FASHION NOW! International Research Days
On 24 and 25 November, the Rimini Campus of the University of Bologna hosted two days entirely dedicated to fashion entitled FASHION NOW!. The project, with a collaborative and multidisciplinary character, is the result of an international tender, promoted by the French research center Acorso (Université de Lille) and won by professors and researchers of the three-year degree courses in Fashion Cultures and Practices and the international master’s degree in Fashion studies. Started in 2019, FASHION NOW! it is now supported by the Municipality of Rimini, UniRimini, the Culture Fashion Communication Research Center (CFC) and the Department of Arts of the University of Bologna. The rich and articulated program of the initiative, which aims to promote international exchanges on the most current fashion topics, was inaugurated on November 24 in the evocative Sala Federico of the Fulgor Cinema with a speech by Antonio Marras. In the space designed by Dante Ferretti and in dialogue with Fabriano Fabbri, the renowned Sardinian designer retraced the main stages of his career, sharing anecdotes and reflections with the public. The hall, packed with students and citizens, responded enthusiastically to Marras’ words, prolonging the event for well over two hours. On November 25, FASHION NOW! it moved to the halls of the Rimini Campus. Here, speakers from five Italian and six international universities discussed, among others, the relationship between fashion and avant-garde design, the impact of technologies on fashion communication processes, the theme of environmental sustainability and the challenges related to the most recent social transformations. “The main objective of the project is to strengthen Rimini’s position in the field of research, as a meeting place for internationally renowned experts and a point of reference for doctoral students and young researchers”, explains Ines Tolic, one of the organizers of the ‘event. Giulia Caffaro, to whom we owe the identification of scholars, universities, Italian and international cultural bodies who contributed with their presence and support to making the event possible, underlines the importance of fashion as a territory for meeting and comparison. “We are convinced that fashion has now become an essential player in urban and social development”, adds Vittorio Linfante, stating that with FASHION NOW! the aim is to bring together projects and people capable of providing a complex look at the changing faces of fashion, its present and its many possible futures. The proceedings of the two days will be published during 2023 in order to leave traces of the event, using for this purpose one of the open access publications of the Culture Fashion and Communication research center. In this way the curators hope to be able to reach an even wider audience and thus continue to weave relationships between researchers interested in exploring, in an original and innovative way, the challenges facing those who decide to embark on a professional career or academic, in fashion, or one of the most competitive cultural and creative industries.
Cs – UNI.RIMINI