In the fall of 2023, students enrolled in the 20th Century Fashion History course collaborated with their peers from the Web Development class on a unique initiative. Together, they embarked on their final group project: crafting a digital archive for a fashion museum showcasing personal fashion artifacts contributed by the students. Led by professors Francesca D’Angelo and Hanadi Alnawab, the students presented their work to the Humber community through six museum exhibits at Humber’s beautiful Lakeshore campus.

The culmination of their efforts led to an exciting opportunity for Francesca and Hanadi to present the Fashion History Project at the 2024 Commonwealth Fashion Council Symposium.

Francesca provided an insightful overview of the project, delving into its three foundational principles:

• Agitation – challenge the usual representation of fashion (the elites, upper middle classes)​
• Innovation – innovative pedagogical methods: experiential, challenge to AI generated research​
• Intersectionality – capture classroom diversity (Domestic (across Canada), International and Exchange students)

Hanadi discussed the role of the Digital Business Management students, who, through the Web Development class, contributed to:

• Developing history museum’s information website
• Designing the information architecture of the website
• Optimizing the content for search engines

In preparation for the symposium, Francesca and Hanadi also gave an interview on The Arif Zaman Business Show on Bloomsbury Radio, along with other guests where they discussed fashion and fashion education trends in Canada, South Africa and across the Commonwealth and provided a curtain raiser to the 2nd Commonwealth Fashion Education Symposium being held online on the 23 February 2024. Tune in to the episode on Spotify!