The Yarn (zine)

Antwerp - Brussels 

contact: pierreantoine.vettorello (at) kdg.be #1 On Colonial Violence in Fashion Schools

Official Launch Monday DECEMBER 11 2023    




ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


Editor: Pierre-Antoine Vettorello
Graphic Design, illustration and layout: Felix Godefroy
Copy-editing: Pierre-Antoine Vettorello & David Garrahy

Advisory board: Audrey Bartis, Mi Medrado, Lion Blau

Support: Sint Lucas School of arts
University of Antwerp (ARIA)

Publisher: Black Yarns Antwerpen
ISBN number 978-2-9603419-0-4.

First edition of 100 copies 

    If we ever believed that colonial violence ended upon entering the educational system, we were mistaken. The roots of colonial hegemony, patriarchy, and capitalism underlie the very framework of the fashion education system, enticing numerous young students each year with aspirations and desires. It creates hierarchies, classifications, and othering. The Yarn offers a compilation of writings from individuals with an experience of the system as students, teachers, or models within the fashion school, and those who perceive and question these institutions as places where colonial violence persists. It provides a platform for individuals who have encountered or witnessed violence related to race, class, and the environment and who desire to share their experiences through their written works.
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This anthology of texts forms part of a wider research endeavour focused on exploring the intersections between colonial hegemonies and the Western fashion system and redefine fashion in the present context. The study involves an examination of the modes of canonization of designers, places and hierarchies within the Western fashion environment. The research delves into the dynamics of colonisation and their impact on the fashion industry between the Global North and South. It also considers how these dynamics are established, propagated, and the ideologies they disseminate.

CONTRIBUTORS

1. Sandra Niessen - Violence by Definition

2. Audrey Bartis - Atypical

3. Seija Mistiaen - Watching From the Elevated Platform

4. Celina Szymanowski - The Ordinary Cotton

5. Sarah Bartmann - Moon Face

6. Veronica Pesantes - Representation Matters : Recent Fashion Photography and Non-performative Diversity

7. Ivoire Boza-Nguyen- You Must Wear a Mask in the Fashion School

8. Afez Chirazi- My Sanctuary, My Life

9. Douglas Dos Santos - Grávida Dourada

10. Maryse Simplon - I Have Regained my Dignity

11. Sonia Tagba-Millet - Embracing Natural Skin Tones

12. Pierre-Antoine Vettorello - The Chicken or the Egg ?