An interview with Regina Root

Abstract

Regina A. Root ([email protected]) is Professor of Hispanic Studies at William & Mary, the historic university in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is an international expert known for her work on fashion, textiles, and Latin American cultural production. Her award-winning work has been touted by reviewers as pioneering in the area of Latin American material culture: The Latin American Fashion Reader was the first book to take a broad look at the influence of Latin American culture on global fashion trends. Her book Couture and Consensus: Fashion and Political Culture in Postcolonial Argentina has been revised and translated into Spanish as Vestir la nación. The Handbook of Fashion Studies, co-edited and co-authored with other international experts, presents an overview of the field’s history, methodologies, and current debates. Root’s work on sustainable design practices and global innovations in the industry continues to open new areas of research. She has edited and co-edited special issues of Fashion Theory on Ecofashion, Latin American Fashion Now and Brazilian Fashion and volumes like Pasado de Moda: Expresión cultural y consumo en la Argentina. In recent years, she has been working on a tapestry project and teaching in the areas of cultural heritage and policy. She is particularly fond of teaching about the nineteenth century, a foundational moment in Latin American cultural history. In the interview, Regina Root talks about her academic trajectory and researches; the geography of fashion and dress studies; the relation between fashion and politics, among other themes.