Memory in Metal: The Enduring Power of Renaissance Portrait Medallions at the Frick Museum

Memory in Metal: The Enduring Power of Renaissance Portrait Medallions By Dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell, Aug. 29, 2025. Fig. 1:  The Medals Room, The Frick Museum, NYC. Image courtesy of The Frick Museum, NYC. “This is not the face as mirror of the soul, but as sigil of the self.” The Mnemonic Sigil Perdures: Italian Renaissance and Later Metal Medallion Portraits from the Frick Museum Collection O’Connell (2025) Climbing the grand staircase, a feature once off-limits to the public (fig.Read more

Mark O’Connell speaking at the Seneca Pride Month Kick Off 2025! Tuesday, June 3, 2025, 10 a.m.

MH1005, Magna Hall, King Campus.  I will be speaking at the Seneca Pride Month Kick Off 2025! It is on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 | 10 a.m. to noon MH1005, Magna Hall, King Campus.  You are all invited, it is SO great to see the Seneca commitment to Pride: https://students.senecapolytechnic.ca/spaces/267/reconciliation-and-inclusion/pridemonth#attendanevent Plus there is a Tie Dye Workshop! Lecture and Tie-Dye Workshop  Tuesday, June 3, 2025 | 10 a.m. to noon MH1005, Magna Hall, King Campus Join Dr. Mark O’Connell, Professor at the School ofRead more

Iris Simpson: A Trailblazer in Canadian Fashion History

Dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell Feb. 25, 2025. Article Citation: O’Connell, Mark Joseph. 2024. Iris Simpson: A Trailblazer in Canadian Fashion History. Seneca Polytechnic Canadian Fashion Diversity Project. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14925960. INTRODUCTION “Iris Simpson” Photo courtesy @ “Coming full circle from classroom to high fashion and back” https://magazine.torontomu.ca/classroom-high-fashion/ Iris Simpson’s name may not be as widely recognized as some of the designers she worked with, but her impact on Canadian fashion is undeniable. As a pioneering Black woman in the luxury fashionRead more

The Quadruple Helix in Fashion Paradigms: Bridging Innovation, Sustainability, and Societal Impact for a Regenerative Future

Abstract This research explores the transformative potential of the Quadruple Helix model within fashion education, expanding upon the traditional Triple Helix framework by integrating civil society and environmental sustainability as critical drivers of innovation. While the Triple Helix model emphasizes the interplay between academia, industry, and government, the Quadruple Helix adds a vital dimension that addresses the fashion industry’s environmental impact, labour ethics, and the need for systemic change. Given fashion’s role as one of the most resource-intensive and pollutingRead more

Los Cubanos Americanos: The Collaboration of Isabel and Ruben Toledo, a Fusion of High Fashion and Art

Dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell Oct. 14, 2024. “Fabric creates movement. Not only color, but the depth of the cloth” (Isabel Toledo qtd. in Amoroso 2014) Isabel and Ruben Toledo — Cuban-born American creatives both — forged a dynamic and highly influential partnership that left a lasting imprint on fashion, design and art worlds alike. Their collaboration, which seamlessly blended their personal and professional lives, can be examined for their unique ability to merge the tactile artistry of fashion design withRead more

‘The Role of Open AI in Fashion: Transforming Creativity Through Innovation?’ (O’Connell 2024)

My article ‘The Role of Open AI in Fashion: Transforming Creativity Through Innovation?’ (O’Connell 2024) has just been published. The article was inspired my own research for an AI and fashion committee I was on recently at Seneca Polytechnic. My work on the academic committee to explore the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in fashion education was a dynamic and collaborative endeavour undertaken during May-June 2024. The committee, comprised of faculty members, Seneca School of Fashion (SoF) staff, and technologyRead more
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Stitching a Digital Age: The Convergence of Style and Technology (2025)

Stitching a Digital Age: The Convergence of Style and Technology (2025) by dr. Mark Joseph O’Connell, Toronto: Markoconnellstudio, publishing date: January 2025. In Stitching a Digital Age, readers embark on a journey through the dynamic world where fashion meets innovation. This book critically delves deep into how technological advancements are revolutionizing the fashion industry, from the way garments are designed and produced to how they are marketed and worn. The research also delves into the ways in which technological advancements areRead more

Modular Menswear

Highlights from my fashion label: Modular Menswear, a brand that focused on handworked knitwear, artisanal (local) tailored production, using gorgeous fabrics imported form Europe. Active at the turn of the century!Read more

Lilac Time at the Rodeo

Lilac Time at the Rodeo 2: Stories of Marie Debris, David Wojnarowicz, Martin Wong (Publication Date February 14, 2024!). The subjects of the Lilac Time series of books are Queer fashion and art practitioners we lost to AIDS. In Lilac Time at the Rodeo 2 we visit with: Marie Debris, David Wojnarowicz, Martin Wong, and Peter Hujar. These people because of the stigma attached to their illness, were never properly eulogized. Bright, brilliant, and visionary all, the loss of themRead more

Conference Presentation: Seneca Canadian Fashion Diversity Project: A Hybrid Faculty-Student Research Initiative Exploring Visibility and Equity Within the Canadian Cultural Landscape (FIT NYC Nov, 2023)

What an honour and a thrill to be able to present the work that the Seneca Fashion students and I have been doing for the Seneca Canadian Fashion Diversity Project. The Archiving Fashion Conference: Mapping Fashion Collections, at Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC was all around amazing!  Thank you to Dr. Natalie Nudell and the organizing committee for putting together this amazing conference! Full conference proceeings are here: https://www.fitnyc.edu/academics/academic-divisions/liberal-arts/art-history/archiving-fashion-conference/index.phpRead more

Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal

I am pleased to announce that I am an editorial board member of: Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal. “As a term which has made its way into everyday language, the idea of luxury has secured a place in contemporary society. Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal explores the many issues and debates surrounding the idea of luxury as a historical and contemporary phenomenon, both critically and commercially.” For me the concept of “luxury” is what drives theRead more

Arc’teryx & the Luxury of Disruption: Sustainable Drivers of a Fashionable Brand. Conference Presentation, In Pursuit of Luxury Conference, May 26-27, 2022, Milan, Italy

Arc’teryx & the Luxury of Disruption: Sustainable Drivers of a Fashionable Brand. Conference Presentation, In Pursuit of Luxury Conference, May 26-27, 2022, Milan, Italy Abstract In Canada we struggle to recognize homegrown fashion talent, and our benchmarks for identifying quality work are based on imported luxury brands. Paradoxically, however, where we are most successful is when we are at our most Canadian. The Arc’teryx label for example. This brand that grew from a passion for rock climbing, and whose gear subsequently expandedRead more

Rodeo References

Refences for my Rodeo book series: “Cockettes Founder Hibiscus Dies in New York; 300 Other Cases Reported” Body Politic (85). 1982. Toronto. July–August:16. “Fashion Between the New and the Forgotten: Rose Bertin” 2020. Fashion Heritage. fashionheritage.eu. https://fashionheritage.eu/fashion-between-the-new-and-the-forgotten-rose-bertin/#:~:text=’,-Pariser%20Coeffuren%3A%20Chien&text=%E2%80%9CIl%20n’y%20a%20de,except%20what%20has%20been%20forgotten.) “Founder of Cockettes, Hibiscus, Dead of GRID”. 1982. Advocate, June 1982 (345): 12. “Halston Part 1”. 2009. Designer Marathon Volume 5. Videofashion. Accessed May 6, “A Wall Street Journal News Roundup. 1970. “Moribund Midi: Woeful Retailers Say the Lower the Hem, the Lower the Sales Women Call itRead more

Succès de Scandale: Homophobia, Racism and Abject Marketing in Fashion

Succès de Scandale, the manipulation of outcry over the deliberately shocking, has been used frequently to garner notoriety and fame in the past. Currently, fashion brands are notorious for dropping crypto-offensive items into their marketing and then backing off with a meagre apology when customers react with legitimate offence. Social media hashtags generate viral visibility, and the associated brand is amplified exponentially. Engaging in this dance between the edgy and the truly offensive becomes tactical for brands to appear ‘cool’,Read more

“Y Sin Embargo Te Quiero (And Yet I Love You) Economic Policy Encoded in the Consumption of Used Garments” Conference Presentation: Secondhand Cultures in Unsettled Times Symposium, June 15-16, 2021 School of Journalism, Media & Culture, Cardiff University, Wales

I presented “Y Sin Embargo Te Quiero (And Yet I Love You) Economic Policy Encoded in the Consumption of Used Garments”  Secondhand Cultures in Unsettled Times Symposium, June 15-16, 2021 School of Journalism, Media & Culture, Cardiff University, Wales. The article this presentation came from is here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14759756.2021.1909207 The presenattion is here: This research involves an onsite ethnographic study and interview of the designers of the Clandestina fashion brand in Havana, Cuba. The Clandestina label creatively capitalizes on a commodityRead more

Conference Presentation: “The Hunger: Nascent Realities of Dematerialized Fashion Design & Consumption” at the Re-Imagining Global Fashion Business: New Models, Values and Ideas Conference

I will be presenting: “The Hunger: Nascent Realities of Dematerialized Fashion Design & Consumption” at the Re-Imagining Global Fashion Business: New Models, Values and Ideas Conference #RGFB2021 Thursday, July 22 2021, 9:30 am Toronto time (14.30 London) Register Here: https://reimaginingglobalfashionbusiness.webnode.com/ Reference List Appadurai, Arjun, ed. (1986) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. N.p: Cambridge University Press. Aston, Jason; Owen Vipond, Kyle Virgin, Omar Youssouf 2020. “Retail E-commerce and COVID-19: How Online Shopping Opened Doors While Many WereRead more

“Cosmetics, Glamour and AIDS: Way Bandy, Scott Barrie and Halston”

“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe I presented “Cosmetics, Glamour and AIDS: Way Bandy, Scott Barrie and Halston” Thursday, July 1st at 1pm Toronto time for the Sartorial Society Series @SartorialSeries https://www.sartorialsocietyseries.com/ Here is the recording: https://www.sartorialsocietyseries.com/ My talk was part of week 5: Week Five: Trauma & the Legacies of Loss 1st July 2021 ​ Lucy Adlington (20-minute paper) The Apple-Green Gown: Ghosts of ADEFA and Nazi Germany ​ Mark O’Connell (20-minute paper)Read more
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“Shocking Pink: Homophobia and Abject Marketing in the Digital Age” Conference Presentation: Fashion, Style & Queer Culture, May 20-22, 2021

I presented my research”Shocking Pink: Homophobia and Abject Marketing in the Digital Age” at the Fashion, Style & Queer Culture Conference: May 20-22, 2021 https://drexel.edu/fashion-style/ #queertheory #fashiontheory Conference Abstract: “Shocking Pink: Homophobia and Abject Marketing in the Digital Age” Conference Presentation: Fashion, Style & Queer Culture, May 20-22, 2021 Dolce & Gabanna recently got into hot water with an advertising campaign that was so unbelievably tone deaf and racist, that it caused substantial business losses in Asia, and virulent backlashRead more