III Curso de Verano Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa: Hacia una ética de la moda. Retos y avances

Fashion, as an active, heterogeneous and relational phenomenon, converges with society, culture and economy. Thus, it generates questions that can relate to its whole chain: design, production, commercialisation, communication, preservation. 

In recent years, and given the growing attention and analysis it receives from the academic and social sectors, added to the increasingly greater awareness and active role played by the consumer, the fashion industry has set about reviewing its policies on the working conditions of its workers, the sustainability of its production processes, the environment or animal rights. Similarly, the conceptual and expression vectors of fashion design are promoting a growing debate on the issues that the fashion system itself may reproduce, such as discrimination for reasons of gender or sexual orientation, race, body type, class or age, etc.

The course aims to provide an overall view on the encounters currently being developed by fashion towards ethics and its confluences with society and the environment. 

With the participation of three speakers recognised in their respective academic areas related to fashion, the course will set about providing a context for and analysing issues that can be related to the ethics of fashion in its aspects as material and cultural product. It will approach specialised perspectives, presenting specific actions and experiences which, in relation to ethical objectives, are being carried out in both the conceptual-creative scope of its design and the entrepreneurial sphere of fashion. The course will pay special attention to innovations and improvements being made both in the fashion value chain: sustainability, working conditions, respect for the environment and animal rights, etc., and in relation to the symbolic mediation of fashion in the construction of social, political and cultural identities.  

The course programme, running over a full day, will include three papers and a round-table with three prestigious experts: two international and one national. Overall, we will look at theoretical content, case studies and current, relevant experiences affecting the matters tackled by this initiative.   

The initiative is mainly intended for students and professionals from the areas of fashion, art and social sciences, and for all those interested in the subject.