Project

Fashioning-CuSe is a research project dedicated to the study of cultural sensitivity in global fashion and to the mechanisms through which forms of cultural insensitivity emerge within contemporary fashion industry processes. At its core, the project investigates the global circulation of cultural symbols, codes, and imaginaries, as well as the power dynamics that govern their translation, appropriation, and reinterpretation.

The project integrates theoretical, empirical, and computational dimensions through the development of an analytical model and a digital platform designed for the collection, systematisation, and visualisation of global fashion practices. In this perspective, Fashioning-CuSe does not merely describe phenomena, but constructs a research environment capable of making them observable, comparable, and critically interpretable.

The initial activities focused on the construction and re-elaboration of datasets derived from previous analyses and from the mapping of major international fashion weeks, with the aim of understanding how cultural influences are transformed into aesthetic and commercial languages. In parallel, a systematic review of the international literature was conducted in order to clarify the theoretical debate around key concepts such as cultural appropriation and hybridity.

This work resulted in the analytical framework developed in the monograph Moda e sensibilità culturale. Tra appropriazione e ibridazioni, stereotipi e nuove progettualità (Mimesis, 2025), which examines the tensions between creativity, inclusivity, and the risk of cultural insensitivity in contemporary fashion.

Building on this theoretical foundation, a research line was developed focusing on the computational analysis of cultural references in fashion brands. The integration of artificial intelligence tools has enabled a critical exploration of both the potentials and limitations of such technologies in identifying stereotypes and dynamics of cultural appropriation.

Within this context, the international workshop Weaving Archives. Activating Textile Archives with Artificial Intelligence (6–8 November 2024) was held in collaboration with the Fondazione Fashion Research Italy and with the involvement of the University of Florence and the University of Bologna. The workshop worked on archival materials and case studies, highlighting the persistence of colonial and exoticising imaginaries and the need for critical tools for their reinterpretation.

The reflections developed in this context contributed to the chapter Navigating by Sight. Rethinking Fashion Education from Historical Archives to Artificial Intelligences Through Collaborative Practices (Franzo, P., Tolic, I., Piancazzo, F., Quartu, A., Domenichetti, D., 2025), which addresses the relationship between archives, education, and artificial intelligence in fashion studies.

In parallel, the project has explored the narrative and media dimensions of contemporary fashion, analysing the ways in which fashion images circulate across digital and cultural contexts. This research line has developed through contributions presented at international conferences and collaborative research activities within the International Research Center Culture Fashion Communication.

A central axis of the project concerns the development and validation of the Fashioning-CuSe platform as an operative research environment. The platform is not only a technical tool but an epistemological device that enables the observation, organisation, and interrogation of global fashion practices. Within this space, experimental focus groups have been conducted and the Threads of Identity initiative has been launched, dedicated to the reinterpretation of traditional fashion and its contemporary reconfigurations through the involvement of international students.

Dissemination activities have accompanied the entire project through participation in national and international conferences, including Hip Hop: la scena italiana, Beyond the Magic Mirror, AIS Popular Cultures Conference, and CFC Conference 2025, where intermediate results and platform developments were presented.

The most recent phases focus on the validation of platform data and on the analysis of fashion as a performative practice and cultural device, with particular attention to the ways museums, campaigns, and audiences contribute to the construction and transformation of cultural imaginaries