Sara Idacavage

Journalism

Assistant Professor

Email

sidacavage@smu.edu

Website

Connect

Sara Idacavage is a fashion historian with a background in journalism and passion for sustainability. She holds a master’s degree in Fashion Studies from Parsons School of Design and a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Merchandising from the University of Georgia, where she also completed her Ph.D. in Polymer, Fiber, and Textile Sciences with an emphasis in International Merchandising. Idacavage’s research employs sustainability as a lens to delve into the historical foundations of the fashion system and contextualize contemporary challenges within a broader historical framework. In addition to historical and cultural scholarship, her research focuses on transforming fashion education, underpinned by a deep commitment to improving students’ mental health and empowering them to be agents of change.

Idacavage has 10 years of combined experience teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on fashion history, theory, textiles, and research methods at Parsons School of Design, the Pratt Institute, the Fashion Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia. In 2023, she piloted UGA’s first course specifically focused on , which encouraged students to develop a more complex understanding of the concept of “sustainable fashion” while learning practical skills to work towards a more collective and just fashion system. 

Outside of the classroom, Idacavage enjoys being a public-facing academic, continually striving to make history and theory more accessible to a wider audience through public lectures and for publications like the Wall Street Journal, The Cut and HuffPost. She has also shared her love of fashion through podcasts, a series of lecture tours across China, several appearances on the Travel Channel program Mysteries at the Museum and

In addition to serving as an Associate Editor of since 2016, Idacavage wrote a column for Fashionista titled , and was a regular contributor to Refinery29, NYMag.com and Time Out New York for years. She has also contributed numerous articles to the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, as well as peer-reviewed academic journals that include Fashion Theory, Winterthur Portfolio, Art Libraries Journal and Fashion, Style & Popular Culture.

Idacavage has worked in archives and museums that include the Parsons Fashion Study Collection, the Ralph Lauren Library, the Museum of the City of New York and the Georgia Museum of Art. While completing her doctoral degree, she curated an exhibition with the University of Georgia’s Special Collections Libraries titled From Farms to Fast Fashion: Tracing the History of a Fashion Revolution (opening January 2025), which tells the story of how clothing became cheaper, faster to make and easier to care for while uncovering who ultimately pays the cost for these conveniences.

Education

Ph.D., Polymer, Fiber, and Textile Sciences, University of Georgia, May 2024
M.A., Fashion Studies, Parsons School of Design, May 2014
B.S., Fashion Merchandising, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; May 2009

Recent Work

Books:

Teaching Fashion Sustainably, co-edited volume with Lauren Downing Peters. (In development with Bloomsbury Academic)

Recent Articles and Chapters:

Idacavage, S., & Medvedev, K. (2024). Social justice as a sustainability issue. In Blanco, J. (Ed.), The Meanings of Dress (Fifth edition). Fairchild Books, Inc

Idacavage, S., & McAndrews, L. (2024). Letting go of fear and biases: New perspectives on historic clothing for design education in the post-pandemic age of digitization. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 1–10.

Idacavage, S. (2023). Book Review: Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment. Winterthur Portfolio, 57(1), 104-107.

Kirkland, A., Sklar, M., Sauro, C., Wiebers, L., Idacavage, S., and Mun, J. (2023). “I’m not searching the right words”: User experience searching historic clothing collection websites. The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, 16(1). 119-146.

Idacavage, S., & Swadosh, J. (2017). Case study on cataloguing fashion adaptations. Art Libraries Journal, 42(1), 35–40. 

Idacavage, S. (2014). Make it big. Do it right. Give it class: The curatorial legacy of Diana Vreeland’s exhibition of ‘Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design.’ Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 2(1), 29–44. 

Idacavage, S. (2016). Exhibition Review: David Bowie is. Fashion Theory, 20(4), 485-493.  

Research:

Fashion history; consumer culture; ethics and sustainability in the fashion industry; museum studies and fashion curation

Course list

FM 3300  Understanding Fashion Design
FM 3301 The Fashion Business
Sara Idacavage