Interim Programme Director Fashion
Ezinma Mbeledogu joined UCA in 2007, she is the Interim Programme Director for Fashion and works as a Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design, and also as an author. Previously, she worked at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth in the same role, and as a sessional member of staff at Ravensbourne, and University of East London.
Bio
She specialised in Fashion Womenswear for her undergraduate degree at Central St Martins, and for her Masters at the Royal College of Art. Her natural interest in the social aspects of people saw her undertake an additional Masters in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths College.
Ezinma worked for Rebecca Dannenberg in New York as a freelancer, and Lezley George in London as assistant designer. Her career has taken her into the field of costume, working on the Ridley Scott film, The Kingdom of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom as a break-down artist; and the David Fairman film, Cold Fish as costume designer.
Whilst working as a fashion stylist Ezinma has had editorials appear in The New York Times, Viewpoint and PIL magazines to name a few, including shoots shot by Mary McCartney. She has also worked on a number of commercials and music videos.
Ezinma Mbeledogu's eponymous Fashion label launched in 2005 and sold in London and Japan. She is also a published author. She is currently undertaking a PhD about dress and the aging body.
Research statement
Ezinma is a PhD candidate at UCA. The research currently being undertaken by Ezinma explores the inter-relatedness of dress and identity and to what extent this relationship might contribute to our understanding of people living with dementia.
Conferences:
Garments as transitional objects within a care home setting: creating new possibilities by re-evaluating the subordinate sense of touch.
First International Arts and Dementia Conference 2017, at the Royal Society of Public Health. The conference was sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Society, Canterbury Christ Church University, the Royal Society for Public Health, and supported by the Wellcome Trust.
Somatic Shifts: The Body and Beyond in Creative and Critical Research Conference 2017 at the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester
The 21st World Congress of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) in San Francisco, in 2017.
New possibilities: Dress within the care home
BSA Joint Study Group One Day Conference: Invisible Bodies: Race, Embodiment and the Life-Course, 2018, University of Kent
Massive Open On-line Course:
Identity, dress and BAME communities (week 4)
Dementia and the Arts: Sharing practice, developing understanding and enhancing lives UCL (University College London), 2018, Futurelearn.com.
Professional Membership, Affiliation and Consultancy
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2010).
- Member of Emerging Researchers in Ageing.
- Member of Royal Society for Public Health.
- Member of the British Society of Gerontology.
- Member of the UCA BAME Attainment Gap Working Group
- Member of Fashion Academics Creating Equality (FACE)
- Fashion Design Research Book launch at the Fashion and Textiles Museum, London (October 2014)
- Panel discussion at the Fashion and Textiles Museum, London (October 2014)
- Talk series at the Saatchi Gallery (October 2016).
- Central St Martins, University Arts London, Graduate Diploma in Fashion
- Liverpool John Moores University, BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Communication
- University of Gloucestershire, BA (Hons) Fashion Design
- University of East London, BA (Hons) Fashion Design
- Birmingham City University, BA (Hons) Fashion Design
Awards:
Shortlisted for the Student Union Award for Epsom Lecturer of the Year (2019)
Commissions:
Oriki - October 2005, Royal College of Art
Kulture to Couture show - November 2006, The V&A Museum
Featured in Black, S. (2006) ‘Sculpted’ In: Fashioning Fabrics. London: Black Dog Publishing. pp. 102 -105
Her first book, Mbonu, E. 2014. Fashion Design Research. London: Laurence King has been translated into Spanish, Chinese and Korean.
A second book, Mbonu, E. 2015. Fashion School Survival Guide. London: Laurence King was published the following year.
Both books are stocked and available internationally.