Pedagogy

Since 2019, Rachel has been teaching undergraduate courses about fashion.

The majority of the students she has taught are not “fashion students.”

Rachel’s courses dismantle Eurocentric views of fashion. Her approach understands that contemporary clothing production and consumption has been shaped by patterns of colonialism.

student appreciation

  • Emily P.

    Thank you so much for a fantastic semester of Sustainable Fashion! I was so excited to take this class at the start of the semester and I am thoroughly satisfied with what I had learned and have gotten from this course with you. Thank you for all your kindness, guidance, and fun-spirit!

  • Caroline K.

    I enjoyed learning in your class, and I admire your teaching style. As a student, I really appreciated your willingness to be flexible and work with my learning style. You made me enjoy learning and helped me grow as a student.

  • Cate S.

    I feel so grateful that I got to be in two of your courses this semester and feel I gained a lot from them both. Thank you for making these classes so engaging and for being such an easy person to talk to. You created such a fun and comfortable environment in your class, and I know we all greatly appreciated it.

  • Tayla G.

    Not only did I learn a lot, but I really enjoyed both classes I took with you. I especially appreciated the optional materials you provided in the fashion class. I listened to the BOF podcast you sent out last week, and it was really encouraging to hear about another art history major's success in the fashion industry.

  • Hanna B.

    I’m grateful that I was able to take most of the classes you’ve taught here because I felt that I’ve learned so much about the fashion industry and just fashion as a whole. Your classes have made me hopeful about a career in fashion!

  • Emma L.

    Thank you for all the comments you have left throughout the semester. They were very encouraging and helped me seek out different pieces for the object studies. Your comments also helped me in writing for another course I took this semester.

Sustainable Fashion

Chapman University, Center for Creative and Cultural Industries

Course Description: This course will study sustainable fashion through a holistic approach that considers the past, present, and future of clothing consumption. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions and 20% of global wastewater. We will explore how designers, organizations, and movements are responding to issues of worker exploitation and environmental pollution. We will examine methods of sustainable production, the role of policy in the fight for change, and the discourse surrounding “sustainability” in the fashion industry. We will explore how the current fashion system was shaped by the radical transformation of clothing consumption in the twentieth century and how innovations in the twenty-first century are leading towards a sustainable future.

Introduction to Creative and Cultural Industries

Chapman University, Center for Creative and Cultural Industries

Course Description: This introductory course outlines the core debates in 21st century related to culture, media and creative industries as they inform our ideas and relationships regarding identity and technology. Students are introduced to the foundational methods of media and cultural analysis and critical inquiry.

Fashion: Culture & Industry

Chapman University, Center for Creative and Cultural Industries

ArtCenter College of Design

Course Description: This course provides a review of fashion as a cultural industry, examining the production systems and commercial institutions that comprise the contemporary global fashion industry. Students will learn about fashion through scholarly writing, magazine articles, podcasts and documentaries. This course aims to introduce students to different perspectives on fashion, from a wide scope of media sources. Students will work on a research project analyzing a particular aspect of fashion, synthesizing primary sources and scholarly perspectives. The topic of the research project should be the choice of the student and should focus on examining an existing component of the fashion system - a person, form of fashion media, institution, company, or practice.  

Performing Style and Identity

Chapman University, Center for Creative and Cultural Industries

Course Description: This course explores the performance of identity through dress within a contemporary global context and in relation to gender, race, and class. How can practices of dress embody critical thought and ideas? The class examines the relationship of style and identity through the following units: Contextualizing Dress as Embodied Practice, Fashioning Identity, Style as Resistance, and Performing Style and Identity in Critical Practice. Students will examine their own personal dress narratives and will analyze the work of a contemporary artist who incorporates identity as a key part of their work.

Body, Appearance and Adornment

California State University, Los Angeles

Course Description: Modern to contemporary exploration of humanities performative expression of body, dress, and adornment through the lens of race, gender expression, identity politics, and economics. This course explores the performance of identity through dress within a contemporary global context and in relation to gender, race, and class. How can practices of dress embody critical thought and ideas? The class examines the relationship of style and identity through the following units: Contextualizing Dress as Embodied Practice, Fashioning Identity, Style as Resistance, and Performing Style and Identity in Critical Practice. Students will examine their own personal dress narratives and will analyze the work of a contemporary artist who incorporates identity as a key part of their work.

Historic Survey of Fashion, Fiber and Materials

California State University, Los Angeles

Course Description: An interdisciplinary pre­modern history course exploring fashion, fiber, textiles, crafts and related art and design movements.

classroom activities

  • DTLA Garment District Tour

    Garment Worker Center Visit

    Sustainable Fashion

    Students went on a guided tour of the Los Angeles Fashion District after watching a presentation at the Garment Worker Center.

  • “Raíces de Moda” by Vastie Castellanos

    Family Threads Collage

    Body, Appearance and Adornment

    In this project, students explore the relationship between dress, context and identity by researching their own personal dress narratives. Each collage includes at least one family photo and an object that they feel is associated with their identity.

  • Lecture by Dr. Minjee Kim

    Reinterpreting Traditional Korean Dress

    Performing Style and Identity

    Dr. Kim visited class to present about the evolution of hanbok style. This lecture was a part of Unit 2: Fashioning Identity.

  • Visit from Aza Ziegler, Designer of Calle Del Mar

    Exploring Contemporary Knitwear

    Fashion: Culture & Industry

    Aza’s visit was a guest for “Material of Fashion,” a week that provides an overview of textiles, fabrics, fibers, and the fashion design process