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

‘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

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

“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

Conference Presentations:

July 2021: (London UK) “The Hunger: Nascent Realities of Dematerialized Fashion Design & Consumption”  At the following conference: Re-Imagining Global Fashion Business: New Models, Values and Ideas, Thursday 22nd-Friday 23rd July 2021, Coventry University London. July 2021: (London U.K). “Cosmetics, Glamour and AIDS: Way Bandy, Scott Barrie and Halston” at theSartorial Society Series, U.K. Week 5: Trauma & the Legacies of Loss, 1st July 2021(Speakers: Lucy Adlington, Mark O’Connell & Kimberly Lamm) @SartorialSeries June 2021: (Cardiff, Wales) “Y Sin Embargo Te Quiero (And YetRead more

“Browsing the Virtual Boutique with Baudrillard: The New Realities of Online, Device-Based, Fashion Design & Consumption” (2021)

I have a new article “Browsing the Virtual Boutique with Baudrillard: The New Realities of Online, Device-Based, Fashion Design & Consumption” (2021) being published in the special publication: the 3rd Special Issue: In Pursuit of Luxury Journal in collaboration with the Journal of Design, Business & Society.  Abstract Contemporary engagement with fashion is with slick simulacra, daydreams, and digital fantasies; an impossible promise of a beautiful, de-corporealized perfection. The virtualizing of fashion consumption has in turn dematerialized garments completely. Although late to the party, the consumerRead more

Toller Cranston in San Miguel de Allende

    Normally I travel a great deal. For research, for pleasure, for the opportunity to meet new people, see new things. Not now. Since traveling is not currently an option, well not a good option anyway, I have taken the opportunity to travel back through my own journeys and to revisit some of the places I’ve been and things that I’ve seen. I’m living vicariously through myself (how meta).   This has actually proven to be surprisingly rewarding. OnRead more

Publications & Lectures:

Books:  Canadian Fashion Economies: A Select History of Fashion Culture, Commerce, and Colonialization. London: Bloomsbury. (June 2025)  https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/canadian-fashion-economies-9781350357365/ Lilac Time at the Rodeo 2: Marie Debris, David Wojnarowicz & Martin Wong  https://a.co/d/9Fcbwst Lilac Time at the Rodeo: Stories of Identity, AIDS & Fashion. Toronto: Markoconnellstudio.  https://a.co/d/cYGjxed Chapters:  Author (2021) “Social Instruction: Ursula Franklin and the Dematerialized Fashion Marketplace” in What Would Ursula Franklin Say?. Eds., Kanishka Sikri, Katie Mackinnon & Leslie Regan Shade. Toronto: The McLuhan Centre at the UniversityRead more

Sweetarts: The Politics of Exclusion, and Camping Out with Susan Sontag at the Met

“Sweetarts: The Politics of Exclusion, and Camping Out with Susan Sontag at the Met” (2019) Mark O’Connell “I have a confession to make, here, lean in a little closer, I’ll whisper it: I went to the Camp exhibition at the Met, fully expecting not to like it…”   Abstract:   Camp, historically a coded communication of queer identity has been recently dragged out of the closet and into the limelight with the exhibition “Camp, Notes on Fashion” (2019) at theRead more

“Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture” by Dr. Cheryl Thompson (Book Review)

Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture by Cheryl Thompson (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2019) Abstract With her recent publication Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture, Dr. Cheryl Thompson provides an in-depth exploration of the history and evolution of the Canadian beauty industry, in particular focusing on hair products for black consumers, but within this analysis has also brought in relevant and timely discussions concerning: politics of representation, accessRead more

Sine Qua Non: An Exploration of a “Catholic Imagination” at the Met

“Sine Qua Non: An Exploration of a ‘Catholic Imagination’ at the Met” (2019) Mark O’Connell   Abstract: Recently, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a hallowed cultural institution, was transformed into an ecclesiastical couture extravaganza through the installation of the Anna Wintour Costume Institute’s latest exhibition, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. This exhibition showcased papal finery as well as gorgeous couture gowns juxtapositioned with icons from the Met’s collection in various galleries, some even installed withinRead more