How can we build a more connected and sustainable future for fashion, costume, and textile heritage?

On 11–12 December 2025, the European Fashion Heritage Association (EFHA), in collaboration with the Château de Versailles and The New School Parsons Paris, will host Weaving Connections, a two-day international symposium dedicated to strengthening networks across the global landscape of fashion and textile heritage.
Taking place first at Versailles - a historic cradle of sartorial innovation - and then at Parsons Paris, the symposium will create a space for exchange, reflection, and future-facing collaboration.

Fashion, costume, and textile heritage are not merely collections of objects. They are vessels of memory, identity, and cultural imagination. Yet too often their caretakers - curators, conservators, scholars, archivists, collectors, educators, makers - work in isolation, separated by institutional boundaries, disciplinary divides, or geographic distance.

Weaving Connections responds to this fragmentation by offering a forum where professionals, research groups, museums, archives, conservation studios, digital platforms, and community-led initiatives can come together to share methodologies, address shared challenges, and imagine new modes of working across institutional and national borders.
Versailles offers more than a symbolic backdrop: as a site that shaped European aesthetics and luxury industries from the seventeenth century onward, it provides a historically rich setting for rethinking the cultural and political stakes of costume and textile preservation today. Parsons extends this dialogue into an academic and educational context, emphasising research, outreach, and collaborative pedagogy. This joint initiative marks a significant step toward building more connected, inclusive, and sustainable models of global cooperation in the field.

Day 1 – Château de Versailles
The first day will focus on museums and specialist networks. Participants will hear from international associations, collectives, and heritage organisations dedicated to fashion, dress, costume, jewellery, and textiles. Presentations will highlight how professional networks support research, conservation, and interpretation, while also addressing challenges of sustainability, visibility, and collaboration across different traditions and geographies. Versailles, as a historic epicentre of sartorial culture and luxury industries, offers a powerful setting for reflecting on the enduring cultural and political stakes of fashion and textile heritage.

Day 2 – Parsons Paris
The second day will shift towards education, research, and outreach networks. Sessions will bring together academic projects, research initiatives, and digital platforms that expand the understanding and accessibility of fashion and textile heritage. Topics will include decolonial approaches, innovative pedagogies, critical writing, collaborations with makers, and the role of digital tools in creating “living archives.” Parsons Paris will frame these discussions in an educational context, emphasising the need to connect heritage to teaching, creative practice, and public engagement.

Day 1 – Versailles

Focus: Museums, professional networks, craft, dress, costume, jewellery, and textile heritage

10:00–10:30 Registration & Welcome

10:30–11:00 EFHA Welcome & Overview: Building International Connections in Fashion and Textile Heritage

11:00–11:15 ICOM Costume – Corinne Thépaut Cabasset
11:15–11:30 CIETA – Centre International d’Étude des Textiles Anciens – Pascale Gorguet-Ballesteros

11:30–12:00 Coffee Break

12:00–12:15 DATS – Dress and Textile Specialists – Connie Karol Burks
12:15–12:30 Red Modalia: Heritage Connection of Argentine Clothing and Textiles and Other Network Projects from the Museum of Costume History – Vicky Salias
12:30–12:45 Asia Fashion Heritage Association – Mo Shi
12:45–13:00 Stitching Together Irish Dress History – Laura Fitzachary

13:00–14:00 Lunch

14:00–14:15 Hellenic Costume Society - Meti Tsoukatou
14:15–14:30 Sieradenmuze – Anne-Karlijn van Kesteren
14:30–14:45 Society of Jewellery Historians – Judy Rudoe
14:45–15:00 Costume Society - Vanessa Jones
15:00–15:15 LVMH archive network - name TBC

15:15–15:45 Coffee Break

15:45–16:45 Panel Discussion: Strengthening Networks Across Museums and Heritage Institutions
Moderated discussion and Q&A

16:45–17:00 Closing Remarks – Day 1

Day 2 – Parsons Paris

Focus: Education, research, outreach, collaborative projects

10:00–10:15 EFHA + Parsons Paris Welcome & Overview: Advancing Education, Research, and Public Engagement in Fashion Heritage

10:15–10:30 Connecting Costume Histories: Bringing Makers into Dialogue with Researchers (AHRC project) – Jade Halbert and Veronica Isaac
10:30–10:45 Fashion in Action (Bloomsbury Research Group) – Hazel Clark, Regina A. Root, Marco Pecorari, Benjamin Wild, Nick Rees-Roberts, Simona Segre-Reinach
10:45–11:00 RISD – From Museum Archives to Living Traditions: Artisan Collaboration & Digital Textile Heritage – Joy Ko, Sheela and Rajeev Lunkad, Sonal Chitranshi, Judy Frater, Louise Melin
11:00–11:15 Archive-Based Doing Fashion Education – Priska Morger, Eva Katherina Bühler, Jörg Wiesel
11:15–11:30 African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI, South Africa) – Lesiba Mabitsela

11:30–12:00 Coffee Break

12:00–12:15 Chanakya School of Craft (India) – Karishma Swali
12:15–12:30 Fashion Race Database – Kimberly M. Jenkins
12:30–12:45 Cultures de Mode – Sophie Kurkdjian
12:45–13:00 Revers - Belgian Fashion Research Network – Maud Bass-Krueger
13.00–13:15 Research Collective for Decoloniality & Fashion – Angela Janssen

13:15–14:15 Lunch

14:15–15:00 Roundtable: Connecting Education, Research, and Outreach
Moderated discussion and Q&A

15:00–15:15 Closing Remarks & Future Directions