Alison Matthews David

Associate Professor in the School of Fashion and Graduate Program Director of the MA Fashion program, Ryerson University. She was awarded a doctorate from Stanford University and has published in journals such as Victorian Studies, Fashion Theory, and Textile. Her most recent research project, Fashion Victims, looked at how clothing physically harmed the health of its makers and wearers by transmitting contagious disease, leaching chemical toxins, and causing accidents, including entanglement and fire. The book Fashion Victims was published by Bloomsbury in 2015 and took the form of a major, co-curated exhibition at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto (June 2014 — January 2018). That research led her to continue her literal historical sleuthing and her current project investigates the history of clothing and crime. She is also co-editing Fashion Studies, a new voice in the field. It is a peer-reviewed, open access journal hosting creative and written work that launched in May 2017.