Fashion in SciFi and Feminist Afrofuturism

Presented by Nya Gagakuma and Theodore Longlois

Time: 1:30 PM- 2:30 PM

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Description: This panel featured presentations from two Jefferson State students.

Nya Gagakuma's talk was titled "Science Fiction: Its Impact on the Fashion Industry." During the presentation, Gagakuma discussed the influence of Science Fiction through different designers in runway fashion. She began her presentation with discussing different aspects of science fiction like: dragons, aliens, and robots. She also discussed how many of the different designers are influenced by iconic Sci-Fi films throughout the years. The designers that are influenced by film, often use these films as references and inspiration for their designs that are showcased all throughout Paris and New York Fashion Week. She closed out her presentation with how she was recently influenced to use science fiction in a piece that she created with a small brand out of Los Angeles. 

Theodore Longlois's talk was titled "The Dystopian Sublime: An Exploration of Racial Justice, Spirituality, and Disability in Feminist Afrofuturistic Literature." Longlois explored how Pet by Akwaeke Emezi, The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, and Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon use futuristic and dystopian elements to explore themes of racial justice, religion, disability, feminism, and queer identity. While Pet uses an angel straight out of the Hebrew Bible to restore justice, albeit in a terrifying sense, Sorrowland portrays religion as an oppressive force meant to indoctrinate, and The Parable of the Sower sees spirituality as a malleable neutral entity. Although each novel takes a different stance on the salvageability of the world, their remarkable approaches to gender and disability bear a striking similarity worth exploring. Longlois analyzed how identity shapes each novel’s vision of the future and what lessons we can apply to our present.

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