Erica de Greef

I developed a critical field of fashion research and fashion theory in the context of higher education, and continue this interest within broader socio-cultural and multi-disciplinary modes in a series of research projects at theyellowtreeorg, interrogating curricula design, and facilitating design thinking debate and development. I lectured at LISOF for fourteen years, with two years as Head of Department (overseeing a number of courses that included Fashion Theory, Trend Analysis, Fashion Media, and others). There, I strived to promote critical fashion knowledge with a strong local content, enabling the development of projects of research and display that engaged with notions of fashion, history, society and identity. After successfully completing a Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Witwatersrand (2011), I completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Higher Education at the University of Cape Town (2013), both with distinction. I contributed to the successful execution of a South African fashion conference (WhatWearWhen, 2012), accomplished a number of curatorial projects (Afronova Gallery 2011; Museum Africa 2008–2011), published various fashion research articles (‘The Fashion Fusion Project: Forgetting & Remembering’, 9 Takes, 2009; ‘The Hybrid Tiger Of South African Fashion’, Africa E Meditteraneo: Journal Of Culture, Issue 69-70, May 2010; iFashion: News & Reports, 2006 – 2010), as well as initiating a number of community projects (Suss’t 2009 & 2010; uKuswenka, 2011 & 2012; The Up-Cycle Project, 2012). I am currently working with various partners in the World Design Capital 2014 programme as guest curator and educational development consultant (The Water Cathedral, Design Storming, Workshop17, and the City of Cape Town), and continue with research for and contributions to theyellowtreeorg. I hope to pursue these interdisciplinary interests in a PhD, at the Centre for African Studies, and the Archive & Public Culture research initiative. Research suggestions point to a conjuncture of how absences in local museum fashion/dress collections and critiques could be redressed through the visual-digital turn (the fashion film and new electronic media) in contemporary curation. 
Twitter: @yellowtreeorg