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# Project Description Fashioning Decolonial Futures Luisa Cortes Villaveces Summary Final work Awards Nominated | MullenLowe NOVA Awards 2025 College Central Saint Martins Course BA (Hons) Fashion Communication: Histories and Theories Graduation year 2025 My thesis argues that contemporary practices rooted in Indigenous textile traditions in the Colombian Andes are active acts of reexistence, directly challenging and troubling colonial systems. Reexistence is a key concept in my dissertation, as it proposes the resignifying of a dignified life. This entails shining light on unjust practices of marginalisation that have been normalised, and implementing strategies that reject them, offering an alternate way of life that does not accept said practices. In the case of my dissertation fashion practices become a possible strategy of reexistence. Textiles become a site of resistance; through them makers can manifest and build an identity that had been historically denied, and access forms of knowledge that have been discredited, positioned as beliefs rather than truths. The gap between contemporary realities and Indigenous truths is then bridged, or rather woven - enabling a dialogue between cosmologies and contemporary realities. Through an exploration of these traditions, and the fashions they inspire, this research demonstrates a powerful reclamation of identity and "el derecho a lo propio" [the right to one's own]. By creating fashion that embodies ancestral knowledge, Indigenous designers actively construct their identities rather than accepting imposed ones, highlighting the enduring presence of their communities within contemporary society. Challenging narratives of staticity, this work centers Indigenous and artisan voices through oral histories with Milciades Estiven Castro, Flor Imbacuan, and Maria Daniza Saénz, revealing how fashion, when deeply connected to memory and community, becomes a vital political tool for weaving new, resilient narratives that transcend temporal boundaries, resisting cultural erasure. I argue for a shift in how we view artisanal work coming from Indigenous hands, a view that disarms colonial hierarchies and expectations of Western interventions in order to validate the fashions created. Through this reevaluation of artisanal work, the value in cultivated knowledges within Indigenous groups is also reclaimed allowing for creators to situate this knowledge in contemporary spaces and use it as a means to communicate an identity. Ultimately, this thesis positions fashion as a crucial space for interculturalidad, advocating for the genuine valuation and engagement with Indigenous epistemologies, free from hierarchical frameworks. It invites a delinking from colonial narratives within fashion systems, urging a recognition and appreciation of non Western knowledge systems and the innovative fashions they generate, ultimately contributing to more sustainable and equitable fashion practices. Final work Share this project My thesis argues that contemporary practices rooted in Indigenous textile traditions in the Colombian Andes are active acts of reexistence, directly challenging and troubling colonial systems. Reexistence is a key concept in my diss... A link to this page has been added to your clipboard
# Links ## Official page - https://ualshowcase.arts.ac.uk/project/628271/cover ## External - https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisa-cortes-456b86239/ - https://www.instagram.com/lcortes - mailto:luisa.cortesvg@gmail.com - https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F628271%2Fcover&text=Fashioning+Decolonial+Futures - https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F628271%2Fcover&media=https%3A%2F%2Fportfolio-tools.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F05%2F21184604%2FMullenLowe-Lead-Image.001.jpeg&description=Fashioning+Decolonial+Futures