Research & Fieldwork

At the core of Simona Segre-Reinach’s work lies a long-standing commitment to ethnographic fieldwork as both method and perspective. Her research began in collaboration with Sylvia Yanagisako, exploring the silk industry linking Como and Shanghai. This collaboration culminated in the chapter “One Fashion, Two Nations” included in Fabricating Transnational Capitalism: A Collaborative Ethnography of Italian-Chinese Global Fashion (Rofel and Yanagisako 2019).

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This early work has evolved into ongoing research projects such as“Multiple Chinas”, developed with Wessie Ling, which investigates the complex global networks connecting Europe and Asia through fashion.

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Today, research on global fashion is more essential than ever. The field is undergoing a crucial transformation, requiring new frameworks to understand the growing complexity of both material and symbolic flows. The textile and apparel industry stands as one of the most pervasive forms of global commerce, while fashion itself represents one of the most influential and widespread visual cultures worldwide.

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Understanding fashion today means examining the circulation of technologies, objects, and ideas across borders. The images presented here reflect these dynamic exchanges, offering insight into the interconnected nature of contemporary fashion systems.

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Image: SSR with Wessie Ling in Shanghai