Per un’estetica e una storiografia <em>crip</em> nella moda: ripensare i canoni attraverso la visibilità radicale e lo sguardo algoritmico

Ilaria Caielli

doi:10.60923/issn.2611-0563/22970

Authors

Ilaria Caielli Istituto Marangoni

As a Lecturer at Istituto Marangoni in Milan (AFAM courses), her academic background combines a Master's degree in History and Criticism of Art with a second one in Publishing, Communication, and Fashion Cultures, both from the University of Milan. Her research adopts an intersectional approach to investigate the connections between fashion and identity construction, with a focus on the representation of age in visual culture and the critical re-examination of dominant aesthetics. A key area of her current work explores the interaction between cultural bias and user-generated content on digital platforms, analyzing how these dynamics influence the production, visibility, and legitimation of new aesthetic narratives within Fashion Studies.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.2611-0563/22970

Keywords:

Crip Aesthetics, Algorithmic Gaze, Embodiment and Representation, Disability Studies, Fashion Historiography

Abstract

This study offers a radical critique of the contemporary fashion system through the lens of Disability Studies, aiming to delineate the contours of a crip aesthetic and historiography. Beginning with an analysis of the dynamics of exclusion, adaptation, and co-optation that define the relationship between mainstream fashion and disability, the paper interrogates the undeclared normative assumptions governing the industry. Through the critical grammar offered by scholars such as Tobin Siebers, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, and Stuart Hall, it maps the geographies of power that connect the body's value to its representation. The analysis extends to the algorithmic gaze, investigating how new technologies of visibility can either reinforce or, conversely, subvert ableist canons. More than a call for inclusion, the essay argues for a disability aesthetic as a form of activism—a practice of "radical visibility" that expands creative possibilities against productivist standardization. Finally, it outlines a future trajectory for fashion studies by proposing a methodology for "cripping" the industry's historiography. The paper posits the urgency of moving from mere representation to embodiment, theorizing a new digital historiography that documents and values the practices, designers, and manifestos actively constructing a crip fashion.

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Per un’estetica e una storiografia crip nella moda: ripensare i canoni attraverso la visibilità radicale e lo sguardo algoritmico

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