano: Franco Angeli, 2018.

Panozzo, Fabrizio and Giuliana Ferronato. “Impresa e narrazione in Italia.” In Imprese letterarie, a cura di Alessandro Cinquegrani, 91-108. Venezia: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2019.

Pompa, Chiara. “Gli archivi di moda e il progetto contemporaneo.” In Il design del tessuto italiano. Dal Déco al contemporaneo. Il tessuto stampato, a cura di Vittorio Linfante e Massimo Zanella, 231-233. Venezia: Marsilio Arte, 2023.

Riviezzo, Angelo, Antonella Garofano and Maria Rosaria Napolitano. Corporate Heritage Marketing Using the Past as a Strategic Asset. London: Bloomsbury, 2021.

Rivezzo, Angelo et al. “Il tempo è lo specchio dell’eternità. Strategie e strumenti di heritage marketing nelle imprese longeve italiane,” Il capitale culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, Vol. 13 (2016): 497-523.

Sikarskie, Amanda. Storytelling in Luxury Fashion: Brands, Visual Cultures, and Technologies. Oxford: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2020.

Spadaccini, Virginia. “Brand heritage management. Tesaurizzare il patrimonio aziendale per comunicare l'immaginario.” In Le professioni del comunicare: passato, presente, futuro, edited by Christian Corsi and Paolo Coen, 431-438. Roma: Edizioni Quasar, 2023.

Turbinetto, Marco and Matteo Bardoscia. Remixing Beauty. Archivi da reinterpretare per generare nuovo business. Milano: Lupetti – Editori di Comunicazione, 2022.

Urde, Mats, Stephen. A Greyser and John M. T. Balmer. “Corporate brands with a heritage.” Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 15, (2007): 4–19.

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashioning Masculinities. The Art of Cinematic Menswear

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 15:12:42 +0200

“Menswear is a performative place, in which dressing is the element of both conformism and subversion.” This is how the reasons for the important exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum Fashioning Masculinities are told to us. Nowadays we live in a moment of great creative freedom, designers are breaking down and questioning the stereotypes linked to male dressing, fashion becomes a tool of expression on gender and society (See Brajato, Fashion and Gender, 2023). Does the same happen in the audiovisual landscape? What paths does gender fluidity take in the world of cinema, television series, and the celebrity system in general?

ZoneModa Journal invites you to present proposal for a monographic issue on Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Cinematic Menswear, which aims to answer some of these questions. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the issue intends to explore the dialogue between fashion and audiovisual with respect to the two gender hemispheres, male and female, their identity and needs, but also their interaction and hybridization. If the "feminine" has always been the object of great attention, both from the point of view of celebrity studies and from that of cinematographic costume and its impact on the universe of fashion, the "masculine" is (or has been) less so. Fashion and "dressing" within an audiovisual narrative are agents of redefinition. In this context, the aim is to observe fashion and "dressing" as agents of redefinition of gender narratives in cinematographic and media contexts, paying close attention to the production context, to the professional figures of the audiovisual industry (costume designers, art directors) which play a crucial role in the creation of a narrative universe that makes clothing an essential means of expression for the character, contributing substantially to the definition of the aesthetics and visual message of the film. From a critical-theoretical point of view, the volume goes beyond the analysis of professional roles and encourages us to explore gender dynamics and distributions within the audiovisual industry, in sectors that converge cinema and fashion.

We therefore welcome submissions that explore, but are not limited to, the following:

- Male costume in cinema and television

- The definition of male celebrity through clothing

- The profession of the costume designer in "dressing" the male character

- Costume designers and art directors: production perspectives

- Male icons/gender fluid icons beyond the cinema screens

- Fashion/cinema/genre in the audiovisual universe: historical paths and new trajectories

- Power dressing between male and female in cinema and serials

- Processes of masculinization and de-masculinization through the dress of the male character in contemporary audiovisual media

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word*.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines

abstract submission: November 13, 2023.
notification of acceptance/rejection: December 10, 2023 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests for explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: February 21, 2024.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): April 5, 2024.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by May 2, 2024.

ZMJ Vol. 14 N.1 is scheduled to be published by July 2024.

References

Brajato, Nicola (edited by). “Fashion and Gender.” ZoneModa Journal, Vol. 13(1) (Luglio 2023). https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0563/17161.

Wilcox, Claire and Rosalind McKeve (edited by). Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, exhibition catalogue. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 2022.

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and History. How Fashion Has Written History

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 09:55:46 +0200

Fashion studies are frequently accompanied by historical studies. The focus on fashion, customs and clothing has paid attention to neglected historical aspects and show how a society has actually evolved. Suffice it to give an example, that of gender history. Perhaps no other sector has been so interested in the history of women, showing how infinite forms of social control have passed through clothes through the disciplining of the body (in the sense indicated by Foucault) with devices such as corsets and crinolines; how battles of emancipation based on the ‘legitimacy’ of a certain garment have been played out; how pre-established roles related to the shape and functionality of the clothes have been drawn; above all, how the diversity in the cultural construction of the female and male bodies has been literally traced. In an equally interesting way, many studies have shown how men's clothing is both the result and the agent of a different form of sociality and physical presence in the world, compared to the female one, and that it also varies significantly over time.

Similar discourses can be made regarding the role of visual history, pioneeringly used in the field of Fashion studies and the many intersections between fashion and politics, which vary from the meaning of military uniforms to that of party dress symbolisms up to the new forms of representation of power in the mass media. Fashion and power are also visibly exposed in the narrative of colonialism and post-colonialism, with the clothes of the colonizers versus the local clothes of the colonized, in a subsequent complex discourse of appropriation and hybridization, and much more.

Zonemoda Journal invites you to submit a paper for a monographic issue dedicated to fashion in its various historical expressions, without distinction of geographical areas, with a main focus on the Early modern-Modern periods. The studies submitted can be theoretical reflections on a specific topic or historical case-studies.

We therefore welcome submissions that explore, but are not limited to, the following:

Fashion and Visual History
Fashion and Gender/Non-binary Embodiment in a historical perspective
Fashion and Politics
Fashion and Colonialism /Post-colonial movements
Fashion and Globalization
Fashion and Diversity /Inclusivity in History

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word*.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines:

abstract submission: June 1, 2023.
notification of acceptance/rejection: June 15, 2023 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: August 30, 2023.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor's decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): September 25, 2023.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by October 15, 2023.

ZMJ 13.2 2023 is scheduled to be published by December 2023.

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and Gender

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 13:10:15 +0200

If “[f]ashion is obsessed with gender, defines and redefines the gender boundary,” as fashion scholar Elizabeth Wilson claims (2003: 117), it seems that in the past decade this obsession has been more emphasized than ever. With the appearance of multiple neologisms in mainstream debates, such as genderless, agender, non-binary, and genderfluid, reflecting the proliferation of more encompassing and inclusive sexual and gender identities (Cover 2018), contemporary fashion presents an important terrain in which these social and cultural shifts in the perception of gender are both represented and embodied.

However, if, on the one hand, the hegemonic conformities of the fashion industry are being challenged through the call for a more inclusive and diverse understanding and representation of gender, on the other hand, today’s polarized daily life and political landscape are becoming so strongly divided between systems which either celebrate difference and diversity or strive to establish uniformity and certainty. Indeed, while fashion shows, advertisements, and magazines are advancing a fluid reality where gender categories are gradually becoming blurred, our everyday life is still all too often a scenario of discrimination, and verbal and physical abuse towards nonconforming gender, sexualities, and aesthetic practices.

In line with the exponentially increasing interest in the field of fashion studies in critical scholarship on fashion, gender, and the body, ZoneModa Journal invites you to present a proposal for a monographic issue on fashion and gender. The aim of the issue is to encourage and develop critical, intersectional, and innovative thinking around the contemporary complexities concerning this important topic in the industry and everyday life. We therefore welcome submissions that explore, but are not limited to, the following:

Trans, genderqueer, and non-binary embodiments and representations
Global perspectives on new developments in fashion and gender
Feminist methods and approaches to the study of fashion and gender
Fashion, gender, and everyday life
Fashion and gender in online spaces (digital communities, metaverse, social networks,)
Shifting and expanding approaches to male aesthetics and men’s styles
Fashion practices the challenge and disrupt the gender binary
Discursive and visual representation of genderfluid/genderqueer aesthetics in fashion media
Archiving, displaying, and exhibiting genderfluid fashion
Queer narratives and approaches to fashion and gender
Fashion as a political and activism platform for gender diversity

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word*.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines:

abstract submission: November 10, 2022.
notification of acceptance/rejection: November 30, 2022 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests for explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: February 15, 2023.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): March 31, 2023.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by April 30, 2023.

ZMJ Vol. 13 N.1 is scheduled to be published by July 2023.

References

Cover, Rob (2018), “Micro-Minorities: The Emergence of New Sexual Subjectivities, Categories, and Labels among Sexually Diverse Youth Online”, in Talburt, S. (ed.) Youth Sexualities, Santa Barbara: Praeger, pp. 279-301.

Wilson, Elizabeth (2003), Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity, London: I.B. Tauris.

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and Communication

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 09:08:27 +0200

Volume 12 n. 1, 2022

Daniela Calanca (University of Bologna)

Grazia D’Annunzio (Journalist)

ZoneModa Journal invites you to present proposal for a monographic issue on Fashion and Communication. The goal is to explore relationships, convergences and possible discrepancies between these two fields.

More precisely, the issue’s aim would be to encourage and develop a critical and innovative thinking within the fashion territory, in either a theoretical or practical perspective. Through historical analysis and new developments, fashion communication - along with its spread and awareness - plays more than ever a pivotal role in the varied tapestry of our contemporary society.

We therefore invite you to submit contributions on these following topics:

Evolution of fashion journalism and trends analysis
Fashion and visual comunication
Advertising vocabulary and fashion journalism
Fashion comunication through exbibitions
Web Journalism
Genderless fashion: a new comunication
Fashion Journalism: training and practices

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word*.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines:

abstract submission: October 30, 2021.
notification of acceptance/rejection: November 30, 2021 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: February 15, 2022.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): March 31, 2022.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by April 30, 2022.

ZMJ 12.1 2022 is scheduled to be published by July 2022.

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and Tourism in Transition

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 09:56:31 +0200

Volume 11 n. 2, 2021

Gianluigi Di Giangirolamo, University of Bologna

Alessia Mariotti, University of Bologna

This call for papers of ZoneModa Journal is devoted to the relationship between fashion and tourism, and it aims to investigate the main similarities, divergences, influences, connections, and interactions between these two sectors.

From an academic point of view, both the fashion and tourism industries are considered a field of studies. In other words, they are two complex topics of research requiring interpretation and analytical frameworks from different and often quite distinct disciplines.

What are the interactions between these two sectors, and how can the multidisciplinary approach help read the many different social, economic, and cultural dimensions they intersect? How have these interactions changed in an age of strong dematerialization of experience due to the pandemic?

In "tourism studies", fashion has been mainly investigated from an urban perspective, i.e. in the relationship between the tourist attractiveness of cities and their market characterization as fashion capitals. In other words, fashion becomes a tool through which the tourism product can be diversified, or it can be a relevant topic for its contribution to the events system as a multiplier of visitor's flows. More recently, the relevance of the role of cultural and creative industries within the social sciences, both in the process of acknowledging and developing intangible heritage and of enhancing the value of artistic and craft products, has opened up new scenarios for an interdisciplinary and intersectoral debate between tourism and fashion. In creative tourism, fashion practices broaden the concept of culture itself, allowing further analysis of the relationship between these two sectors.

In the case of fashion studies, the interest of researchers in interactions with the world of tourism has been much more restricted: studies are mainly focused on the area of marketing and management, for instance, the collaborative strategies between some high fashion brands and the hotel world.

Yet the fashion system with its creators, fashion houses, events, communication networks, and consumers has contributed and continues to contribute to the creation and definition of places, spaces, and cities; a well-defined and relevant link between fashion and the territory, which generates value in tourism practices and therefore allows an expansion of the supply. The tourism industry is itself a relevant element in the field of fashion. Since the late nineteenth century, the interaction and hybridizations in the exchanges between hosts and guests contribute (also thanks to guides, itineraries, and "must-see") to the creation of images and imaginaries of fashion places and capitals.

This issue of ZoneModa Journal aims to encourage an innovative debate within fashion studies on the interactions between the worlds of fashion and tourism with a perspective, both theoretical and empirical, on the current transitions and in particular:

The fashion system and the attractiveness of destinations;
The evolution of the relationship between fashion and tourism;
The creation of new facilities and tourism practices;
The possible synergies between fashion and tourism in the creation of new products;
The role of fashion cultural heritage as a tourist attractor;
The relationship between fashion events and urban tourism;
Cultural and creative tourism: new relationships between the fashion and tourism industry;
Fashion tourism practices: travelers, consumers, and producers;
Public policies to support the interaction between the two sectors;
Corporate museums as tourist attractors;
Fashion in museums, museums for fashion;
The relations between fashion and tourism enterprises;
Communication in fashion tourism;
Tourist behavior of fashion consumers and the fashion consumption behavior of tourists;
Dematerialization and digitalization of experiences in fashion tourism;
Fashion, creativity, and tourism.

Due to the specific characteristics of the two fields of study, the call is open to contributions from all socio-humanistic disciplines, and more in general, to new multidisciplinary perspectives.

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to zmj@unibo.it.

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines:

abstract submission: May 30, 2021
notification of acceptance/rejection: June 15, 2021 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).

full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: August 30, 2021.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor's decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): September 30, 2021.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by October 15, 2021.

ZMJ 11.2 2021 is scheduled to be published by December 2021.

ZMJ Call For Papers: Rethinking Fashion Brands in The Era of Digital Media

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 09:45:24 +0100

Volume 11 n. 1, 2021

MariachiaraColucci, University of Bologna

Marco Pedroni, eCampus University

Over the last two decades, the process of digitization has deeply reshaped the dynamics of the field of fashion. Scholarly debate has framed the overall societal changes in this regard under the category of mediatization. The relevance of media has been recognized «in the social construction of everyday life, society, and culture as a whole» (Krotz 2009: 24), something that makes mediatization a kind of meta-process «grounded in the modification of communication as the basic practice of how people construct the social and cultural world» (ibid.: 26). The mediatization of society works as a process «whereby society to an increasing degree is submitted to, or becomes dependent on, the media and their logic» (Hjarvard 2008: 113).

Fashion has a problematic relationship with digital media. On the one hand, fashion bloggers and influencers set the foundations of the influencer marketing that is now largely expanding in all the lifestyle-related industries. On the other, the fashion industry has become able to exploit the advantages of digitization later than other cultural industries. Nonetheless, it could not avoid to be involved in this «mediatization of everything» (Livingstone 2009: x). Fashion is subject to mediatization in a variety of ways (Rocamora 2017) affecting the processes of designing, producing, distributing, promoting and consuming clothes.

This special issue aims to understand how digitization is affecting the domain of fashion, with particular attention to the role of fashion brands. Accordingly, we invite scholars to deal with a set of questions in the light of digitization and mediatization:

How do fashion brands, whether mass-market or established maisons, interface with their audience, advertise their products, reach their targets, finalize the sale, and retain the consumers?
How has physical retail been transformed by digital, whether in-store or out-store? (e.g. interactive showcases, digital signage, intelligent mannequins, digital fitting rooms, innovative payment acceptance systems, sales force automation)
How has digital technology changed the format and meaning of fashion shows and catwalks?
How is digital impacting on fashion economy and luxury conglomerates? (e.g. processes of automation and optimization of economies of scale throughout the supply chain)
How is digitization contributing to the development of new business models? (e.g. crowdfunding, start-up incubators, online platforms)
How do fashion brands cooperate with, fight against or exploit new digital intermediaries like bloggers, influencers and content creators?
How do digital platforms promote new forms of contamination between culture and commerce? (e.g. lifestyle magazines combined with e-commerce platforms, influencers turned into entrepreneurs and brands themselves)
How do brands pursue the search for authenticity, as a value and a rhetoric construction, through digital channels?

The call for papers is open (but not restricted) to scholars of any discipline belonging to social and organizational science and humanities, and especially to management, marketing, sociology, anthropology, communication, history.

The overall objective of the special issue is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities that fashion brands are dealing with.

Contributions capable of looking at the digital transformation of brands from a critical perspective and of outlining new lines of research within fashion studies will be particularly welcome.

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to zmj@unibo.it.

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines:

abstract submission: February 15, 2021
notification of acceptance/rejection: February 28, 2021 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: March 31, 2021.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): April 25, 2021.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by May 15, 2021.

ZMJ 11.1 2021 is scheduled to be published by July 2021.

ZMJ Call for papers: Fashion, Technology, and Social Distancing

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Volume 10.2, 2020
Editor: Gustavo Marfia (University of Bologna)

In the history of humanity, the adoption of technologies is constantly accelerating (Denning and Lewis 2020). The time elapsed from the invention to the mass adoption of the telegraph, about eighty years, that required for the widespread diffusion of the telephone, sixty years, electricity (thirty three years), color TV (fifteen years) and social media (twelve). In this perspective, an interesting question for everyone, but also for consumers, fashion professionals, and scholars is: “Which of the technologies nowadays in an early adoption state will become mainstream in the near future?”.

In order to answer this question, we circumscribe an ecosystem consisting of three computer technologies, which are currently going through different stages in terms of maturity, but which will doubtless sooner or later influence and modify future scenarios, both from the point of view of consumers and fashion experts and practitioners.

The first of these technologies is already in the process of altering many of the situations to which humanity is accustomed, Artificial Intelligence. Even in an economic sector with a strong creative drive, such as fashion, more and more scenarios are imagined in which artificial intelligence tools can prove decisive, not only in relation to aspects related to sales, production and logistics, but also in relation to those related to the design of new collections and the identification of future trends (IBM Research – AI for Fashion).

The second technology, the Internet of Things, already well integrated in the industrial world in general, finds space in the value chain of the fashion system and to a lesser extent in clothes and accessories in the form of wearable technologies.

The third and latest technology taken into consideration in this call, Extended Reality (which includes Virtual and Augmented Reality), has been experimented by the main fashion brands for some years, especially in relation to its ability to amaze and create a connection which is more direct, compared to traditional media and the web, between customers and the most exclusive initiatives of a brand.

Now, the experience of the pandemic of 2020 has further sparked the interest of many fashion companies for these technologies; has imposed on many companies a management of their business based on digital systems, which starts from the supply chain of materials, to the creation, exhibition and sale of their products (Roberts-Islam 2020). Social distancing, in fact, amplified in the first instance the use of digital channels, but also the need to use digital technologies within each link in the value chain (The state of Fashion 2020, McKinsey report).

Therefore, this Issue of the ZoneModa Journal aims at investigating how the universe of fashion, made up of highly heterogeneous realities and with very different characteristics, can benefit from the existence of an integrated technological ecosystem, which contemplates the use of the digital technologies indicated above in all its phases. We therefore invite scholars to focus on a series of questions, in the light of future scenarios that presumably will arise:

How will fashion companies propose the physical experience of their stores and showrooms within new or existing virtual channels?
How will the online shopping experience change in the medium to long term, if it changes, in light of the rules of social distancing and the closure of many physical stores?
How will a large amount of data coming from the fashion system, following the digitization of many of its processes, change the working methods of the designers?
Will the pandemic, the pervasive use of the Web and the integration of Extended Reality technologies boost fashion archives?
The companies that today provide trend services, forecasts and styling to the fashion industry, as well as influencers and bloggers, will see their role changed within an increasingly digital scenario, in perspective, conditioned from the use of artificial intelligence?
Can the pandemic represent the stimulus that will bring the Internet of Things and Extended Reality technologies from an early adoption state to that of a mainstream one within all or some of the steps in the fashion value chain?

References

Denning, Peter J., and Lewis, Ted G. “Technology adoption.” Communications of the ACM 63, no. 6 (2020): 27–29.

Roberts-Islam, B. “Virtual Catwalks And Digital Fashion: How COVID-19 Is Changing The Fashion Industry,” April 2020 – https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookerobertsislam/2020/04/06/virtual-catwalks-and-digital-fashion-how-covid-19-is-changing-the-fashion-industry/

IBM Research – AI for Fashion. https://cognitivefashion.github.io/portfolio/couture_jasongrech/

The state of Fashion 2020 – coronavirus update. https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our insights/its time to rewire the fashion system state of fashion coronavirus update/the-state-of-fashion-2020-coronavirus-update-vf.ashx

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it.

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines

abstract submission: July 20, 2020
notification of acceptance/rejection: July 30, 2020 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: September 30, 2020.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): October 15, 2020.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by October 30, 2020.

ZMJ 10.2 2020 is scheduled to be published by the end of 2020.

ZMJ Call For Papers: Deconstruction

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0200

Volume 10 n.1, 2020
Editors: Stefano Marino (University of Bologna), Ines Tolic (University of Bologna)

Deconstruction, understood both as a philosophical doctrine or concept (and hence as theory) and as practice of planning and realization, emerged during the 1970s and 1980s and rapidly disseminated in all fields of cultural, artistic and media production. After some decades since its inception, and on the basis of the persistence of deconstruction at least in some domains, the “ZoneModa Journal” monographic issue dedicated to deconstruction in 2020 aims at assessing the situation of deconstruction in our time and at inquiring into its consequences and implications. We especially invite authors to submit contributions focused on the several ramifications and intersections of deconstructive theories and practices in different but nevertheless always connected fields, such as, for example, philosophy, fashion, architecture, art, design, literature and music.

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines

abstract submission: October 30, 2019.
notification of acceptance/rejection: November 30, 2019 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: February 15, 2020.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection): March 31, 2020.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by April 30, 2020.

ZMJ 10.1 2020 is scheduled to be published by July 2020.

ZMJ Call for papers: Global Fashion

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Volume 9.2, 2019
Editors: Wessie Ling (Northumbria University), Mariella Lorusso (Bologna University) and Simona Segre Reinach (Bologna University)

The globalisation of fashion is a heterogeneous process operating in various forms of national subjectivity within an instable hierarchy. It flows in an uneven path and is marked by continual global interactions. Its outcome is the very history of fashion, a history made up of differences, inequalities and the intriguing relation of Europe with the rest of the world. Entwined within are power relations, historical, political and economic interventions. The dynamics of globalisation have taken the place, space and images of the pre-existing colonial relationships. It is no longer a question of integrating western views of fashion with the one Others have on themselves. Rather, recognising the various voices and forces is quintessential in comprehending the making of global fashion. The making of global fashion in the 21^st century is a transglobal project involving a network of transcultural agencies and cross-border activities. Like culture, it is never a pure entity. Underneath its layer, global fashion-making is a transcultural mosaic onto which authenticity is often glossed over for the purpose of marketing and economic veins. It is therefore useful to know the directions in which ideas and trade have moved, to overcome old stereotypes, and also to renounce the claim of “pure” sartorial identities, those of product, consumption and communication, which perhaps have never existed and certainly do not exist today.

This monographic issue considers Global Fashion as a process of exchanges, encounters and interaction interplayed by ambiguity, contradiction and power imbalance. The aim of the issue is to go beyond regional study which relies on case study from different parts of the world to withstand the global dimension. We intend to offer a new approach to help readers to understand the global dynamics behind the multiple encounters and the uncanny development of fashion in the transglobal landscape. Our ultimate goal is to shed light on the multiple connections, comparisons and circulations of people, goods and ideas through a global interconnected method of inquiry. We welcome papers that address such a process in fields such as anthropology, ethnography, economics, history, sociology, cultural studies, linguistic studies and museum studies.

Submissions

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines

abstract submission: May 15, 2019
notification of acceptance/rejection: May 30, 2019 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: August 31, 2019.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection) : September 30, 2019.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by October 31, 2019.

ZMJ 09.2 2019 is scheduled to be published by the end of 2019.

ZMJ Call for papers: The Eighties

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 12:01:21 +0100

Guest editor: Fabriano Fabbri

ZoneModa Journal invites you to present proposal for a monographic issue on the Eighties.

Among the decades of the last century, the Eighties probably represent the most popular period, vividly transgenerational, the most imitated in the nostalgic commemorations of teenagers at the time now grown up as adults, the most extravagant and colorful. Recognizable for style, innovations, creativity, for all the features that have characterized their rich physiognomy, wrongly or rightly the Eighties have earned themselves the title of most excessive and superficial decade of the Twentieth Century. Yet, after a certain time, the Eighties have never been truly and systematically approached: they’re certainly talked about, but no unitary research exists to focus on the cultural offer of this decade.

ZoneModa Journal aims at gathering a historical and interpretational anthology of the Eighties phenomenon concentrating on its multiple faces. By nature, this decade embodies the guidelines of the so called “postmodernism”, overused and often misunderstood as a notion, nevertheless still very useful in framing the most evident dynamics of the Eighties. These rotate mostly around the recycle and pastiche of pre-existing materials, like a sort of “eternal return” ruled by the filter of irony and quotation. Among contemporary disciplines, fashion is one of the most suitable channels of observation to identify the spirit of the Eighties, that thanks to the creativity of Versace, Moschino, Alberta Ferretti and other protagonists of the revivalist-quotationist line, in Italy distinguishes for the backward look on the history and on the clothing codes of Greek-roman world and Baroque. Something similar happens in France, where Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Thierry Mugler etc. are very skillful in remixing styles inspired by Versailles and pop culture. Indeed, pop culture is another focus point to zoom on, starting from music, above all the “new romantic” bands such as Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, rivaled by the New Age of the Cure or Simple Minds, all supported by the diffusion of music videos through the frequencies of newborn Mtv.

Beside scholars specialized in pop culture, in its overview of the decade ZoneModa Journal addresses to design experts, a field that in those years is characterized by the playful and colorful style of Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, echoed in visual arts by the “return to painting” of Transavanguardia, of Nuovi Nuovi, of Anacronisti, then by the Bad Painters, by the American Graffiti art and so on. Of course, equally desirable would be contributions on literature, enriched in Italy by the presence of the “new novelists”, among which Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Aldo Busi, Andrea De Carlo stand out, without forgetting the philosophical debate created by the “weak thought”, or the loss of “grand narratives” theorized by Jean François Lyotard in his famous The Postmodern Condition. Deeply stimulating are also the historical events of the period, through the years of Reaganism and the influence of the “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, culminated in the end of the Cold War and the Fall of the Berlin wall. And it would be likewise interesting to understand how the Eighties have penetrated the collective imaginary of nowadays, becoming by now a subject to put inside the proverbial inverted commas by “millennials” scholars.

Every discipline, from sociology to history, from fashion to design, from photography to economics, can participate to set the outlines of a beloved decade and yet not investigated from a wide range perspective, finally capable of offering a no boundaries theoretical instrument of the vast horizon of the Eighties.

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.docx format), written either in Italian or English, must be sent to: zmj@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not guarantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Key deadlines

abstract submission: November 30^th 2018
notification of acceptance/rejection: December 20^th 2018 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations).
full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: March 15^th 2019.
comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection) : April 15^th 2019.
authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by May 15^th 2019.

ZMJ10 is scheduled to be published in June 2019.

ZMJ Author Guidelines

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0200

ZMJ CFP: Fashion and Childhood

Mon, 16 Apr 2018 10:41:07 +0200

Fashion and Childhood

guest editors Roberto Farnè and Marcella Terrusi

ZoneModa Journal invites you to present proposals for a monographic issue on Fashion and Childhood. The relationship between fashion and childhood can be explored from a wide range of different perspectives; from its representations of children’s body and clothing, in literature, in illustrations and other types of media to historical or sociological reflections concerning history of school, education and fashion.

The editors of this ZoneModa Journal issue invite you to contribute to this reflection, aiming at constructing an inter-disciplinary discourse on the relationship between fashion and childhood.

We welcome contributions relating to the following fields of research:

- Childhood imaginary and culture (history of children’s literature, illustration, movies and games)

- Pedagogy of the child’s body and children’s clothing in the history of education and illustrations (i.e. history of school, sport and toys)

- History of fashion design for children between experiences and key figures

- Sociological perspectives on the places, markets and initiatives devoted to fashion in childhood and how this relationship is perceived and retold by various parties.

Abstracts of no more than 1000 words + 5 bibliographical references (word *.doc format), written either in Italian or English, are be sent to: zonemodajournal@unibo.it

Abstract acceptance does not garantee publication of the article, which will be submitted to a double-blind peer-review process.

Important cut-off dates:

- abstract submission : May 25, 2018

- notification of acceptance/rejection: June 15, 2018 (notice of acceptance might include comments and requests of explanations)

- full-length paper (6000/7000 words) submission: August 31, 2018

- comments of the reviewers will be conveyed together with the editor’s decision (approval with no changes, approval with major/minor changes and/or rejection) : September 30, 2018.

- authors shall send the reviewed article to the editorial staff by
October 31, 2018.

ZMJ9 is scheduled to be published by end 2018.

ZoneModa Journal: Announcements

ZMJ Call For Papers. Activating the Archive: Uses and Reuses of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of Fashion Companies

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashioning Masculinities. The Art of Cinematic Menswear

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and History. How Fashion Has Written History

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and Gender

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and Communication

ZMJ Call For Papers: Fashion and Tourism in Transition

ZMJ Call For Papers: Rethinking Fashion Brands in The Era of Digital Media

ZMJ Call for papers: Fashion, Technology, and Social Distancing

Volume 10.2, 2020Editor: Gustavo Marfia (University of Bologna)

References

Submissions

Key deadlines

ZMJ Call For Papers: Deconstruction

Volume 10 n.1, 2020 Editors: Stefano Marino (University of Bologna), Ines Tolic (University of Bologna)

Submissions

Key deadlines

ZMJ Call for papers: Global Fashion

Volume 9.2, 2019Editors: Wessie Ling (Northumbria University), Mariella Lorusso (Bologna University) and Simona Segre Reinach (Bologna University)

Submissions

Key deadlines

ZMJ Call for papers: The Eighties

Guest editor: Fabriano Fabbri

Key deadlines

ZMJ Author Guidelines

ZMJ CFP: Fashion and Childhood

Volume 10.2, 2020
Editor: Gustavo Marfia (University of Bologna)

Volume 10 n.1, 2020
Editors: Stefano Marino (University of Bologna), Ines Tolic (University of Bologna)

Volume 9.2, 2019
Editors: Wessie Ling (Northumbria University), Mariella Lorusso (Bologna University) and Simona Segre Reinach (Bologna University)