The Association of Dress Historians supports and promotes the study and professional practice of the history of dress, textiles, and accessories of all cultures and regions of the world, from before classical antiquity to the present day.
Call for Papers
Sport and Leisure
London, England
Submission Deadline: 11:59pm GMT, 1 September 2021
Fashioning the Body for Sport and Leisure:
A History of Dress and Textiles
Our Sport and Leisure conference will be held on 30 September-1 October 2022 at the historic Art Workers Guild, 6 Queen Square, London, England.
Both 10-minute and 20-minute presentation proposals are welcomed for this special conference, which will explore academic research into the global history of dress and textiles specifically for sport and leisure.
The Call For Papers welcomes presentation proposals regarding all aspects of dress and textiles for womenswear, menswear, and childrenswear of any culture or region of the world, from before classical antiquity to the present day. Traditionally, sportswear worn by athletes is known as ‘active sportswear,’ and is worn as a necessity to prepare the body for sport activity for reasons such as to protect the body, for easy movement, to allow the body to breathe, and as a uniform for identification. The term ‘sportswear’ can also refer to the fashionable aspect of sports garments, the designs of which are based on active sport garments but worn for the visual or comfortable design features rather than for sport activity. Whereas, leisurewear can be described as dress worn in times of relaxation outside of paid work; for example, beach pyjamas worn as holiday garments during the 1930s. However, at various points in history, garments for sport and leisure have been distinct yet often overlapping forms of garments.
Relevant conference presentation topics could include, but are not limited to:
- The history of dress and textiles for sport activities, such as archery, cricket, cycling, football, golf, hiking, mountaineering, Olympic sports, riding, soccer, tennis, winter sports
- The history of dress and textiles for leisure activities, such as camping, dancing, fishing, gardening, holidays, hunting, photography, playing a musical instrument, roller-skating, shopping, sunbathing, water sports
- Specialist garments for specific sport and leisure activities
- Sportswear collections by fashion designers
- The impact of evolving social outlooks
- Development in textile technologies for sport or leisurewear
- Accessibility to sport and leisure by various classes and levels of society
- Homemade, adapted, improvised, and ready-to-wear garments
- Sport as a factor for the acceptance of trousers for women
- Role of magazines and films in the dissemination and popularity of new clothing styles
- Sportswear overlapping into everyday clothing and leisure dress
To submit a proposal to present at the conference, simply email the following information by the deadline, 11:59pm GMT, 1 September 2021, to ADHsportandleisure2022@gmail.com as a .doc or .docx attachment (not a .pdf) exactly as you want it to potentially appear (if your proposal is accepted) in the conference programme: your name, email address, affiliation, descriptive paper title, 200-word (maximum) abstract (without footnotes), 120-word (maximum) biography (written in essay format in the third person), one jpg image that represents your paper (and which can be published in the conference programme), a complete reference for the image.
Please indicate if you have a preference to present a 10-minute paper or a 20-minute paper.
Potential conference speakers are not required to hold an ADH membership at the time of proposal submission; however, all conference speakers must hold a current ADH membership at the time of the conference during which they present. ADH memberships are £10 per year and help support our charity and scholarship in dress history.
Copyright © 2021
The Association of Dress Historians (ADH)
Registered Charity #1014876 of The Charity Commission for England and Wales
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