Leila Kelleher
Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice
Email
kellehel@newschool.edu
Office Location
JJ - 39 West 13th Street
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Profile
Dr. Leila Kelleher (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice at Parsons School of Design. Her work sits at the intersection of fashion and biomechanics, focusing on centering Fat and plus-size bodies that are often excluded by the fashion industry. Through an interdisciplinary approach, Leila integrates biomechanics principles to optimize fashion design for larger bodies. She is the co-founder of the Size Inclusion in Fashion (SIF) Lab at Parsons, a hub for advancing size-inclusive practices through research, education, and industry collaboration. Her forthcoming book, Plus Size Patternmaking for Womenswear (Bloomsbury, 2025), is the first specialized textbook on plus-size patternmaking, introducing innovative techniques for designing and producing plus-size garments. Leila is also the co-founder of Muna and Broad, a plus-size sewing pattern brand, and a space in between, a global plus-size luxury fashion brand based in Japan. She holds a PhD in Biomechanics from Western University (Canada) and previously served as a Professor of Health Sciences at Humber College in Canada.
Degrees Held
Ph.D Biomechanics, University of Western Ontario (Canada)
M. Music, Eastman School of Music
Recent Publications
Book
2025 Plus Size Patternmaking for Womenswear: Inclusive Sizing, Pattern Drafting and Fitting. Gabby Brown & Leila Kelleher, Bloomsbury Visual Arts (in press)
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
2017 Factor Structure, Stability, and Congruence in the Functional Movement Screen. Leila K. Kelleher, Tyson A.C. Beach, David Frost, Andrew M. Johnson, James P. Dickey Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science (vol. 22, no. 2: 109-115)
2017 Relationships Between the Functional Movement Screen Score and Y-Balance Test Reach Distances. Leila K. Kelleher, Ryan J. Frayne, Tyson A.C. Beach, Jordin M. Higgs, Andrew M. Johnson, James P. Dickey. International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Science (vol. 5, no. 3: 51-56)
2017 Evaluation of the use of 3D Motion Capture Technology in a Gait Assessment Module with Semester Two Massage Therapy Students. Amanda Baskwill, Patricia Belli, Leila Kelleher. Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork: Research, Education, & Practice (vol 10, no 1: 3-9)
2015 Development and Verification of a Kinematic Protocol to Quantify Hip Joint Kinematics: An Evaluation of Ice Hockey Goaltender Pads on Hip Motion. Ryan Frayne, Leila Kelleher, Peter Wegscheider, James Dickey. American Journal of Sports Medicine (vol. 43, no. 9: 2157-63)
2013 Biomechanical Research on Bowed String Musicians: A Scoping Study. Leila K. Kelleher, Kody R. Campbell, James P. Dickey. Medical Problems of Performing Artists (vol. 27, no. 4: 212-218)
Selected Conference Presentations
2023 “Integrating Plus Sizes into Fashion Design Curricula”, Transformative Fashion Pedagogies Symposium, April 28, Online
2023 “Fat/Sew: Making, Identity, and Fatness”, Fashion in 3D: Decolonizing, Deconstructing, Decentering, October 19-21, Rimini, Italy
2022 “Planning Community Needs Assessments for Recreation in Three Inuit Communities”, Northern Directions, November 15-17, North Bay, Canada