Eleonora Chiais
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Eleonora Chiais is a researcher at the University of Turin, where she teaches Moda e Costume (BA) and Fashion and
Creativity (MA). She also serves as the faculty advisor for students with learning disabilities (DSA) within the Dipartimento
di Studi Umanistici, is a member of the Study Course Council for the Master's degree in Cultural Heritage and Creativity for
Tourism and Territorial Development, and part of the Events Committee for the DAMS (BA) and CAM (MA) degree
programs. Formerly the coordinator of the History of Fashion course at the Milano Fashion Institute (MFI), she is now a
faculty member at the Italian Institute of Fashion Management (IIFM) and, since the 2021–2022 academic year, has been
teaching at the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna in the undergraduate program in Culture e Pratiche della
moda (Rimini campus).
As a former member of the ERC-funded project NeMoSanctI (New Models of Sanctity in Italy 1960s–2000s - A Semiotic
Analysis of Norms, Causes of Saints, Hagiography, and Narratives), her research focused in particular on the role of bodily
adornment within the Catholic Church, with a specific emphasis on the clothing of saints, both in historical and contemporary
contexts. Today, her main research interests include fashion theories and trend analysis, approached through the lens of
semiotic methodology. In this academic field, she obtained (in 2024) the National Scientific Qualification for associate
professorship (IIlevel).
Her academic background includes the participation in and organization of numerous conferences, seminars, and workshops
in both Italy and abroad, as well as the publication of several scientific articles in Italian, English, and Spanish.
She earned her Ph.D. in Turin with a dissertation on the medial modifications of the representation of the female body, based
on the analysis of the Italian edition of Vogue magazine. She is currently a member of the scientific board of the international
semiotics journal Lexia. Her monograph Moda e trasparenza. Regimi discorsivi e dialettiche tra sguardi was published in
2023 by Mimesis (Milano-Udine), and the volume Che cos’è la filosofia della moda, co-written with Stefano Marino, is f
orthcoming with Carocci (Roma).
MAIN AREAS OF SCIENTIFIC INTEREST
- Sustainable fashion, upcycling, circular economy in textiles
- Fashion and religion, fashion and rituality
- Fashion and clothing as tools for identity construction
- Fashion as a vehicle for cultural translation (global fashion)
Although IULM University takes all necessary care to ensure the publication of correct, updated and complete information, it is not responsible for the contents of the curricula published online on the Portal www.iulm.it. The holder of this curriculum vitae is the exclusive guarantor and responsible for the correctness and truthfulness of the information contained therein.
Chiais E., Marino S. (in publication), What is the philosophy of fashion, Carocci: Rome.
Chiais E. (2025), Fashion and technology: an open dialogue in Ponzo J. Stano S. (ed.), New technologiesdigital and immersive. Values, practices, cultural and therapeutic meanings, Arachne: Rome.
Chiais E.,Bariselli L. (2024), Clothing as a Vehicle of Gender Stereotypes. The Caseof Cary Grant in
"ZoneModa Journal", Vol.14 No.1 (2024), pp. 47-58.
Chiais E. (2024), Fist ergo sum. Uniformed and divided for a collective identity in Galofaro F. Sorrentino P.(ed.), The
sense of peace: perspectives on the semiotics of war, Mimesis Editions: Milan-Udine.
Chiais E. (2023), Fashion and transparency. Discursive regimes and dialectics between gazes, Mimesis Editions:Milan-Udine.
Chiais E. (2023), Political t-shirt : an iconic garment fromVivienne Westwood to Maria Grazia Chiuri at"ZoneModa Journal",
Vol.13 No.2 (2023), pp. 79-89.
Chiais E. (2022), In front of St. Peter's in sneakers e blue jeans: semiotic reflections on the clothed bodyby Carlo Acutis in
Papasidero M. Resta M. (ed.), The saints internauts 2. Hagiography, devotions and iconsdigital, Viella: Rome.
Chiais E. (2022), "Christianity is in fashion this year. Phenomena of rewriting between fashion and religioncatholicism, in
Corgnati M. (ed.), Wunderkammer 1. Writing, rewriting, erasing, Silvana Editoriale:Milan.
Chiais E., Fassone R. (2022), Fashion and the video game: a cultural contamination in D'Aloia A. PedroniM. (ed.), I
media and fashion. From cinema to social networks, Carocci: Rome.
Chiais E. (2022), Spiritual autobiographies in www formatin Ponzo J. Garofalo F. (ed.), Autobiographiesspiritual,Arachne: Rome.
Chiais E. (2022), From "Out of fashion" to Upcycling. How Art and the Fashion Industry Have.Resemantized the Word
"Recycling" in ZoneModa Journal, Vol.12 No.1 (2022), pp. 135-144.
Chiais E. (2022), Dante in the magisterium and the twentieth-century Church, in Kubas M.M., Galofaro F. (eds.),"Questions of
holiness. (Semiotic) perspectives on Dante" "Ocula", Vol.23 No.26 (2022), pp. 109-121.
Chiais E. (2021), M¥SS KETA as a collective person: Phenomenology of a mask in spectacles, veile CAPSLOCK in
Ponzo J. Vissio G. (ed.), Cultures of the person: research itineraries between semiotics,philosophy and the humanities, Academy
University Press: Turin.
Chiais E. (2021), Make Up , Make Sense: Notes on makeup between yesterday and today in Leone M. (ed.) "FacesArtificial -
Artificial Faces" "Lexia", Voll.37-38 (2021), pp. 341-356.
Chiais E. (2020), From the Bronx to the Boutiques: The Rise of Street Style in the Fashion Industry inMarino S. (ed.),
The Culture, Fashion and Society Notebook 2020, BrunoMondadori - Pearson Italy:Milan-Turin.
Chiais E. (2020), Transparent, semitransparent, opaque: tipología de los escaparates de moda in "Volvera la Moda... en le
Web" "deSignis", Vol.32 (2020), pp. 63-72.
Although IULM University takes all necessary care to ensure the publication of correct, updated and complete information, it is not responsible for the contents of the curricula published online on the Portal www.iulm.it. The holder of this curriculum vitae is the exclusive guarantor and responsible for the correctness and truthfulness of the information contained therein.