Faculty

Profile

Fiona Dieffenbacher is an Associate Professor of Fashion in the School of Fashion at Parsons School of Design. Her research is located at the intersection of dress, embodiment and spirituality. Key projects include: Dress and Emotion, which explored the emotional and sensory act of dressing; The En[...]Clothed Collective, a global group of practitioners whose research centers bodily knowledge in the articulation of theory.

Published works include a second edition of her textbook Fashion Thinking: Creative Approaches to the Design Process, (Bloomsbury, 2020) and chapter entitled, ‘The Future Body as Ultimate Dress’ in: Silhouettes of the Soul: Meditations on Fashion, Religion and Subjectivity (Bloomsbury, 2023) co-edited by Otto von Busch and Jeannine Viau.

She is the volume editor of the forthcoming publication: Teaching Fashion Ethics: Inclusivity, Social Justice and Activism (Bloomsbury, 2027) and editor of Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process and the Fashion Industry.

In 2023, Fiona launched a public program in collaboration with colleagues at Parsons and Eugene Lang entitled: Fashion-Faith: Rituals and Dialogues. This informed the premise for the forthcoming exhibition by the same name in the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Gallery at Parsons in February 2026.

Prior to Parsons, Fiona designed her eponymous ready-to-wear label Fiona Walker with a commitment to ethical and local production (1998- 2005). Selling to select retailers across the U.S and Asia, the collection garnered press in publications such as WWD, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle and New York Magazine, among others.

Degrees Held

MA Fashion Studies, Parsons School of Design

BFA Fashion Design, Parsons School of Design

BA Hons Fashion and Textiles, University of Ulster 

Professional Affiliation

Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process and the Fashion Industry.

The Faculty Roundtable | NYC

The Veritas Forum

Recent Publications

Teaching Fashion Ethics: Inclusivity, Social Justice and Activism, Bloomsbury, 2027

This forthcoming edited volume attempts to dismantle preconceived notions about what fashion design is and who we are designing with and for, as well as offering a critique of the existing fashion system itself. Two key questions frame this book: “What does it mean to be a fashion designer in the twenty-first century in this moment in history?” And “How can we equip fashion design students with the tools to transform the industry and inspire them to create a vision of what it ought to become?”

It bridges theory and practice via a range of methodologies with the goal of encouraging fashion design students to situate their work within the context of fashion theory; to develop critical thinking and generate progressive outcomes that challenge the status quo. Based on the underlying premise that all design needs to be inclusive, 40 case studies from a diverse pool of leading academics and practitioners in the field aim to inspire students to think critically about their responsibility and  the impact they can make; not only within the design process itself, but in the industry, we hope to change.

"The Future Body as Ultimate Dress" in: Silhouettes of the Soul: Meditations on Fashion, Religion, and Subjectivity edited by Otto von Busch and Jeanine Viau, Bloomsbury, 2023

What is the relationship between the soul, or inner life, and what we wear in the making of identity and belief? What bearing do religious and political belonging, respectability, and resistance have on the way in which we dress? Why have more traditional religious practices been so prescriptive about body adornment? Historically, fashionable dress and religion have been positioned as polar opposites. Silhouettes of the Soul brings them together, placing them in conversation with each other. By moving beyond traditional, social scientific, and historical analysis of religious attire and adornment the book presents a variety of disciplinary approaches from across regional, social, and religious locations.

Contentious and challenging, as well as academically rigorous, the book's diverse range of contributors - from fashion and religious studies scholars, to designers, activists, monastics, and journalists - explore the relationship between religion and fashion, extending the meanings and possibilities of both dress and spirituality. Combining interviews and personal stories with more traditional theoretical analysis,  Silhouettes of the Soul offers new ways of looking at the relationship between religion, personal convictions, and self-expression - our sense of self and our sense of fashion.

"Fashion Thinking: Creative Approaches to the Design Process," Second Edition, Bloomsbury, 2020 

Fashion's great innovations often spring from inspired designers developing unique concepts and challenging the status quo. But how do they do it? To find out, follow ten exceptional fashion design students as they respond to a brief, exploring their diverse strategies and the thinking behind their final collections. This second edition features six new interviews, with insight from the director of Open Style Lab, Grace Jun, and Yeohlee Teng, whose designs have earned a permanent place in the Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Four new case studies, incorporate new technology including adaptive design for the visually impaired and the use of augmented reality. Beautifully illustrated and structured to clearly demonstrate how to take ideas from concept to design, Fashion Thinking demystifies the creative thinking process to help you develop your own unique collection.

Performances and Appearances

Peer Reviewed Conference Presentations 

• “How can we encourage students to undo preconceptions about Fashion?”, Transformative Fashion Pedagogies 2.0 Symposium, Theme: Undoing Fashion: Parsons School of Design, 2024
• Pedagogical Approaches for  Size Inclusive Design”, co-presented with Emily Huggard and Leila Kelleher, Transformative Fashion Pedagogies 2.0 Symposium, Theme: Industry Impact, Parsons School of Design, 2024
• The En[...]Clothed Collective in Enclothed Knowledges: What do we know from making and wearing clothes?, Chairs Ellen Samson and Ben Barry, CAA conference, USA, 2021
• “Obscurity in Plain Sight: Fashioning Faith In the American Everyday,” paper presentation, AMERICAN EVERYDAY: Resistance, Revolution & Transformation,” Fashion Studies Department, Columbia College Chicago, 2020
• “Enclothed Transcendence: Towards an Understanding of Future Embodied Identity,” LIM College, Fashion: Now & Then: Identity, Conference, New York, 2019
• “Enclothed Transcendence: Towards an Understanding of Future Embodiment,” NEXUS: An Intersection of Ideas,” ADHT symposium,  Parsons School of Design, 2019

Invited Conference Presentatons

• Keynote speaker: “Fashion in the Metaverse”, Costume Culture Association Annual Conference, Duksung Women's University, South Korea, 2024 
• Fashion-Interfaith Dialogues in Academia, [Thinking Through Fashion and Music] in Thinking Through the Arts, University of British Columbia, Regent College, Vancouver, 2024
• Faith and Fashion- Research Symposium, Veritas Forum Arts Cohort, Duke Divinity School, North Carolina, 2023
• The Gap In Between Education + Industry: Challenging The Status Quo,” Face The Future Fashion Salon, World University Fashion Competition, Qingdao, China, 2019
• Keynote speaker: “UNEQUAL: Dress Dis-ability & Emotion” , Arts of Fashion Foundation FASHION.EDU- SERIES, Public Library - Koret Auditorium, San Francisco, 2016
• “Spirit of Place: Design in Context”, DesignEd Asia conference, keynote speaker, Business of Design Week, Hong Kong Polytechnic, 2015

Panels

• Fashion Practice Editor’s Panel, Fashion and Play Symposium, University of Minnesota, (Panelists: Sandy Black, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, Caroline Stevenson, London College of  Fashion, University of the Arts, London, Juyeon Park, Seoul National University, Korea, Juanjuan Wu, University of Minnesota), 2024
• Equity Matters: Charting a Course for Transformation in Higher Education - Tia Brown McNair (Panelists, Sam Mejias, Bian Fuller) moderated by Provost, Renee T White, The New School, New York, 2024
• “Fashion and Faith” panel, Fashion- Faith: Rituals and Dialogues with Kien Chu, Part-time Assistant Professor of Fashion and Otto von Busch, Professor of Integrated Design, Parsons School of Design, 2023
• “Redefining Success and Finding Purpose” - Veritas Forum with Warren Kinghorn, Esther Colliflower Associate Research Professor of Pastoral and Moral Theology, Duke Medical School/ Divinity School and Lance LaDuke, Artist Lecturer in Euphonium and Music, Carnegie Mellon University, Chicago, 2022
• “Be Real: Knowing and Expressing the Authentic Self in a Performative Age”, Veritas Forum, with Benjamin Callard,  Instructional Professor in Philosophy, University of Chicago, 2022
• "Embodying Heaven’"- Curating the Space Between Fashion & Faith, a conversation with Jessica Glasscock, Research Associate at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute and Mark Larrimore, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Eugene Lang, Dorothy Hirshon Suite, Arnhold Hall, The New School, 2019

Research Interests

Fiona’s research practice is located at the intersection of dress, embodiment and spirtiuality  with a particular emphasis on the 'space in between' theory and practice. 

RESEARCH PROJECTS:

[/ˈsākrəd/] (Current)

How does the body, mind and spirit work together to contribute to embodied knowledge?How can a recognition of the spiritual augment materialist knowledge?  What bodily knowledge can be gleaned from liturgical practices?  This project seeks to investigate the role of bodily knowledge at the intersection of the spiritual and the material. Working from an integrated framework of embodiment it takes a holistic view of human subjectivity (mind, body and spirit) seeking to reconcile the divide caused by cartesian dualism.  

THE EN[...]CLOTHED COLLECTIVE (2020-2022)

In an attempt to explore how clothing acts as a mediator between various “bodies,” states and environments, this cumulative project seeks to explore the lived experience of embodiment; specifically, how may we speculate the space “in between” ([...]) through the lens of body, clothing (or without clothing), and identity?  This collective of practioners, designers, thinkers and poets aim to break down barriers within formal domains of research, scholarship, theory and creative practice to intervene in existing discourses between traditional sites of critical making and thinking in order to generate new understandings and relationships. We seek to move beyond hierarchical structures, avoiding stereotypes of language, terminology and narrow definitions, in order to articulate the “space in between.”  This collective body of work exemplifies the ways fashion thinking and making are intertwined and offers an inclusive space for scholars and practitioners to co-create, share knowledge, birth new forms of hybridity, language, and terminology.  

DRESS & EMOTION (2013-16)

This project explored the emotional and sensory act of dressing and investigates themes of body image, identity, self-curation, representation and the messaging of dress. It aims to spark discussion among participants and observers: those who have not considered their clothing as a means of nonverbal communication; those who use dress intentionally as a signifier of identity; those who don’t think about why they wear what they wear; those who are hiding, and those who are on display.

Portfolio

Fiona Dieffenbacher

The En[...]Clothed Collective Exhibition

Dress & Emotion