Max-Planck-Institut für empirische Ästhetik

Thinking Design x Elke Gaugele

Fashion and Fascism—What Role Does Fashion Play in Democracy?

What role does fashion play in democracy? This lecture highlights how clothing has experienced a veritable boom as part of a new, digital fascism. It provides insight into the aesthetics, economies, platforms, and strategies of a growing right-wing extremist fashion network—made in Germany and beyond. At the same time, it also shows how designers and civil society initiatives are using fashion as a means of democratic resistance and are committed to combating the spread and normalization of right-wing fashion.

The lecture will be held in English.

Elke Gaugele is an empirical cultural scientist and professor of fashion and style at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. There she heads the research project “Fashion and the Far Right: The New Complexity in Style” (FWF 2023–2026). Her monograph “Fashion and Fascism: On the Aesthetics of New Right Violence” will be published in spring 2026. Her most internationally renowned publications include “Fashion and Postcolonial Critique” (ed. with M. Titton 2019) and “Aesthetic Politics in Fashion” (2014).

The Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics investigates why and how people create art and how they perform, experience, and evaluate it. The Institute’s focus is on music, but we also engage with other performing arts such as dance and film.