Sara Idacavage

College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors

PhD Candidate & Graduate Assistant

Sara Idacavage is a fashion historian, educator, and archivist.

Education

Degree Field of Study Institution Graduation
Ph.D. Polymer, Fiber, and Textile Sciences (International Merchandising Emphasis) University of Georgia Expected: May 2024
M.A. Fashion Studies Parsons School of Design May 2014
B.S.F.C.S. Fashion Merchandising University of Georgia May 2009

Research

Both inside and outside of academia, my work focuses on finding ways to encourage sustainable thinking and inclusivity by encouraging people to reevaluate their relationships to clothing and consumerism.

My doctoral research explores how fashion education can be enhanced by using sustainability to frame historical inquiry, placing unsustainable ideas and practices in today’s fashion system within a broader historical context while encouraging a more interdisciplinary and problem-oriented approach to fashion history.

Teaching

Instructor of Record, The University of Georgia
Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Interiors
-    Fashion and Sustainability (Spring 2023)
-    Textiles for Consumers (Fall 2022)

Graduate Teaching Assistant, The University of Georgia
Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Interiors
-    Apparel Design Studio (Spring 2022)
-    Fundamentals of Fashion Merchandising (Fall 2021, Spring 2021)
-    Pop Culture and Fashion (Spring 2021)
-    Creativity and the Design Process (Fall 2020)

Part-Time Instructor, Parsons School of Design
School of Fashion; School of Art and Design History and Theory
-    Advanced Research Seminar: Fashion (Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016)
-    Materiality of Fashion (Fall 2019)
-    Fashion Techniques: Couture (Spring 2019, Fall 2018)
-    Fashion Textile Survey (Spring 2019, Fall 2018) 
-    Fashion Culture (Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2017)
-    Fashion History: Fusion (Spring 2018) 
-    Fashion History: Survey (Fall 2016)
-    Fashion History: Couture (Fall 2016)

Visiting Instructor, The Pratt Institute
History of Art and Design Department
-    Contemporary Fashion (Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2017)
-    History of Interior Design (Spring 2018)

Adjunct Instructor, Fashion Institute of Technology
History of Art Department
-    History of Western Costume (Fall 2019)

Teaching Assistant, Parsons School of Design
School of Art and Design History and Theory
-    History of Fashion (Fall 2017, Spring 2014, Fall 2013)

Prior Professional Positions

Organization Title Years of Service
Parsons School of Design Part-Time Faculty 2016-2020
Pratt Institute Part-Time Faculty 2017-2019
Fashion Institute of Technology Part-Time Faculty 2019
Parsons Fashion Study Collection Collections Management/Faculty Worker 2017-2019
Ralph Lauren Library Project Archivist 2016
The New School Archives & Special Collections Fashion Specialist 2014-2015

Awards

Award Name Awarded By Year Awarded
L. Frank and Georgia D. Rodgers Graduate Student Award FACS, UGA 2023
Campus Sustainability Grant UGA Office of Sustainability 2021
Sweaney Innovation Fund FACS, UGA 2021
Virginia Wilbanks Kilgore Scholarship FACS, UGA 2020
Outstanding Contribution to the MA Fashion Studies Program Parsons School of Design 2014
Virginia Wilbanks Kilgore Scholarship FACS, UGA 2008
Hope Scholarship UGA 2005-2009

Service

Organization Title Year(s) Service Type
International Textile and Apparel Association Committee Member, Curatorial Scholarship Review & Awards 2022 - present
International Textile and Apparel Association Member 2020 - present
Popular Culture Association Member 2019 - present
Costume Society of America Member 2018 - present
Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion Member 2023 - present
Costume Society of America Planning Committee, 46th Annual Meeting and Symposium 2019 - 2020

Outreach

Programming:

  • Fighting Systemic Racism, Classism, and Individualism in Sustainable Fashion Education (UGA Campus Sustainability Grant with Sha'Mira Covington)

Advising:

  • UGA's Fair Fashion Club

Advisory Committee

  • Dr. Katalin Medvedev (major advisor)
  • Dr. Patricia Hunt-Hurst (advisory committee member)
  • Dr. Elizabeth Adams St.Pierre (advisory committee member)
  • Dr. Kathryn Roulston (advisory committee member)

Areas of Expertise

Fashion history, fashion theory, museum studies, textile conservation, sustainability 

Journal Articles

Published:

Accepted:

  • Idacavage, S. (Accepted 2023). Book Review: Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment by Maxine Bédat. Winterthur Portfolio.
  • Sklar, M., Kirkland, A., Wiebers, L., Sauro, C., & Idacavage, S. (Accepted if revised, December 2022). “I’m Not Searching the Right Words”: User Experience Searching Historic Clothing Collection Websites.  The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum. Common Ground Publishing. 

Publications

Essays in Edited Volumes:

  • Idacavage, S., & Medvedev, K. (Accepted December 2022) “Social Justice as a Sustainability Issue.” In Blanco, J. (Ed.) The Meanings of Dress (Fourth edition). Fairchild Books, Inc.

Encyclopedia Entries:

  • Idacavage, S. (2021). New York fashion designers in the 1990s. In V. Steele (Ed.), Bloomsbury Fashion Video Archivehttps://www.bloomsburyfashionvideo.com
  • Idacavage, S. (2019). David Bowie’s influence on fashion. In J.B. Eicher & P.G. Tortora (Eds.), Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: Global Perspectives. Oxford: Berg. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781847888594.EDch101721
  • Idacavage, S. (2018). The development of fast fashion. In J.B. Eicher & P.G. Tortora (Eds.), Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: Global Perspectives. Oxford: Berg. http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/BEWDF/EDch101421
  • Idacavage, S. (2018). Copying French couture for American consumers. In P.G. Tortora (Ed.), Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: The United States and Canada. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic. http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/BEWDF/EDch031420
  • Idacavage, S. (2016). Glam rock. In J.F. Blanco, M.D. Doering, P. Hunt-Hurst, & H.V. Lee (Eds.), Clothing and fashion: American fashion from head to toe. ABC-CLIO. ISBN : 9781610693097

Thesis:

  • Idacavage, S. (2014). "A Taste for Caviar": National identity ambivalence in American fashion between 1930-1960. (Master's thesis, available upon request). Parsons School of Design, New York, NY.

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