Monica Geraffo
PhD Student
Monica Geraffo (she/her) is a fashion historian and PhD student in Theater and Performance Studies at UCLA. Interested in performances of luxury, modernity, and nationalism, her dissertation explores the use of synthetic fabrics by couture designers in the Cold War Era. Her work can be found via writings in the Film Fashion & Consumption Journal and appearances with San Diego Comic Con and TEDxBoston. She also works as an independent costume exhibition preparator, primarily with FIDM Museum Los Angeles, and as a co-host of VoxPopcast, a weekly pseudo-academic roundtable podcast. Growing up as a historical reenactor and museum interpreter, she is dedicated to de-institutionalizing knowledge through public history and the study of popular culture.
Research Interests
Fashion and Textile History, Performance Studies, Cold War Culture, Speculative Design, Museum Studies
Education
MA, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory and Museum Practice, Fashion Institute of Technology
BA, Screen Arts and Cultures, University of Michigan
Publications
“A Gallery of Rogues and a Hall of Trophies: The Performance of Conservation in the Batcave Collection” Batman….Also Starring: Essays on the Caped Crusader’s Supporting Cast [Forthcoming]
“Evolutionary Wardrobes: The Significance of Costume Changes in Animated Television” Futures of Cartoons Past: The Cultural Politics of X-Men: The Animated Series, University Press of Mississippi [Forthcoming]
“One Moment in Time: Willi Smith and Mary Jane’s Wedding Dress” The Middle Spaces [Public Scholarship] 2021
“Not So Fast! A Case for Revisiting the Costume Designs of the 1990s Flash Television Series” The Middle Spaces [Public Scholarship] 2021
“No Tights, No Flights: Constructing the Teen Television Superhero Wardrobe” Film, Fashion and Consumption Journal, Intellect, 2021
“The House of Van Dyne: Defining Marvel’s Superhero Fashion Designer” Film, Fashion and Consumption Journal, Intellect, 2020
Presentations
“UC on Strike!: Preserving Protest for Strike Success in Higher Ed Labor” Wayne State University Reuther Library, 2024
*Invited Keynote Co-Presenter
“Savage or Sensational: Plus Size Fashion and Sexuality with Marvel’s She-Hulk” The Comics Arts Conference at San Diego Comic Con, 2022
“Marvel Does the Met: Mutant Fashion and the Hellfire Gala” Pop Culture Association National Conference, 2022
“Beyond the Superhero Costume” TEDxBoston, 2022
“The House of Van Dyne: Defining Marvel’s Superhero Fashion Designer” The Comics Arts Conference at Comic Con, 2021
“The Other Spandex Super Suit: Fashion in Marvel Illustrated Swimsuit,” Digital Frontier’s Flyover Comics Symposium, 2020
“Designing Van Dyne: The Wasp, Fashion, and an Excess of Femininity,” Co-Presenter, Michigan State University Comics Forum, East Lansing, Michigan, 2020
“Power Dressing: The Superhero Costume and Streetwear as Rebellion,” Comics Studies Society, 2019
“S&M: Sex and Marvel, The Use of Fetish Gear in The Uncanny X-Men,” Comics Arts Conference at San Diego Comic Con, 2019
“DIY-stopia: Archizoom’s Dressing is Easy and the Paradox of Hand Sewing in Technological Utopias,” FIT Grad Studies Symposium, 2019
“Seeing Double: An Investigation of Two Red Ojibwa Jackets,” Costume Society of America, Seattle, Washington, 2019
“Secret Identities: Marvel Superheroes, Fashion Trends, and Subcultural Streetwear” Comics/Fandom Workshop, University of Cologne, 2019
“From Romance Comics to X-Men, The Psycho-Symbolism of Fashion and Female Sexuality in Cold War Comics,” Co-Presenter, Michigan State University Comics Forum, 2019
“Heroes for Hire: Teen Superheroes and the Market of Identity Construction,” Fashion Costume and Visual Cultures Conference, University of Zagreb, 2018
“The Anti-Costume: Storm’s Mohawk and the Politics of Fashionable Streetwear,” Comics Arts Conference at Wondercon, 2018
Awards
UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship, 2024
Exploratory Research Grant, Hagley Museum and Library, 2023
Hillary Chute Honorable Mention for Best Graduate Student Presentation, Comics Studies Society, 2020
