Arti Sandhu

Arti Sandhu is currently an Associate Professor in the Fashion Program, in the School of Design at DAAP. Prior to this she taught at Columbia College Chicago and Massey University, New Zealand. Originally from India, she studied Fashion Design at N.I.F.T. (New Delhi) and received her Masters in Fashion and Textiles from Nottingham Trent University (U.K.).
 
Her research is centered on contemporary Indian fashion and related design culture. She is the author of Indian Fashion: Tradition, Innovation, Style (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014). She has also published articles on dress and the Indian Diaspora in New Zealand, Indian Streetstyle, the contemporary Indian catwalk, and Indian drag queens. Arti is currently working on research projects relating to the growing discourse around decolonizing fashion studies, the role craft can play in fashioning sustainable design practices and overall well being, and a digital ethnography on social media saree groups.

In addition to her academic research, Arti's artworks, which explore identity and migration, have been exhibited in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, the Netherlands, and India. In 2011 she curated the exhibition ZER0-Waste: Fashion Re-Patterned for the Averill and Bernard Leviton Gallery in Chicago featuring the groundbreaking work of designers and creatives working with sustainable fashion design strategies. Arti has also been the fashion contributor for Arts Illustrated magazine (Chennai) and occasionally writes for an online column for the digital fashion publication the Voice of Fashion.

 

Peer Reviewed Publications

Sandhu, Arti (2019. ) India’s Digital Drag Aunties: Breaking New Ground Wearing Familiar Fashions .Dress, , Vol 25 (01 ) ,55-73.

Sandhu, Arti (2018. ) The Anti-[Western]-Fashion Show: Re-dressing the Indian Catwalk .About Performance , , No. 16 ,85-105.

Sandhu, Arti (2007. ) Re-constructing Identity: Dilemmas of Diasporic Dress .Context: Journal of the New Zealand Textile and Costume Society, ,

Sandhu, Arti (2007. ) Bling - South Delhi Ishtyle: The Aesthetics of consumption and display of Jewellery in middle class Indian society .On Location: making stories, siting, citing and sighting, ,

Sandhu, Arti (2020. ) The Guilty Pleasures of Saas-Bahu Style .South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, , 43 (2 ) ,355-368

Sandhu, Arti (2020. ) Fashioning Wellbeing Through Craft: A Case Study of Aneeth Arora’s Strategies for Sustainable Fashion and Decolonizing Design .Fashion Practice , , 12 (2 ) ,Pages 172-192

Published Books

Arti Sandhu (2014. ) Indian Fashion: Tradition, Innovation, Style .London, New York , Bloomsbury Academic

Book Chapter

Arti Sandhu (2018 ) Streetstyle vs. Style on the Street? Two Definitions of Indian Street Fashion South Asian Youth Culture and Fashion .IB Taurus

Colloquium

Sandhu, Arti (04-2019). When Saris Speak: Sari Pacts and Social Media Narratives . 45th Annual Costume Society of America Symposium , Seattle . Conference. Level:National

Sandhu, Arti (04-2019). Fashioning Well-Being through Anti-Western Fashion: A Case Study on Indian Fashion Designers’ Strategies for Sustainable Fashion Futures . 45th Annual Costume Society of America Symposium, Seattle. Level:National

Sandhu, Arti (11-2018). The Anti-[Western]-Fashion Show: Re-dressing the Indian Catwalk . SAMLA Annual Conference , Birmingham, AL.

Sandhu, Arti (10-2014). Crafting a Culture of Difference in Contemporary Indian Fashion . Design Culture: object, discipline and practice conference , University of Southern Denmark, Kolding.. Level:International

Sandhu, Arti (2011). Crafting Fashion, Refashioning Craft: An exploration into the relationship between contemporary fashion and craft in India . Material Culture, Craft & Community: Negotiating Objects Across Time & Place Conference, Material Culture Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton..

Sandhu, Arti (2008). Fashion Design: Desires and Emotions – When fashion students design for emotion . 2008 Design and Emotion Conference , School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong..

Sandhu, Arti (2007). Keeping Up with the Kapoors: The performance of fashion and its display in Indian middle-class society . Defining Culture through Dress conference, Hofstra University, New York. .

Sandhu, Arti (2007). Re-constructing Identity: Dilemmas of Diasporic (Indian) dress – in New Zealand . Migration and Adaptation – Connecting Cultures through Cloth Conference , University of Auckland, New Zealand. .

Sandhu, Arti (2006). Bling - South Delhi Ishtyle: The Aesthetics of consumption and display of Jewellery in middle class Indian society . On Location: making stories - Jewellers & Metalsmiths Group of Australia 12th biennial conference, Sydney, Australia.

Symposium

Sandhu, Arti (11-2018. ) De-Colonizing Design, Fashioning Well-Being: Contemporary Indian Designers’ Strategies for Sustainable and Ethical Production .Cincinnati Art Museum .

Sandhu, Arti (03-2018. ) The Guilty Pleasures of Saas-Bahu Style .Brandeis University .

Sandhu, Arti (10-2014. ) Streetstyle vs. Style on the Street? Two Definitions of Indian Street Fashion .London College of Fashion, London .

Sandhu, Arti (2009. ) Mix’n’Match: Shaping Contemporary Fashion for Indian Tastes .Lincoln, NE.

Sandhu, Arti (2008. ) Fashionable Bodies - Contemporary Ideals for the Fashionable Indian Female Body .McCord Museum of Canadian History, Montreal, Canada.

Sandhu, Arti (2008. ) Modern Looks - The ‘Fashionable’ Indian Female Body .RMIT, Melbourne, Australia .

Academic - arti.sandhu@uc.edu