Critical perspectives on fashion textbooks: representations of race, gender, and body

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to critically analyse the images in fashion design and apparel product development textbooks to determine if they reflect a lack of diversity in fashion magazine, the fashion industry, and other college textbook images. While using intersectionality theory and a feminist lens as our frameworks, we critically analysed these texts for representations of race, body size, and body position. We used visual content analysis to examine 3124 images of women in books published since 2000. Each woman in the text was coded in three categories including race, body size, and body position. The findings from our study highlight the need for more diversity within the discipline’s textbooks. Future studies should examine representations of men and textbooks from other areas in the field such as textile science or dress history.

KEYWORDS:

• Fashion
• textbooks
• race
• gender
• body

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.