“The fashion industry has been exploiting humans, animals and the planet for decades,” Bruggeman explains. “The current industrial fashion system is linked to socio-cultural and political power systems, such as capitalism, neoliberalism and neocolonialism.” The researcher explores the relationship between these systems from a cultural theoretical perspective.
In addition, Bruggeman is studying the emergence of a new critical fashion discourse, in which alternatives are being developed for more sustainable and ethical practices for the making and wearing of clothing. “How can we use fashion, as a cultural phenomenon and embodied practice, as a means of learning how to treat people in precarious positions, other living beings and nature with greater respect? How can we move beyond the culture of ultra-fast fashion, mass consumption and production and a disposable mindset? To answer these kinds of questions, I want to understand more about the cultural change needed for a new, more sustainable system.”
Bruggeman was appointed as part of an exchange programme on sustainability between ArtEZ University of the Arts and Radboud University. In this programme, both partners aim to create connections between art and science. “I look forward to bringing art and science and practice and theory closer together,” says the cultural theorist. “In this way, I am honoured to be able to build on the work of emeritus professor Anneke Smelik.”
About Daniëlle Bruggeman
Daniëlle Bruggeman (Ede, 1985) studied Arts and Culture Studies at Radboud University. She obtained her PhD – also in Nijmegen – in 2014 for her thesis entitled More Than Meets the Eye: Dutch Fashion, Identity and New Materialism, on the relationship between fashion and identity. Bruggeman then worked as a lecturer and researcher, including at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Since 2017, Bruggeman has been a Professor of Fashion at ArtEZ University of the Arts, where she leads the fashion research programme and teaches within the Master's degree programme on Critical Fashion Practices.