Review: Diversity NOW! Fashion & Race with Kimberly Jenkins

Abstract

The following article is a review of the 2018 Diversity Now! Lecture, entitled “Unleash the Power of Fashion to Challenge Racism,” led by Kimberly Jenkins and held by Ryerson University’s Centre for Fashion Diversity and Social Change. Jenkins is a lecturer at Parsons University, where she first created and continues to teach her undergraduate course “Fashion and Race,” is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute, and a curator, anthropologist, and art historian. Jenkins is also the creator of the online digital humanities project entitled The Fashion and Race Database as well as co-constructing and presenting a lecture and workshop series known as “Fashion and Justice,” among involvement in many other groups, activities, and media that help to further representation and diversity in fashion education, research, and the fashion industry. The review covers Part 1 and Part 2 of her lecture, “Fashion and Race” and a visual analysis exercise, “The Power of Representation.”