Le Plateau (FRAC Ile-de-France): Fashion Dialogues on and off the Page

On Monday and Tuesday, March 25 and 26, 2019, the MA Fashion Studies program at The New School's Parsons Paris campus launched the first iteration of Printing Fashion, a festival organized in collaboration with the art institution Le Plateau (FRAC Ile-de-France). The festival, coordinated by Justin Morin and Marco Pecorari, offers an independent space for discussion among practitioners, critics, and academics exploring the contemporary role and value of fashion media via the specific lens of printed publications.

This first-of-its-kind two-day event in Paris featured roundtables to discuss various topics including the increased economic and cultural value of historical and contemporary print fashion publications, the relationship between digital and printed media, the magazine as a curatorial project, representation and national discourse in fashion magazines, and issues related to geography in the production of publications, including working with collaborators and contributors from around the world. During the festival, attendees took in screenings of films, documentaries, and television shows on fashion publications and purchased vintage and current magazines at a pop-up store hosted by KD Presse.

The event drew speakers and participants from across the industry while offering students valuable opportunities to help organize a fashion-related academic and cultural event exploring the past, present, and future of fashion criticism and representation in media.