We are proud to host the first ever conference to look at contemporary Brazilian fashion in England, and in the context of globalisation. We aim to create new dialogues between fashion producers and researchers in Brazil and in England, and to encourage interest in the study of Brazilian fashion. We will address researchers and students of fashion from English universities and from within the media. This event will bring speakers from Brazil – both practitioners and academics – as well as from London and Paris.

The field of fashion is currently booming in Brazil. The first Brazilian college of fashion, the Bachelor in Fashion Design at Faculdade Santa Marcelina (São Paulo), was founded in 1987. In January 2011, a survey by the Ministry of Education highlighted the existence of more than 120 higher education institutions in the country working in the field. As a result of the increasing number of higher education institutions, which teach fashion, research on Fashion Studies is also expanding. By the end of 2010, more than 500 theses and dissertations on the subject had been produced in the country and there are now three fashion journals in Brazil. Moreover, more than 300 papers were presented to an audience of nearly 1000 participants at the seventh edition of the Colloquium of Fashion (“Colóquio de Moda”), the most important academic event on Fashion in Brazil, which took place in September 2011. The increased appreciation of Brazil’s national stake in fashion can also be seen in government policies. Since 2010, fashion has been considered a field of the arts and a sector of the creative economy by the Ministry of Culture. The Council of National Cultural Policy (CNPC) created a chair for Fashion, which is now occupied by Ronaldo Fraga.

Furthermore, Brazilian fashion is rapidly developing an international profile; for example, the SPFW belongs to the circuit of international fashion weeks that take place in Europe and EUA. However, little is known in Europe about teaching and research of fashion developed in Brazil. The conference we propose, which will be the first of its kind to be held outside of Brazil, therefore aims to bring Brazilian fashion producers and academics to the London College of Fashion, the UK’s leading centre for study and research in this field, to talk about and discuss Brazilian fashion, and to raise its profile in the UK.

The conference will be held at the London College of Fashion on the 9^th and 10^th November 2012. The keynote speakers will be the fashion designer Ronaldo Fraga and Pamela Church Gibson of London College of Fashion. We have also invited the maker of promotional fashion films Stephen Whelan and  journalist Silvano Mendes (Esmod and Radio France Internationale), together with academics from Brazil and from the UK  and those working in fashion media .

For more information please click here and for a full programme please click here.