Dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell Feb. 25, 2025. Article Citation: O’Connell, Mark Joseph. 2024. Iris Simpson: A Trailblazer in Canadian Fashion History. Seneca Polytechnic Canadian Fashion Diversity Project. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14925960. INTRODUCTION “Iris Simpson” Photo courtesy @ “Coming full circle from classroom to high fashion and back” https://magazine.torontomu.ca/classroom-high-fashion/ Iris Simpson’s name may not be as widely recognized…
Tag: Fashion History

Have you ever wanted to peek behind the scenes at the Seneca Fashion Resource Centre?
Behind the scenes in the Seneca Fashion Resource Centre.
The SFRC will give the Seneca community tours of the archives on Tuesday, November 26th, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesday, December 4th, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Los Cubanos Americanos: The Collaboration of Isabel and Ruben Toledo, a Fusion of High Fashion and Art
Dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell Oct. 14, 2024. “Fabric creates movement. Not only color, but the depth of the cloth” (Isabel Toledo qtd. in Amoroso 2014) Isabel and Ruben Toledo — Cuban-born American creatives both — forged a dynamic and highly influential partnership that left a lasting imprint on fashion, design and art worlds alike. Their…

EXPLORING SUSTAINABLE INCLUSIVE FASHION: An Overview of the Brand “e3 Koncept” with Prof. Rushmita Alam.
EXPLORING SUSTAINABLE INCLUSIVE FASHION: An Overview Of The Brand “e3 Koncept” with Prof. Rushmita Alam. By Smile Kwokori. February 1st, 2024. Introduction to the e3 Koncept In the ever-evolving landscape of fashion, where trends come and go like fleeting seasons, emerges a revolutionary concept that transcends the ephemeral nature of style. The E3 Concept, championed…

An Exhibition of the Practice-Led Research of Seneca Fashion Professor Philip Sparks “Missed Fit” (Nov. 2022-Jan. 2023)
From November 2022 to January 2023 the Seneca Canadian Fashion Diversity Project at the Seneca School of Fashion mounted an exhibition of the fascinating and innovative practice-led research of Seneca fashion professor, Philip Sparks. These garments are part of a larger corpus of research by professor Sparks that includes performative engagements, body measurements, and creation…

Redefining the “Standard”
By SCFDP student researcher: Anna Ludmirsky Life as a young person usually shapes and molds you into a projection of your future self, which usually begins with environment and role models. Specifically speaking on self-body image, as we grew older and began to consume media in a sponge-like manner, our subconscious self-loathing was gradually set…

Mara Buda’s Historical Recreation
A Neoclassical Recreation for a One of a Kind Doll A practice-led historical recreation project by Seneca Fashion Resource Centre student researcher Mara Buda. The purpose of this research project is for the fashion history student to experience and learn fashion history through the doing. Fashion is a fundamentally tactile and maker-driven medium, garments are designed,…

Angela Lin’s Experience of Toronto Fashion Week Spring 2023 at Fashion Art Toronto
By: Angela Lin (3rd Year Fashion Business Management student) The movie The Devil Wears Prada does not exaggerate the pace of life in the fashion industry; in reality, it is a highly frenetic place in which everyone is always RUNNING! During the 2022 edition of Toronto Fashion Week, which was organized by Fashion Art Toronto,…

Bonnets Get a Bad Wrap
By Rose de Paulsen A personal pastime of mine is watching costume analysis on YouTube. From the likes of Mina Le, Kaz Rowe, Karolina Żebrowska to Micarah Tewers, historical costume political commentary and garment creation feeds the inner historical costumer in me instilled from my experience at York University Theatre program. I remember in early 2020…

Textiles Abroad! Seneca Students Learn of Andean Culture
By: Rose de Paulsen In the heart of the Andes mountains sits Cusco, a city that holds a rich historical culture and an endless number of self-discoveries. It is a place I had the honour of going to in May through Seneca Abroad. I had previously never been on a plane and had never expected…