FOREWORD

Fashion has evolved beyond aesthetics and commerce—it has become a powerful medium for storytelling, historical documentation, and cultural discourse. As the industry navigates an increasingly digital and globalised landscape, the ability to construct compelling narratives through fashion has never been more vital.
                    At LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore, fashion education is rooted in the practice of storytelling. Students are trained to explore fashion not only asa form of self-expression but also as a lens through which histories, identities, and sociopolitical themes can be examined. By integrating physical and virtual spaces, students engage with innovative ideas, processes, and business models, positioning themselves as creators and commentators.
                    The museum space, in particular, serves as a dynamic platform for dialogue and debate. Through an interdisciplinary approach, fashion curation at LASALLE bridges theory and practice, allowing students to critically engage with diversity, inclusivity, and empathy concepts.
                    Global collaboration in fashion education is taking centre stage—The CrossPollination Project, an initiative conceived by Tanya Melendez, Senior Curator of Education and Public Programs at the Museum at FIT—we have managed to connect students in NewYork with their peers in Singapore through this truly global project.
                    The Cross-Pollination Project leverages fashion exhibitions at the Museum at FIT to catalyse cross-cultural dialogue. Singapore has been an integral part of this initiative, with LASALLE College of the Arts embracing the project to foster meaningful exchanges between its students from both countries. Now in its fourth edition, the collaboration has evolved into a robust COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) model and into two major physical exhibitions staged in Singapore and New York, allowing students to engage and share learning experiences across continents.

                    What began as an opportunity to bridge geographical and cultural gaps has now matured into a structured system that can be expanded to other countries and more students around the world. By continuing to build on this foundation, the project paves the way for a deeper understanding of our students’ backgrounds, cultures and experiences, enriching fashion education through diverse perspectives and shared creative exploration. I would like to thank everyone at the Museum of FIT, including, Valerie Steele, TanyaMelendez-Escalante, Gabrielle Lauricella, Melissa Marra-Alvarez, Eileen Costa, Frida McKeon Loyola, Michael Goitia, Ryan Wolfe, Thomas Synnamon, and Kenneth Wiesinger, as well as FIT faculty members Andrea Diodati and Lauren Zodel, for yet another wonderful Cross-Pollination Project.
                    I also want to extend my congratulations to the team at LASALLE College of theArts, including Kathryn Shannon Sim, Charles Rezandi, Adrian Huang, Cristina Kountiou, Felix Sng, Alison Schooling, Michelle Zhang, Steve Thio, Alvin Tang, Allysha Nila, Natsuko Teruya, Shum Qihao, Kee Cheng Heng, Daniela Monasterio, Lidya Chrisfens, Liu Tingzhi and Thomas Wong for making this project another successful run.
                    Lastly, special thanks to Zoe Peña and Jacky Tang from the bbase Design Group for their invaluable support to our teaching team and students. Your contributions, including providing educational resources and prototyping our students’ eyewear designs, have been immensely appreciated. We look forward to another incredible year of collaboration with you.

In 2009 when I started the Cross-Pollination project, my goals were humble. I wantedThe Museum at FIT to be a space for dialogue among students from New York and abroad, having fashion exhibitions as the starting point. Over the years and multiple countries and colleges, the experience has been transformative for me as a museum professional, and for many participating students and faculty members.
                    Our Cross-Pollination journey with LASALLE College of the Arts started in 2018, with an exhibition that explored how our understanding of the natural world was represented in fashion. Since then, our collaborations have grown significantly, including this printed publication, and exhibitions in Singapore and New York. This year, the inspiration for students was Africa’s Fashion Diaspora, an exhibition that shared much with Cross-Pollination: both are at their core a celebration of talent beyond borders, and an appreciation for those who are different from us, who can help us see a richer version of the world. The exhibition had a number of themes, but three were extracted to be used in the classroom to guide students’ exploration, MOTHERS& MOTHERLAND, MONUMENTAL CLOTH, and HISTORY IS POLITICAL. As you go through the pages of this publication, you will see how students on opposite sides of the world interpreted these themes through objects of fashion.

                    Cross-Pollination is a tremendous amount of work, and it is thanks to the generosity and creativity of faculty members that its objectives come to fruition.I want to thank them profusely, for being the champions of this project. Students, of course, are at the center of Cross-Pollination. We, educators, are here to provide them with opportunities to reflect on themselves and the world that surrounds them, and turn all that information into their creations.
                    Thank you Andrea Diodati and Lauren Zodel, our FIT faculty members who are always willing to run with the ideas that we present to them. Thank you to our wonderful and dedicated colleagues and friends at LASALLE, Circe Henestrosa, Kathryn Shannon Sim, Adrian Huang, and Charles Rezandi. At MFIT, we thank our director, Valerie Steele, for her unwavering support of our educational initiatives, Gabrielle Lauricella for curating this year’s New York student exhibition, as well as our colleagues Eileen Costa, Frida McKeon, Michael Goitia, Ryan Wolfe, Thomas Synnamon, Kenneth Wiesinger, and many more for their support.