Call for Papers / Designs for the 2014 Fashion And Communication SYMPOSIUM May 2-3, 2014, St. Paul, Minnesota

Fashion is change and because it is change, fashion impacts nearly every aspect of our lives from the language we speak, the furniture we use, the homes we live in, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, and the food we eat. Fashion also reflects social consensus and to achieve consensus we must have communication. Thus, for  our third symposium we focus on relationships between fashion and communication. We are interested in providing opportunities to share research findings, innovative teaching strategies, and designs that explore and investigate issues related to communication and fashion.

The symposium has an inclusive definition of the term “fashion”. While fashion is often understood to center on apparel choices, fashion can be recognized as the current style or way of behaving in any field. Thus, proposals are welcome from divergent fields such as architecture, anthropology, cultural studies, history, interior design, graphic design, psychology, sociology, and women’s studies among others.

You are invited to participate in this symposium by submitting a written abstract detailing research, an abstract of innovative teaching strategy, a design, or a proposal for a panel of speakers addressing some aspect of fashion and communication. The official conference language is English. All accepted abstract submissions will be published in the conference proceedings.

In addition, proposers are invited to submit full papers based on their symposium presentations for consideration for a special issue of the Journal of Global Fashion Marketing. The co-editors of the journal will be Dr. Kim Johnson and Dr. MiYoung Lee.  Participation in the special issue will be through a peer-review process; the due date for full length papers is June 1, 2014.

Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Fashion branding and communication
• Fashion history and communication
• Street style and communication
• Fashion communication in the retail environment (e.g., visual merchandising, signage, music, m-promotion, sales associate interaction, employer-employee interaction)
• Fashion and social media (e.g., risks involved with use of social media, use and abuse of social media in the workplace)
• Fashion, promotion, and advertising strategies (e.g., use of different appeals, product placement, pop-up stores, WOM)
• Fashion as nonverbal communication
• Fashion and emerging forms of communication (e.g., viral marketing, interactive digital media, advergames, blogging)
• Communication within the fashion industry (communication with foreign vendors, buyers)
• Fashion and Consumer Feedback (e.g., reviews, complaint behavior)
• Theory Development: Adaptations or Integration of existing theoretical frameworks or processes to better explain how communication formats work in fashion
• Theories of fashion diffusion
• Measurement issues: how to measure the effect and processes of the
new formats of fashion communication
• Fashion communication within design disciplines (e.g., interior design, graphic design, product design)
• Innovative teaching and fashion communication
• Theories of communication and diffusion of innovation in fashion
• Fashion in carried or worn communication devices (such as cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, or Google Glass)

Symposium formats include poster sessions, design work, concurrent design/research/teaching presentations [15 – 20 minutes], and panel sessions [60 minutes]. Panel or collaborative presentations are encouraged.

Important dates:

January 5, 2014: All proposed submissions for the symposium (designs, abstracts, panels) due and received. Abstracts are in final form (there will be no opportunity for authors to make changes prior to publication in proceedings).
February 14, 2014: Notice of acceptance emailed and release of copy write forms sent to authors. Online registration opens [general $225; students $100]
February 28, 2014: Copyright forms due to kjohnson@umn.edu
March 21, 2014: Draft of symposium program posted on symposium website (this page)
April 15, 2014: Hotel room reservations due [unreserved rooms released]
April 15, 2014: Online registration closes (early bird rates)
May 2-3, 2014: Symposium (on site registration cash or check only)

See the conference website for further information:

http://design.umn.edu/fashionand/communication/