Long overlooked by most of the fashion industry, body positivity is now part of the important conversation around diversity. But for designers, it’s not simply making the same runway clothes in larger sizes – it requires inclusive design thinking via special skill sets and manufacturing tools.
To that end, CFDA and Dia & Co created the CFDA + Dia & Co Inclusive by Design {Education} Fund. It is intended to advance body positivity, design diversity, and inclusive design thinking within American fashion education.
The inaugural winners are: Lauren Peters of Columbia College Chicago {$10K}, Amy Sperber of Fashion Institute of Technology {$10K}, Grace Jun of Parsons School of Design {$5K}, Kenlyn Jones of Massachusetts College of Art and Design {$5K}, and a special honorable mention to Kendra Lapolla of Kent Statue University.
The fund came out of the last year’s #TeeUpChange Challenge, a collaboration between the CFDA and Dia & Co featuring Lizzo, 2018 CFDA Fashion Future Graduate Marissa Petteruti, and CFDA members Tracy Reese, Christian Siriano, and Venus Williams. They each created a limited-edition graphic T-shirt with a message that advocated inclusivity and the $35 T-shirts, from sizes 0X–5X, were sold at TheCURVYcon.Proceeds from #TeeUpChange (which raised a total of $30,000 in micro-award funds) went to the Inclusive by Design Fund.
Faculty and administration of participating CFDA Educational Initiatives schools were invited to apply to the CFDA + Dia & Co Inclusive by Design Fund by submitting proposals including requests to valuably enhance curricula centered on size inclusive education including but not limited to: equipment such as extended size dress forms, technology, resources, supplies, guest lecturers/ expert speakers, research, or project based opportunities for students requiring special funding. The Selection Committee was comprised of Abrima Erwiah of Studio One Eighty Nine, Ivan Bart of IMG, Lindsay Peoples Wagner of Teen Vogue, Mickey Boardman of Paper Magazine, Sydney Holmes of Dia & Co, and Lisa Smilor and Sara Kozlowski of CFDA.
With the funding, each winner has different on how to implement size diversity into their work. Lauren Peters plans to acquire examples of large-size dress for the school’s historic fashion study collection; facilitate a department-wide culture shift in which size inclusivity is central to the design curriculum, and create a scholarship fund to support entrepreneurship and design innovation in the plus-size sector.
Amy Sperber will create a dress form that merges body inclusivity and dress forms based on real proportions.
Grace Jun saw an opportunity to create change regarding fit, size, and design that takes into account disabilities through fashion design education.
Kenlyn Jones stressed the lack of funding / supplies in her proposal. The $5K will help Jones in her plans to add plus-size inclusion in MassArt’s regular curriculum, and broaden the design purview of the students.
Kendra Lapolla looked to Kent State’s Fashion School Store which currently promotes narrow idealized beauty standards, and challenged the Kent State Fashion School to develop a size inclusive collection to be sold and marketed through a retail experience at the Fashion School Store.
We would like to thank all 14 educators who submitted proposals.
