Sandra Niessen's guest appearances

Sandra Niessen

Conscious Chatter

Chic

Frontiers of Commoning, with David Bollier

Eileen Fisher

Andrew Morgan

Severine Von Tscharner Fleming

Shop Good

Shahidha Bari

Dana Thomas

Kamea Chayne

Tim Jackson

Maxine Bédat

Madison Moore

ELIZABETH CLINE

Mara Hoffman

Kate Raworth

Dave Jacke

Peter Barnes

OwlTail

In episode 263, Kestrel welcomes Dr. Sandra Niessen, a cultural anthropologist, fashion scholar and activist, to the show. In 2020, Sandra published a notable article titled: “Fashion, its Sacrifice Zone and Sustainability”, which we explore on the show. She currently works closely with Fashion Act Now. “The loss of fashion or the degrowth in fashion — people think of that as a closing down of our fashion system or our clothing system. And I think of it as an incredible enrichment — the opportunity to throw open the windows and throw open the doors, and be creative in ways we’ve never thought of before and that are written out there in the world in Indigenous clothing systems and we’ve ignored all the time.” -Sandra I first discovered this week’s guest, through a YouTube interview she did with Extinction Rebellion. It was focused on “Fashion &amp; Degrowth, and exploring the link between decolonization and sustainability in fashion”. In it, our guest said – “Try to imagine colonialism without fashion”. This really struck me – of course, we have deconstructed and broken down several layers of how fashion’s foundation is colonial, but this quote in particular really struck me, because I feel like the industry is rarely contextualized this way.  It’s rarely even contextualized from a historical lens as far as the systems of power that have led to the construction of the current fashion system. Like what we worked to unpack through The Root series with Dominique Drakeford. But I guess what I’m getting at here is that suddenly, OTHERING was written across the sky in flashing lights for me. Imagine the ways that dress or clothing or FASHION have been used as tools to OTHER people – to indicate who has power and who doesn’t have power. To show who is welcome and who is not. To perpetuate power dynamics. As this week’s guest highlights, this idea of OTHERING is another way of saying ERASURE.  Erasure is what fashion was built on and what it continues to thrive off of – and according to this week’s guest, it could be the achilles heel of fashion if we truly want to change it. Quotes &amp; links from the conversation:   Fashion Act Now, activist group Sandra works with   “Fashion, its Sacrifice Zone, and Sustainability”, article by Sandra     “We know that it’s the people — the people who live on the land, who are the maintainers of the land, they look after the land, they understand the land, they’re living in close association with it, sustainably with the land. And when we sacrifice those people along with the land, we’re losing that knowledge, that Indigenous wisdom that we could really benefit from in this world of crisis that we’re currently in where we’re trying so desperately to find sustainability and yet at the same time, we’re erasing the peoples that could help us learn about sustainability.” (21:34) -Sandra   “Fashion is turning us (the consumer) into a sacrifice zone, it’s turning the cognitive aspects of other cultures into a sacrifice zone, so that we all become somehow entranced and begin to follow this strange mentality that’s associated with fashion. So, in that sense, fashion is producing sacrifice zones as well as being fundamentally based on sacrifice zones in its production systems.” (23:53) -Sandra   Podcast with Trabian Shorters on “Asset Framing” that Kestrel mentions    “Fashion teaches us to make ourselves hollow and to just be this superficial display. Whereas, the satisfaction comes from the inverse, and the inverse is what’s erased.” (37:20) -Sandra    “The only way fashion can separate from growth is to stop being fashion.” (40:14) -Sandra   Earth Logic (2019), book by Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham (free to download) — Sandra mentioned how it offers a paradigm in which the earth (carrying capacity) is central  Less Is More (2020), book by Jason Hickel  Two useful resources Sandra recommends, regarding alternative economic arrangements: The Wellbeing Economy Alliance &amp; David Bollier’s website   “Regenerative Fashion, there can be no other”, article by Sandra   “RANGSA NI TONUN” - The Sacred Batak Weaving Tradition — film by Javanese artist MJA Nashir, that Sandra helped produce   Sandra’s Blog &gt;  

In episode 263, Kestrel welcomes Dr. Sandra Niessen, a cultural anthropologist, fashion scholar and activist, to the show. In 2020, Sandra published a notable article titled: “Fashion, its Sacrifice Zone and Sustainability”, which we explore on the show. She currently works closely with <a href="https://www.fashionactnow.org" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Fashion Act Now</a>. “The loss of fashion or the degrowth in fashion — people think of that as a closing down of our fashion system or our clothing system. And I think of it as an incredible enrichment — the opportunity to throw open the windows and throw open the doors, and be creative in ways we’ve never thought of before and that are written out there in the world in Indigenous clothing systems and we’ve ignored all the time.” -Sandra I first discovered this week’s guest, through a YouTube interview she did with Extinction Rebellion. It was focused on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkyf3IBgT0U" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">“Fashion &amp; Degrowth, and exploring the link between decolonization and sustainability in fashion”</a>. In it, our guest said – “Try to imagine colonialism without fashion”. This really struck me – of course, we have deconstructed and broken down several layers of how fashion’s foundation is colonial, but this quote in particular really struck me, because I feel like the industry is rarely contextualized this way.  It’s rarely even contextualized from a historical lens as far as the systems of power that have led to the construction of the current fashion system. Like what we worked to unpack through <a href="https://consciouschatter.com/the-root" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The Root</a> series with Dominique Drakeford. But I guess what I’m getting at here is that suddenly, OTHERING was written across the sky in flashing lights for me. Imagine the ways that dress or clothing or FASHION have been used as tools to OTHER people – to indicate who has power and who doesn’t have power. To show who is welcome and who is not. To perpetuate power dynamics. As this week’s guest highlights, this idea of OTHERING is another way of saying ERASURE.  Erasure is what fashion was built on and what it continues to thrive off of – and according to this week’s guest, it could be the achilles heel of fashion if we truly want to change it. Quotes &amp; links from the conversation: <ul> <li> <a href="http://Fashionactnow.org" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Fashion Act Now</a>, activist group Sandra works with </li> <li> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/6G88SUTMEEPH5JIDWN4K/full?target=10.1080/1362704X.2020.1800984" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">“Fashion, its Sacrifice Zone, and Sustainability”</a>, article by Sandra  </li> <li> “We know that it’s the people — the people who live on the land, who are the maintainers of the land, they look after the land, they understand the land, they’re living in close association with it, sustainably with the land. And when we sacrifice those people along with the land, we’re losing that knowledge, that Indigenous wisdom that we could really benefit from in this world of crisis that we’re currently in where we’re trying so desperately to find sustainability and yet at the same time, we’re erasing the peoples that could help us learn about sustainability.” (21:34) -Sandra </li> <li> “Fashion is turning us (the consumer) into a sacrifice zone, it’s turning the cognitive aspects of other cultures into a sacrifice zone, so that we all become somehow entranced and begin to follow this strange mentality that’s associated with fashion. So, in that sense, fashion is producing sacrifice zones as well as being fundamentally based on sacrifice zones in its production systems.” (23:53) -Sandra </li> <li> <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/trabian-shorters-a-cognitive-skill-to-magnify-humanity/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Podcast with Trabian Shorters on “Asset Framing”</a> that Kestrel mentions </li> <li> “Fashion teaches us to make ourselves hollow and to just be this superficial display. Whereas, the satisfaction comes from the inverse, and the inverse is what’s erased.” (37:20) -Sandra </li> <li> “The only way fashion can separate from growth is to stop being fashion.” (40:14) -Sandra </li> <li> <a href="https://earthlogic.info" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Earth Logic</a> (2019), book by Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham (free to download) — Sandra mentioned how it offers a paradigm in which the earth (carrying capacity) is central </li> <li><a href="https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Less Is More</a> (2020), book by Jason Hickel</li> <li> Two useful resources Sandra recommends, regarding alternative economic arrangements: <a href="https://weall.org" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The Wellbeing Economy Alliance</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.bollier.org" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">David Bollier’s website</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.stateoffashion.org/en/past-editions/intervention/longreads/long-read-titel/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">“Regenerative Fashion, there can be no other”</a>, article by Sandra </li> <li> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4qlRmpCGQ" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">“RANGSA NI TONUN” - The Sacred Batak Weaving Tradition</a> — film by Javanese artist MJA Nashir, that Sandra helped produce </li> <li> <a href="http://bataktextiles.blogspot.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Sandra’s Blog &gt;</a> </li> </ul>

S06 Episode 263 | Dr. Sandra Niessen on *sacrifice zones* & the layers of erasure in fashion

Sara Arnold

British activist Sara Arnold and Dutch fashion scholar/activist Sandra Niessen explain their vision for "a radical defashion future" driven by degrowth, decolonization, and commoning. As two leaders of Fashion Act Now, they are part of a growing network of dissident fashionistas trying to make the global clothing industry more ecologically responsible, relocalized, and responsive to climate change. They argue that the fashion industry needs a serious economic and cultural makeover to curb its colossal waste and energy use, and allow a rich pluriverse of clothing cultures to flourish.

Sara Arnold & Sandra Niessen on Moving Toward Defashion and Degrowth

The 13th episode was recorded remotely with Sandra Niessen, who is the first fashion scholar to point out the need for decolonizing fashion. She is an independent researcher, scholar, and organizer based in the Netherlands, and a member of the Research Collective for Decolonizing Fashion (RCDF) that was established in 2012 to disrupt persistent Eurocentric and ethnocentric underpinnings of dominant fashion discourse. I reached out to Sandra last fall, when I was organizing my workshops on decolonizing fashion studies and fashion history in Denmark and Germany, and I was happy to find out that Sandra is also a fellow Canadian. We have since began collaborating on several publications and expanding our networks. It has been a pleasure to get to know Sandra and her work, and I feel very honoured that she took the time to record this episode with me.

The 13th episode was recorded remotely with Sandra Niessen, who is the first fashion scholar to point out the need for decolonizing fashion. She is an independent researcher, scholar, and organizer based in the Netherlands, and a member of the <a href="https://rcdfashion.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Research Collective for Decolonizing Fashion</a> (RCDF) that was established in 2012 to disrupt persistent Eurocentric and ethnocentric underpinnings of dominant fashion discourse. I reached out to Sandra last fall, when I was organizing my workshops on decolonizing fashion studies and fashion history in Denmark and Germany, and I was happy to find out that Sandra is also a fellow Canadian. We have since began collaborating on several publications and expanding our networks. It has been a pleasure to get to know Sandra and her work, and I feel very honoured that she took the time to record this episode with me.

Episode 13 – Sandra Niessen on Decolonizing Fashion