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SUMMARY:Call for Papers: Fashion Highlight Journal No. 8: DIGITAL DESIGN & 
 BEYOND: RETHINKING CRITICAL DIGITAL FASHION TRAJECTORIES
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260531
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260531
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260223T172009
UID:699c8c4996385f05db472838
DESCRIPTION:Journal website and call download: 
 https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/fh/announcement/view/90 Call for 
 papers Over the past decade\, and with heightened urgency in the post-
 Covid period\, fashion has undergone a profound digital realignment. No 
 longer confined to discrete tools or isolated innovations\, digitalisation
  has become a structuring condition of contemporary fashion practice. From
  3D modeling suites and configurators to generative AI for modeling and 
 product development\, digital twins of avatars and garments for production
  and archival purposes\, virtual showrooms\, digital fashion for gaming\, 
 and platform-based retail infrastructures\, digital technologies mediate 
 the conception\, production\, circulation\, and experience of garments. 
 What has emerged is not simply a new aesthetic\, but a reconfiguration of 
 fashion as a socio-technical approach\, wherein creativity\, labor\, 
 identity\, and value are increasingly negotiated through technological 
 software and infrastructures. Scholars in design research\, fashion\, 
 media\, science and technology studies have begun tracing this shift. Yet 
 much discourse remains polarised between celebratory narratives of 
 innovation and skeptical accounts concerned with authenticity\, labor 
 displacement\, and ecological costs. These tensions reveal a deeper need 
 for critical frameworks that can situate digital fashion within broader 
 transformations of cultural values\, product development\, integrated 
 platforms\, and materiality. Digital fashion design is neither immaterial 
 nor frictionless\; rather\, it is embedded in networks of data extraction 
 and manipulation\, cloud computing\, algorithmic governance\, and global 
 supply chains. To address these complexities\, this special issue 
 introduces a conceptual model of three interrelated trajectories of 
 digitalisation: Partial digitalisation encompasses digitally assisted 
 processes that augment but do not fundamentally disrupt established design
  and production workflows. Hybrid digitalisation refers to the 
 entanglement of physical and virtual systems\, where garments\, bodies\, 
 and narratives circulate fluidly between material and computational 
 domains. Full digitalisation describes practices in which the fashion 
 object becomes entirely virtual\, enabling new economies of value\, 
 identity\, and representation yet also distancing fashion from its 
 material roots. These trajectories are not linear stages but overlapping 
 modes of how digital systems reorganize agency: human (fashion designers 
 and operators) and nonhuman actors (software\, algorithms\, and 
 platforms). They also foreground the unevenness of digital adoption across
  global contexts and the differential vulnerabilities that arise from 
 technological dependency\, skill hierarchies\, and opaque proprietary 
 infrastructures. Crucially\, digital fashion compels us to rethink 
 foundational categories within fashion studies: What does materiality mean
  when fabrics are simulated? What happens to handcraftsmanship when humans
  collaborate with automated machines? What constitutes authorship when 
 apparel designs are co-generated by AI or crowdsourced by platform 
 communities? How should sustainability be evaluated when the environmental
  footprint shifts from textiles to data centers? These questions signal a 
 broader epistemic shift in how fashion is defined\, practiced\, and 
 governed. SUBTOPICS 1. Digital fashion&rsquo\;s impact on design\, 
 production\, and communication processes How is digitalisation reshaping 
 the core processes of fashion practice\, and what new dependencies and 
 vulnerabilities emerge as creative work becomes increasingly mediated by 
 computational and automated tools? We welcome contributions to 
 digitalisation workflows&rsquo\; new efficiencies\, creative limitations\,
  and skill erosion. Topics may include: -3D modeling and generative AI for
  garment digital twins&rsquo\; development -Digital prototyping and 
 sampling tactile and craft-based skills -Virtual visualisation tools 
 shaping marketing\, retail\, and consumer perception -Proprietary 
 platforms access and creative autonomy 2. Pedagogies of digital fashion 
 for virtual\, AI-aided\, and hybrid practices How is evolving fashion 
 education integrating virtual\, AI-aided\, and hybrid design practices in 
 garment prototyping? We invite contributions related to digital and hybrid
  didactic practices and results\, new curricula models and educational 
 experiences. Topics may include: -Virtual garment creation through 
 generative AI-driven modeling -Digital literacy about algorithmic bias\, 
 and assessment of sustainability impact\, data governance\, and rapid 
 obsolescence of tools. -Comparison of craft-based\, computational\, and 
 hybrid prototyping practices. -Access to and adoption of digital resources
  for extended participation in emerging new creative practices. 3. Mass 
 fashion personalisation and designer-consumer co-creation What are the 
 design pathways and skills necessary for parametric custom-apparel design?
  What possibilities and threats emerge when consumers become co-designers?
  We welcome research on parametric custom design\, customisation 
 platforms\, real-time personalisation\, and co-creative models that 
 challenge traditional roles in fashion design and production. Topics may 
 include: -Body data-driven garment pattern design and construction -User 
 interface and UX design of digital and virtual fashion co-creation 
 platforms -Garment customisation and implications for supply chains -Open-
 source design processes and collaborative digital making\, creative 
 authorship in consumer-influenced or -AI generated design 4. Design 
 labor\, professional identity\, and ethics in platformised digital fashion
  practices As digital fashion becomes increasingly shaped by platform 
 economies\, automation and decentralised systems\, the role and identity 
 of fashion designer is under scrutiny. How are platform-based work\, 
 algorithmic visibility\, and working with emerging technologies redefining
  the creative labor\, professional authorship and ethical responsibilities
  in design and product development\, as well as the identity of the 
 fashion designer as a professional? We invite contributions that 
 critically examine the structural\, cultural\, and economic implications 
 of working within digital fashion platforms\, including issues of 
 recognition\, intellectual property\, labor rights\, and data ethics. 
 Topics may include: -Labor ethics\, algorithmic visibility and creative 
 autonomy in platform-based digital fashion gig economies -Creative 
 authorship\, IP justice\, recognition\, and ownership in decentralised 
 design ecosystems -New creative identities\, cultural responsibility and 
 power structures in global virtual fashion environments -Data governance\,
  design accountability\, and ethical use of AI in design and fitting 
 practices 5. Sustainability\, transparency\, and the hidden materialities 
 of digital fashion Although digital fashion appears immaterial\, its 
 infrastructure has real environmental costs\, such as energy use\, 
 hardware dependency\, and digital waste. How can designers engage with 
 these issues in sustainable product development? Topics may include: 
 -Energy and resource use in 3D rendering and digital asset creation 
 -Hardware lifecycles\, e-waste and overflow in digital fashion production 
 -Transparency and traceability in digital design systems -Critical 
 perspectives on the &ldquo\;immaterial&rdquo\; narrative of digital 
 fashion 6. Designing for digital bodies and identity in virtual and hybrid
  environments How do digital bodies\, avatars\, and virtual fittings 
 reshape fashion design practices and the way designers engage with 
 embodiment\, identity\, and representation? This theme invites research 
 that explores the embodied nature of digital fashion design&mdash\;both 
 from the perspective of the designer&rsquo\;s own bodily experience and in
  the creation of inclusive\, expressive virtual garments for diverse 
 digital bodies. Topics may include: -Embodied dimensions of digital 
 design: how designers use their own bodies in virtual garment creation 
 -Digital fitting technologies and their implications for design decision-
 making -Designing for body diversity\, inclusion\, identity expression\, 
 and gender performance in avatar-based fashion -Virtual garments and 
 bodily presence in gaming\, XR\, and metaverse contexts Instruction for 
 the authors We welcome full papers in English with a range length of 
 4000-6000 words\, footnotes and bibliographical references excluded. It is
  highly recommended to use the template and APA STYLE as a formatting 
 guideline. We also welcome the following formats: Book\, digital games and
  digital exhibition reviews with a range length of 1500-2500 words. Case 
 studies and digital fashion projects with a range length of 1500-2500 
 words. These contributions should include a visual / digital abstract in 
 the format of video that showcases the projects. The deadline for 
 submitting the proposals (saved in .doc or .docx format) via the platform 
 is 31 May 2026. Issue 8 will be published in 2026. 
LOCATION:
PRIORITY:5
URL:https://www.designresearchsociety.org:443/events/call-for-papers-
 fashion-highlight-journal-no-8-digital-design-beyond-rethinking-critical-
 digital-fashion-trajectories
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