Regina Root

Dr. Regina A. Root is an international expert whose scholarship is far-ranging in the areas of art, design and culture. She is the editor of the upcoming Bloomsbury Visual Arts series on Fashion in Action.

Reviewers have pointed to The Latin American Fashion Reader as the first book to take a broad look at the influence of Latin American culture on global fashion trends. She is the author of Couture and Consensus, translated and revised in Spanish as Vestir la nación. The Handbook of Fashion Studies, in collaboration with other experts, presents an overview of the field's history, methodologies, and current debates. She serves on various editorial boards and has co-edited time-sensitive issues on the topics of Ecofashion, Latin American Fashion Now, and Brazilian Fashion. Pasado de Moda represents a lengthy, multi-disciplinary collaboration on Argentina’s fashion chronology. Her next book reimagines the role of the creative industries during the pandemic. Root is especially interested in the tensions inherent to design research and practice, design justice, and the terms of cultural diplomacy. She has served as president of the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies and as president ad honorem of Latin America’s fashion congress scientific committee within Ixel Moda. Root has assessed proposals for the creative industries as an international juror and consultant. She has held grants from entities like the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, the Fulbright Commission, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

At William & Mary, Root brings together groups of students with artists and design professionals, museums, and university colleagues, to facilitate professional experiences geared towards artifact-based research and cultural inquiry.