Biography
Denise Nicole Green is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design and Director of the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC). Professor Green's research uses ethnography, video production, archival methods, and curatorial practice to explore production of fashion, textiles, identities, and visual design. She is also a faculty member in American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies, and the American Studies Program, as well as a graduate field member in the Department of Anthropology at Cornell.
Professor Green received a PhD in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of British Columbia. With the Ethnographic Film Unit at UBC and Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations communities, she directed a series of documentary films exploring textiles, identity, and Aboriginal title. She has continued this work, and recently directed the film, Mapping Regalia in Hupacasath Territory, which debuted at the Textile Society of America's Biennial Conference Film Festival. Prior to her work on the Northwest Coast, Professor Green earned a Master of Science in Textiles from the University of California--Davis where she researched fashion and gender expression at the Burning Man Festival. During her undergraduate program at Cornell University she studied fashioned youth subcultures and completed an honors thesis about redesigning 4-H clothing club curriculum for the 21st century.
In her curatorial practice, Professor Green uses fashion to engage with important social, cultural, and political issues. Most recently, she curated Fashion & Feathers (2019 - 2020) in collaboration with colleagues at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates and the Lab of Ornithology. Professor Green's award-winning exhibitions include The Biggest Little Fashion City: Ithaca and Silent Film Style (2016, recipient of the Richard Martin Award) and Union-Made: Fashioning America in the 20th Century (2017, recipient of the Betty Kirke Excellence in Research Award). She was the faculty advisor for WOMEN EMPOWERED: Fashions from the Frontline (2018), which received international media attention and was part of the Cornell Council for the Arts 2018 Biennial. Professor Green also serves as the faculty advisor for the Charlotte A. Jirousek Research Fellowship in the CF+TC and mentors students curating historical fashion exhibitions. Curatorial, research, and public outreach aspects of the CF+TC are chronicled on social media, including a Facebook, Instagram (@cornellfashioncollection), and the CF+TC blog.
An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Professor Green runs a media production lab in the Human Ecology Building. Her most recent film, Mapping Regalia in Hupacasath Territory (2018) was shown at the Textile Society of America's juried film festival. Previous films include Histakshitl Ts'awaatskwii - We Come from One Root (2010, recipient of the Jean Rouch Award for Ethnographic Filmmaking and Best Documentary at the Cowichan Aboriginal Film Festival), Mamuu - To Weave/To Work (2013), Somewhere in Between (2009, recipient of Best Documentary award at the UC Davis Student Film Festival), Fifty-Fifty (2009), and Wash and Reuse: Textiles in the Hospital Setting (2009, funded by the National Science Foundation). Professor Green's graduate students are also active filmmakers, and recent films include #NATURALDYE (2017, directed by Kelsie Doty) and Dedicada a Margarita (2016, directed by Amanda Denham).
In addition to ethnographic, curatorial, and documentary work, Professor Green also engages in creative design practice. In 2015, she founded the Cornell Natural Dye Garden and accompanying Natural Dye Studio, and since then has focused her textile and garment design around the production and use of natural dyes. She, along with her students, have collaborated with fashion companies Wool & Prince and Sies Marjan to create naturally-dyed collections. Professor Green's innovative work in natural dyes, particularly around athleticwear applications, was recently covered in Women's Wear Daily.
Professor Green's research, creative design scholarship, and teaching focus on social and cultural aspects of fashion and textiles.
Research areas: anthropological studies of style and fashion; history of dress and textiles; ethnographic practice; documentary film production; Native American textiles and regalia; history of anthropology; textile printing and dyeing; space and place studies; museum studies and curatorial practice
Professor Green is formally trained in textile and apparel design, anthropology, museum studies and video production. She uses ethnography in combination with archival and museum-based research methods to explore socio-cultural aspects of style, fashion, and dress. She is working on a number of projects at the intersection of anthropology and fashion studies, including research on Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations' ceremonial textiles and fashion design, phenomenology and hot yoga practice, as well as historical research about pop culture icons, including silent film serial queen heroines and singer-songwriters.
Since 2009, Professor Green has studied ceremonial textiles and regalia produced by the Hupacasath First Nation, an Indigenous group from what is now called the Alberni Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Her research and documentary film production examines how textiles and dress produce declarations of territorial rights and ceremonial privileges, records of kinship, inter-tribal and colonial histories, and relationships between families, communities, and place. She is currently a consulting scholar for the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at the American Philosophical Society (APS) library, and working to reconnect Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations families more broadly with archival records at the APS.
In her previous research, Professor Green has examined subcultural style and identity negotiation through fashion at the Burning Man Project, 4-H sewing clubs, Northern California roller derby leagues, and small-town communities. She is currently working on an ethnographic project about regular hatha yoga practitioners and how/why yoga practice may transform bodily perceptions and impact clothing choices in everyday life. Professor Green is also interested in histories of fiber, textile and apparel manufacturing in the United States, particularly sericulture and silk production in places like the Auburn Prison and in Northampton, MA. She has recently published a paper about Corticelli Silks and their design collaboration with Irene Castle (1917 - 1927), which is the earliest evidence of a film star developing a self-named fashion brand. In much of her research, Professor Green uses exhibition design, documentary film production, or other forums to make scholarship public and accessible. She directs the Cornell Fashion and Textile Collection (CFTC) and works with faculty, students, and visiting scholars to use the collection for exhibitions, research, and classroom teaching. Recent exhibitions include, WOMEN EMPOWERED: Fashions from the Frontline, TEXTURE, Go Figure: The Fashion Silhouette and the Female Form, Union-Made: Fashioning America in the 20th Century, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and The Biggest Little Fashion City: Ithaca and Silent Film Style.
In the field of fashion studies, we prepare our students to think critically about the dressed body and to innovate through creative problem solving in order to improve lives. Fashioned bodies are part of cultural, economic, and scientific worlds, which means our students must understand social psychology, anthropology, human behavior, and cultural studies alongside design, aesthetics, textile science, policy, anthropometry, emerging technologies, fit, and technical design. Our field is interdisciplinary and multi-faceted; therefore, the learning environment must challenge students to approach fashion, textiles, accessories, and bodily modifications from multiple perspectives. Students thrive when faced with intellectual and theoretical provocation. In my teaching, I encourage students to question what they take for granted as “natural” or “normal” by embracing diverse perspectives and productive debate. Fashion, technologies, and human behavior in the modern world are rapidly changing; therefore, our students must use both intellect and creativity to keep ahead of the curve. The university setting provides an ideal laboratory for students to embrace intellectual challenge, take risks, and make positive change through design.
FSAD 1250: Fashion, Art, and Design Thinking
FSAD 4021/6021: Textiles and Apparel Production in India
FSAD 3000: Refashioning Ani DiFranco
FSAD 3000/6000: Natural Dye Studio
FSAD 6415: Anthropology of the Fashioned Body
SHUM 4651/6651: Curating Fashion Exhibitions
JOURNAL ARTICLES (PEER REVIEWED)
**designates graduate student
*designates undergraduate student
**Denham, Amanda, and Denise N. Green (2020) “Her Eyes, My Body: Negotiating Embodiment Through Maya Backstrap Weaving.” Journal of Fashion, Style, & Popular Culture, Vol. 7, No. 1, 125-141. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00008_1
Green, Denise N., **Jenny Leigh Du Puis, **Lynda Xepoleas, **Chris Hesselbein, **Katherine Greder, *Victoria Pietsch, **Rachel Getman, and **Jessica Guadalupe Estrada (2019). “Fashion Exhibitions as Scholarship: Evaluation Criteria for Peer Review.” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0887302X19888018
Green, Denise N. (2019) “An Archival Ethnography of Sapir’s “Nootka” (Nuu-chah-nulth) Texts, Correspondence, and Fieldwork through the Douglas Thomas Drawings.” Ethnohistory, Vol. 66, Issue 2, 353-384. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-7299985
Green, Denise N., Susan B. Kaiser, **Kelsie Doty, and *Kyra Streck (2019) “Both Sides Now: Articulating Textiles and Fashioned Bodies in the Works of Joni Mitchell, 1968 – 1976.” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0887302X19830203
**Chapin, Chloe, Denise N. Green, and Samuel Neuberg (2019) “Exhibiting Gender: Exploring the Dynamic Relationships between Fashion, Gender, and Mannequins in Museum Display.” DRESS: Journal of the Costume Society of America, Vol. 45, Issue 1: 75-88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2018.1551282
Green, Denise N. (2018) “Producing Place and Declaring Rights Through Thliitsapilthim (Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations’ Ceremonial Curtains).” Textile: Cloth and Culture, Vol. 17, Issue 1, 72-91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14759756.2018.1495349
Green, Denise N. (2017) “The Best Known and Best Dressed Woman in America: Irene Castle and Silent Film Style.” DRESS: Journal of the Costume Society of America, Vol. 43, Issue 2: 77-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2017.1352160
Green, Denise N. (2016) Cornell’s Sesquicentennial: An Exhibition of Campus Style. Catwalk: The Journal of Fashion, Beauty and Style, Vol. 5, Issue 1: 43 – 62.
Green, Denise N. and Susan B. Kaiser (2016) “Men, Masculinity, and Style in 2008: A Study of Men’s Clothing Considerations in the Latter Aughts.” Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion, Vol. 3, Issue 2: 125 – 140. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/csmf.3.2.125_1
*Satinsky, Emily and Denise N. Green (2016) “Negotiating Identities in the Furry Fandom Through Costuming.” Joint special issue of Fashion, Style and Popular Culture and Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion Vol. 3, Issue 2: 107 – 124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/csmf.3.2.107_1
Green, Denise N. (2014) “A Pair of Hinkiits’am (Serpent Headdresses).” Otsego Institute 2010 Alumni Review. http://www.otsegoinstitute.org/denise-nicole-green.html
Green, Denise N., Van Dyk Lewis, and Charlotte Jirousek (2013) “Fashion Cultures in a Small Town: An Analysis of Fashion- and Place-Making.” Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty, Vol. 4, Issue 1: 71 - 106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/csfb.4.1-2.71_1
Green, Denise N. (2011) “Mamuu—La Pratique du Tissage / Mamuu—The Practice of Weaving.” Cahiers métiers d'art / Craft Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 1: 37 - 59. (Published in French and English, print only.)
Green, Denise N. and Susan B. Kaiser (2011) “From Ephemeral to Everyday Costuming: Negotiations in Masculine Identities at the Burning Man Project.” DRESS: Journal of the Costume Society of America, Vol. 37, Issue 1: 1 – 22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/036121112X13099651318548
BOOKS AND BOOK CHAPTERS (PEER REVIEWED)
Green, Denise N. (in press) “Sayach’apis and the Naani (Grizzly Bear) Crest.” In Aldona Jonaitis and Katherine Bunn-Marcuse (eds.) New Scholarship on Northwest Coast Art. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Green, Denise N. and Susan B. Kaiser (2020) “Taking Offense: A Discussion of Fashion, Appropriation, and Cultural Insensitivity.” In Sara Marcketti and Elena Karpova (eds.) The Dangers of Fashion: Towards Ethical and Sustainable Solutions. London: Bloomsbury: 143 – 160.
Green, Denise N. (2016) “Genealogies of Knowledge in the Alberni Valley: Reflecting on ethnographic practice in the archive of Dr. Susan Golla.” In Regna Darnell and Frederic Gleach (eds.) Histories of Anthropology Annual: Local Knowledge, Global Stage. Vol. X: 273 – 301.
Green, Denise N. (2016) “Fashion(s) from the Northwest Coast: Nuu-chah-nulth Design Iterations.” In Miguel Angel Gardetti and Subramanian Senthikannan (eds.) Ethnic (Aboriginal) Fashion. New York: Springer Publishing: 19 – 46.
Kaiser, Susan B. and Denise N. Green (2016) “Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Fashion Studies: Philosophical Underpinning and Multiple Masculinities.” In Heike Jenss (ed.) Fashion Studies: Research Methods, Sites and Practices. London: Bloomsbury: 160 – 180.
INVITED PUBLICATIONS (EDITOR REVIEWED)
Green, Denise N. (2019) “Fashion and Fearlessness in the Wharton Studio’s Silent Film Serials, 1914 - 1918.” Framework Vol. 60, issue 1, 83-115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13110/framework.60.1.0083
Mamp, Michael, Ariele Elia, Sara Tatayana Bernstein, Laurie Anne Brewer, and Denise N. Green (2018). “Scholars’ Roundtable Presentation – Engaging Labor, Acknowledging Maker.” DRESS: Journal of the Costume Society of America, Vol. 44, Issue 2: 133-151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2018.1507345
Mida, Ingrid, Denise N. Green, and Abby Lillethun (2017) “Scholars’ Roundtable Presentation – Technology: Friend or Foe?” DRESS: Journal of the Costume Society of America, Vol. 43, Issue 2: 119 – 138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2017.1357274
Green, Denise N. and Susan B. Kaiser (2017) “Introduction: Fashion and Appropriation.” Fashion, Style and Popular Culture, Vol. 4, Issue 2: 145-150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc.4.2.145_2
Green, Denise N. (2013) “Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations’ Huulthin (Shawls): Historical and Contemporary Practices.” DRESS: Journal of the Costume Society of America, Vol. 39, Issue 2: 153 - 201. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/0361211213Z.00000000016
Director, Cornell Fashion and Textile Collection
Vice President for Publications, Costume Society of America
Editorial Board, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal
Faculty Member, American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, Cornell University
Faculty Member, Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies, Cornell University
Graduate Field Member, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
Editorial Board, Fashion Studies
Faculty Advisory Committee Member, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
Consulting Scholar, Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, American Philosophical Society
Faculty Fellow, Cornell Institute of Fashion and Fiber Innovation
Faculty Fellow, Risley Residential College for the Creative and Performing Arts
Faculty Fellow, Akwe:kon Residential Hall
Committee Member, Philosophical Missions Committee, International Textile & Apparel Association
Member, Society for Visual Anthropology
Member, American Anthropological Association
Member, USA Yoga Federation
Reviewer, Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal
Reviewer, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal
Reviewer, Dress: Journal of the Costume Society of America
Reviewer, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
As Director of the Cornell Fashion & Textile Collection Professor Green curates, advises, and oversees the production of fashion exhibitions in the Human Ecology Building Terrace Level Display Cases, which are free and open to the public. In 2019, we mounted three exhibitions: WOMEN EMPOWERED: Fashions from the Frontline (December 2018 - March 2019, curated by students in Professor Green's class, FSAD 6415 Anthropology of the Fashioned Body), Revolution and Restraint: Reconstructing Masculinity Through Menswear (May 10 - Sept. 10, 2019, curated by Victoria Pietsch '19 and supervised by Dr. Green), and Fashion & Feathers (Oct. 1, 2019 - Jan. 20, 2020, curated by Denise N. Green, John Fitzpatrick and Vanya Rohwer). In 2018 we mounted Go Figure: The Fashion Silhouette and the Female Form (November 2017 - July 2018, curated by Rachel Doran '19 and supervised by Dr. Green), TEXTURE (August 2018 - October 2018, curated by Amanda Denham MA '17 and supervised by Dr. Green). Our current exhibition on display is Black Excellence: Fashion that Prevails, curated by Sian Brown '20 and funded by the Charlotte A. Jirousek Fellowship.
In addition to the Cornell Fashion & Textile Collection's public engagement on campus, Professor Green and the CFTC team have worked with local historical societies, archives, and museums through collaborative projects and loans. These include the New York Historical Society Museum and Library, Olana State Historic Site, Lyndhurst National Historic Site, Mark Twain House & Museum, Seward House Museum and the Yates County History Center.
Professor Green has also given interviews and been featured in the national and international media for her exhibitions and research about fashion and social issues. She has been featured on National Public Radio, Vice.com, Elle Canada, and The Washington Times, Her exhibitions have been covered by CNN, Teen Vogue, Fox News, CBS News, Hollywood Reporter, and Quartzy, among other media outlets.
In addition to our galleries, the Cornell Costume & Textile Collection engages the public through various social media platforms that I maintain and update. We publish content to our Instagram - @cornellcostumecollection - and Facebook pages. Professor Green serves as the primary editor for these pages, as well as the Cornell Costume & Textile Collection blog. In 2018, the CCTC blog included 25 posts: 7 authored by undergraduate students, 7 authored by faculty/staff, 3 authored by alumni, and 8 interviews with undergraduate research assistants.
Professor Green also participates in public engagement by giving lectures and organizing educational programs. She frequently tours current CFTC exhibitions with local community groups and schools. In October 2019, for example, nearly 200 6th graders toured the Fashion & Feathers exhibition over a two-day period. Professor Green also gives lectures to local interest groups, which in 2019 included the Finger Lakes Antiques Club, the Ithaca Garden Club, and the Cornell Club of Ithaca. Her extension work includes youth development, and in February 2019 she traveled to NYC to give the keynote for the GOALS for Girls program at the Intrepid Museum. Her educational work beyond that classroom also included a collaboration with the Cornell Prison Education Program in 2019: Professor Green and students organized a guest lecture and musical performance by Ani DiFranco at a nearby medium security prison.
In addition to educational lectures and exhibitions, Professor Green engages in creative design scholarship that has a local, community impact. Since 2016, Professor Green has coordinated the Cornell Natural Dye Studio and Cornell Natural Dye Garden, both of which are entities that serve students, local artists, fashion designers, and the broader community through public exhibitions and gardens. In 2019, the Cornell Natural Dye Studio collaborated with New York label Sies Marjan on textiles for their F/W 2020 collection, which were contact-dyed with fresh foliage from the Natural Dye Garden and local farmers.
Director , Cornell Fashion and Textile Collection (CFTC)
PhD, Anthropology, University of British Columbia
MS, Textiles, University of California--Davis
BS, (honors), Fiber Science and Apparel Design, Cornell University