Layout design: @Felix_Godefroy

Welcome to the public defense of SLARG researcher Pierre-Antoine Vettorello (ARIA, The University of Antwerp, and Sint Lucas School of Arts Antwerp).

Black Yarns: Fashion and African Women's Resistance in the Parisian Afropea (1939–1966)

How did Black African women in mid-20th-century Paris use dress as a language of self-fashioning, belonging, and resistance?

This artistic research examines the fashion practices, material cultures, and archival presence of Black African women living in Paris between 1939 and 1966. Combining fashion studies, Black studies, diaspora studies, and museum ethnography, the project uses photographs, family archives, textile practices, and garment reconstruction to engage with archival absence and rethink how fashion histories are preserved and exhibited.

Event details

• Date: Monday, 26 October 2026.

• Venue: Horloge du Sud (1st floor), Rue du Trône 141, 1050 Brussels.

• Schedule:

  • 12:00 – 14:00: Public viewing of the archive.
  • 14:00 – 16:00: Defense.
  • 16:00 – 17:00: Deliberation.
  • 17:00 – 18:00: Reception.

Promotors & Doctoral Committee

• Promotors: Dr. Kim Gorus (Sint Lucas Antwerpen) & Prof. Dr. Diana Arbaiza (University of Antwerp).
• External Committee Member: Fatima Fall Niang (CRDS Saint-Louis, Université Gaston Berger, Senegal).
• Chair: Prof. Dr. Henk de Smaele (University of Antwerp).
• External Jury Members: Romeo Mivekannin (Artist), Prof. Dr. Mame-Fatou Niang (Carnegie Mellon Univ.), Prof. Dr. Julia Binter (Univ. of Bonn).

This event is also part of the Research Week '26. More about this here