Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY (about 25 miles east of NYC) is hosting an amazing fashion and dress studies conference: Defining Culture Through Dress: Individual and Collective Identities.

The conference focuses on fashion’s impact on culture and society through in-depth discussion of fashion in literature, religion, the mass media, ethnic identity and how fashion influences self-image. Participating experts and scholars hail from the fields of sociology, psychology, art, history, anthropology, communication, journalism and business, as well as fashion experts. Harold Koda, the Curator-in-Charge of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be keynote speaker.

Other goodies include a “Fashion and a Sustainable Environment” panel with eco-fashion model and activist Summer Rayne Oakes, a panel on hip-hop fashion, a panel on “The Influence of Movies on Fashion” featuring Marlaine Glicksman of Vogue magazine and Deborah Landis of the Costume Designers Guild, and “Fashion and Image” with David Wolfe, creative director with Doneger Creative Services.

Download the program schedule and registration info here. It’s only $45 for students – which is a great deal, and a reasonable $100 for the rest of us. I would love to see Fashion PRs not only come out in support of fashion and dress studies, but contribute to the field.