Alessandra B . Lopez y Royo
*** Please follow me on Substack, see link below. You will find my current writing there ***
I am a 'model-who-writes' and a fashion activist, you can follow me on Twitter/X, and Instagram @alexb244 (same handle). I was a Research Associate of the School of Arts, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London until July 2018. Previously, I was a full time academic, holding a position as a Reader in Visual Culture and Dance Performance at the University of Roehampton until 2013, when I formally retired and went freelance. In early 2015 I joined the Critical Institute as a Research Associate.
My original research area was Asian Studies, inclusive of visual arts and performance practices, and with a focus on South and Southeast Asia but over the years I developed other interests, encompassing media and film, reflected in my writing and research output.
Following a short-lived involvement in dance/movement psychotherapy I became interested in fashion, at first from a psychoanalytic angle, through my attending lectures and seminars at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research and the London Society of the New Lacanian School, and then from the point of view of positive psychology and its application to fashion, as pioneered by Professor Carolyn Mair at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts.
I have worked in fashion, using a different name (Alex Bruni, sometimes shortened to Alex B.). I have been modelling for several years, something that began quite accidentally while I was still teaching and leading me to perform a careful balancing act with my career as an academic. I am agency-represented and have modelled internationally.
With my profile as an older, silver-haired model, my love for fashion and my academic background, I have been gravitating, research-wise, towards ageing, women's studies and fashion studies. I have contributed to this growing research area, looking more specifically at fashion developments in Asia then moving on to considering fashion sustainability, issues of migration and the economy of solidarity.
Throughout the autumn/winter of 2015, I was in residence at École française d' Extrême Orient (EFEO) Jakarta, Indonesia, doing research on fashion and its impact on Indonesian women, following the award of a research fellowship by BA/ASEASUK/ECAF. A book on contemporary Indonesian fashion based on my fieldwork research was published by Bloomsbury in October 2019 as part of the series 'Dress and Fashion Research' edited by Joanne Eicher, now also available in paperback.
I have now come full circle and have completed a second book, also for Bloomsbury, out in summer 2024, looking at fashion, migrants and 'social integration' and examining a series of case studies in the UK, Southern Italy and Morocco. In connection with this book project, for which I was recipient of a Society of Authors award in 2023, I was hosted from November to December 2022 by Stanford University, California, as a Visiting Academic, as part of their academic hospitality programme at Ng Humanities House.
I am currently writing fiction, using the name Alex LR and have had a couple of stories published in IMPSPIRED literary magazine, in print and online.
(Note: at the start of my academic career I published using my former husband's surname, reverting to my own surname(s) some years later. Also, I no longer do any research on dance, of any form and style, so I cannot advise on such matters. Nor can I supply old papers: a massive clear-out of my study gave me peace of mind and freed up much-needed physical space. I have adopted the Marie Kondo method - if it does not give you pleasure, get rid of it, a maxim I now live by).
I am a 'model-who-writes' and a fashion activist, you can follow me on Twitter/X, and Instagram @alexb244 (same handle). I was a Research Associate of the School of Arts, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London until July 2018. Previously, I was a full time academic, holding a position as a Reader in Visual Culture and Dance Performance at the University of Roehampton until 2013, when I formally retired and went freelance. In early 2015 I joined the Critical Institute as a Research Associate.
My original research area was Asian Studies, inclusive of visual arts and performance practices, and with a focus on South and Southeast Asia but over the years I developed other interests, encompassing media and film, reflected in my writing and research output.
Following a short-lived involvement in dance/movement psychotherapy I became interested in fashion, at first from a psychoanalytic angle, through my attending lectures and seminars at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research and the London Society of the New Lacanian School, and then from the point of view of positive psychology and its application to fashion, as pioneered by Professor Carolyn Mair at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts.
I have worked in fashion, using a different name (Alex Bruni, sometimes shortened to Alex B.). I have been modelling for several years, something that began quite accidentally while I was still teaching and leading me to perform a careful balancing act with my career as an academic. I am agency-represented and have modelled internationally.
With my profile as an older, silver-haired model, my love for fashion and my academic background, I have been gravitating, research-wise, towards ageing, women's studies and fashion studies. I have contributed to this growing research area, looking more specifically at fashion developments in Asia then moving on to considering fashion sustainability, issues of migration and the economy of solidarity.
Throughout the autumn/winter of 2015, I was in residence at École française d' Extrême Orient (EFEO) Jakarta, Indonesia, doing research on fashion and its impact on Indonesian women, following the award of a research fellowship by BA/ASEASUK/ECAF. A book on contemporary Indonesian fashion based on my fieldwork research was published by Bloomsbury in October 2019 as part of the series 'Dress and Fashion Research' edited by Joanne Eicher, now also available in paperback.
I have now come full circle and have completed a second book, also for Bloomsbury, out in summer 2024, looking at fashion, migrants and 'social integration' and examining a series of case studies in the UK, Southern Italy and Morocco. In connection with this book project, for which I was recipient of a Society of Authors award in 2023, I was hosted from November to December 2022 by Stanford University, California, as a Visiting Academic, as part of their academic hospitality programme at Ng Humanities House.
I am currently writing fiction, using the name Alex LR and have had a couple of stories published in IMPSPIRED literary magazine, in print and online.
(Note: at the start of my academic career I published using my former husband's surname, reverting to my own surname(s) some years later. Also, I no longer do any research on dance, of any form and style, so I cannot advise on such matters. Nor can I supply old papers: a massive clear-out of my study gave me peace of mind and freed up much-needed physical space. I have adopted the Marie Kondo method - if it does not give you pleasure, get rid of it, a maxim I now live by).
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Articles by Alessandra B . Lopez y Royo
Fashion, styling and the everyday.
Published under my other name, Alex Bruni
http://vestoj.com/drop-it-low/
Short papers by Alessandra B . Lopez y Royo
Books by Alessandra B . Lopez y Royo
On encountering several ateliers solidaires/sartorie sociali during her immersive fieldwork, for which she travelled to Morocco and Southern Italy, and contrasting her findings with her knowledge of parallel and analogous initiatives in London, Alessandra Lopez y Royo suggests that despite their different outlook and approach these ateliers can be inscribed within an ever-growing economy of solidarity and sharing.
With a uniquely combined focus on sustainability, fashion and migration, Lopez y Royo examines how the ateliers foreground a powerful social inclusion agenda, encouraging migrants (and refugees) to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and foster communities on a level playing field with locals.
Questioning widely accepted notions of 'empowerment' and 'social integration', and drawing on her background in archaeology and material culture studies, Lopez y Royo uses micro-studies to illuminate a broader path to a more inclusive, sustainable, and socially conscious industry, presenting a fresh perspective on repurposing and upcycling.
In a world grappling with the need to shift away from fast fashion's wasteful practices, this thought-provoking exploration shows how slow-growth 'solidarity ateliers' can challenge the widely accepted notions of both 'fashion' and 'social integration'.
see https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sustainable-fashion-migrants-embroidery-9781350284098/
From the back cover:
"Indonesian fashion has undergone a period of rapid growth over the last three decades. This book explores how through years of social, political, and cultural upheaval, the country’s fashion has moved away from “colonial fashion” and “national dress” to claim its own distinct identity as contemporary fashion in a global world.
With specific reference to women’s wear, Contemporary Indonesian Fashion explores the diversity and complexity of the country’s sartorial offerings, which weave together local textile traditions like batik and ikat- making with contemporary narratives. The book questions concepts of “tradition” and “modernity” in the developing world, taking stock of the elite consumption of luxury brands and the large-scale manufacturing of fast fashion, and introduces us to the rise of new trends such as 'busana muslim' (or “modest wear”), creating a portrait of a vibrant and growing national and, increasingly, international, industry.
Exploring clothing in shopping malls, on the catwalk, in magazines, and online, the book examines how Indonesian fashion is made, presented, and consumed, combining research in Indonesia with analysis and personal reflection. Contemporary Indonesian Fashion ultimately questions the deeply entrenched eurocentrism of ‘global fashion’, simultaneously interrogating current homogenizing beauty and body image discourses posited as universal, pointing to absences, silences and erasures as reflected by contemporary Indonesian fashion – hence the ‘looking glass’ of the title.
Aptly illustrated, the book offers a new perspective on a rapidly developing new fashion capital, Jakarta."
See the review by Carla Jones Archipel 99, 2020 and also by Alexandra Crosby in Fashion Theory, 24,6, 2020 in the relevant section "Reviews of own work"
I have also uploaded a .pdf of the book which can be viewed with your browser to navigate the links.
This was never meant to be a print book, I chose to publish it as an online resource because of the videos and links. However, it can be rather difficult when websites are closed down, so I am glad there is a .pdf record of it
(added 29/05/2017)
I wrote a new introduction in 2005 which I am uploading here. See also https://web.archive.org/web/20101210164232/http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/50/55
and the dedicated website https://web.archive.org/web/20150921232433/http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/Prambanan/11
Book chapters by Alessandra B . Lopez y Royo
The book is THE ART OF INDONESIA edited by Bachchan Kumar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi 2014
Fashion, styling and the everyday.
Published under my other name, Alex Bruni
http://vestoj.com/drop-it-low/
On encountering several ateliers solidaires/sartorie sociali during her immersive fieldwork, for which she travelled to Morocco and Southern Italy, and contrasting her findings with her knowledge of parallel and analogous initiatives in London, Alessandra Lopez y Royo suggests that despite their different outlook and approach these ateliers can be inscribed within an ever-growing economy of solidarity and sharing.
With a uniquely combined focus on sustainability, fashion and migration, Lopez y Royo examines how the ateliers foreground a powerful social inclusion agenda, encouraging migrants (and refugees) to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and foster communities on a level playing field with locals.
Questioning widely accepted notions of 'empowerment' and 'social integration', and drawing on her background in archaeology and material culture studies, Lopez y Royo uses micro-studies to illuminate a broader path to a more inclusive, sustainable, and socially conscious industry, presenting a fresh perspective on repurposing and upcycling.
In a world grappling with the need to shift away from fast fashion's wasteful practices, this thought-provoking exploration shows how slow-growth 'solidarity ateliers' can challenge the widely accepted notions of both 'fashion' and 'social integration'.
see https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sustainable-fashion-migrants-embroidery-9781350284098/
From the back cover:
"Indonesian fashion has undergone a period of rapid growth over the last three decades. This book explores how through years of social, political, and cultural upheaval, the country’s fashion has moved away from “colonial fashion” and “national dress” to claim its own distinct identity as contemporary fashion in a global world.
With specific reference to women’s wear, Contemporary Indonesian Fashion explores the diversity and complexity of the country’s sartorial offerings, which weave together local textile traditions like batik and ikat- making with contemporary narratives. The book questions concepts of “tradition” and “modernity” in the developing world, taking stock of the elite consumption of luxury brands and the large-scale manufacturing of fast fashion, and introduces us to the rise of new trends such as 'busana muslim' (or “modest wear”), creating a portrait of a vibrant and growing national and, increasingly, international, industry.
Exploring clothing in shopping malls, on the catwalk, in magazines, and online, the book examines how Indonesian fashion is made, presented, and consumed, combining research in Indonesia with analysis and personal reflection. Contemporary Indonesian Fashion ultimately questions the deeply entrenched eurocentrism of ‘global fashion’, simultaneously interrogating current homogenizing beauty and body image discourses posited as universal, pointing to absences, silences and erasures as reflected by contemporary Indonesian fashion – hence the ‘looking glass’ of the title.
Aptly illustrated, the book offers a new perspective on a rapidly developing new fashion capital, Jakarta."
See the review by Carla Jones Archipel 99, 2020 and also by Alexandra Crosby in Fashion Theory, 24,6, 2020 in the relevant section "Reviews of own work"
I have also uploaded a .pdf of the book which can be viewed with your browser to navigate the links.
This was never meant to be a print book, I chose to publish it as an online resource because of the videos and links. However, it can be rather difficult when websites are closed down, so I am glad there is a .pdf record of it
(added 29/05/2017)
I wrote a new introduction in 2005 which I am uploading here. See also https://web.archive.org/web/20101210164232/http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/50/55
and the dedicated website https://web.archive.org/web/20150921232433/http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/Prambanan/11
The book is THE ART OF INDONESIA edited by Bachchan Kumar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi 2014
A pdf copy of the site is attached
From the introduction:
The classical dances of the subcontinent have been deconstructed and have become part of a contemporary dance idiom. Some of the most innovative work has taken place because of interaction with Western dancers or because it was conceived in a Western and/or global context. Thus the British experience-the work and contribution of Indian dance practitioners based in Britain and working primarily in a British/European context-have been very important for the new development of Indian dance.
The volume includes papers by a number of contributors, from practising dancers to dance critics and academics
Arts, New Delhi
now published in Art of Indonesia B. Kumar ed, IGNCA, New Delhi, 2013
see http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/49/29
https://zmj.unibo.it/article/view/11806/11948.
https://podtail.com/no/podcast/in-the-vitrine/through-the-postcolonial-looking-glass
http://aseasuk.org.uk/3/sites/default/files/2008-aseasuk-newsletter-issue-43.pdf
pp 26-28
Excerpts of the DVD can be viewed on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/user9433451/gurujena
Anthropological Forum
A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology 28Jan 2018
What does fashion mean to Asian women and how, in tandem with the beauty industry and the media, does it address issues of representation, if at all? Indonesia is chosen here as the starting point for a broader investigation of the different dynamics of fashion in Asia. The talk will be about my recent ethnography in Jakarta and will begin to offer a critical reflection.
The paper attempts some self reflection on my own experience as a mature model. I discuss my journey as a model dwelling on the sense of unease I have at times experienced. Modelling as an older woman can be at once liberating and oppressive and full of pitfalls. By embodying the ‘ageing gracefully’ imperative, there is also a sense of being pressurised to maintain that very ‘gracefulness of ageing’ that as a model becomes one’s selling point as well as the need to be distinctive, and identifiable with, in order to be in work. In the paper I draw theoretically on a range of writings about ageing as a cultural process and about cultural production and the reproduction of culture.
The paper is still work in progress.
Please note that one reference is missing. This is Lopez y Royo, A. (2013) 'Why I am quitting the academy' Times Higher Education available at http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.aspx?storyCode=2006622
Throughout the history of Western capitalism, the split between mind and body have provided the contemporary individual with the unexpected gift of the image of the dancing man and woman outside the logic of normative production (Taussig, 1987). Somatic practitioners act as urban shamans that often bring together the mind and its divorced body in a therapeutic dialogical imagination. We approach the notion of somatic healing in all its socio-cultural politics and in all its epistemological murk and fictions in order to reveal that contemporary dance “therapeia” can only exist within murk and as a fiction of the real; a creation of a new relationship between the real and the imagined; the trauma and its healing. Somatic healing mobilises the very traumatic unequal relations that create the distinctions between “self” and “other”, between “healer” and “patient” and expresses them bodily in order to subvert them. Dance and somatics, even as a practice which is often marketised, culturally and economically “othered”, has the capacity to hold the mirror reflecting one’s perception of the other and moreover embodies that reflection and brings it to a somatic awareness.
http://www.sfmelrose.org.uk/virtualvirtuosity/
http://www.sfmelrose.org.uk/e-pai-2003-04/royopujawati/
Asian Studies”at the Centre for South Asian Research, SOAS, 10 December 2003.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/southasianstudies/keywords/file24802.pdf
University of Manchester, School of Art and Archaeology, as part of panel “Performance and Archaeology”
convened by me. Published online at
http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/ArchaeologyPerformance/19
Paper originally presented in 2002.
2005 “ The Hot Chariot of the Sun God” pulse, spring , pp 23-25
2005 “Freedom from dancespeak: silence?” pulse, autumn, pp.31-32
2006 “Dance-space-architecture” pulse, summer, pp.16-23