My spiritual affinity and love for clothes, modes of dress, and textile predates my physical existence. My maternal grandfather was an aṣọ òkè weaver as was his father and his father and my paternal grandfather was a tailor.

My research on critical analysis and methodologies with textile, fashion, and dress as an academic started in 2010, as part of my BA Honours thesis research at Dartmouth College as a Mellon Mays Fellow . Since then I have studied the intersections of antiblackness and anti-africanness in fashion. Looking at how fashion shapes and reflects culture, worldview, and can exist as a world making medium.

My field research has taken me everywhere from the studio’s of luxury Nigerian fashion designers, and backstage at Lagos Fashion Design Week, to apprenticeships with immigrant African tailors, weaving schools in Iseyin and the studios of Adire dyers in Abeokuta. I wrote and published an essay on clothing and healing for The Funambulist in 2017, have been a commissioned writer for Style House Files— the developers of Lagos Fashion Week, and was a Judge for the State of Fashion Netherlands: Ways of Caring 2022

As an educator I have been teaching creative workshops for about 16 years. In past lives I have been an educator at the Brooklyn Museum, trained at something called the "Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers" and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at NYU

My approach to teaching + learning:

My extensive experience in “rigorous” academic environments has taught me that  more rigour is not more or better learning. Our systems do better learning new information and with generative and creative thinking when they feel safe. I approach teaching from a community of learning approach this course could not possibly download 14 yrs for research in this field. Instead it’s touching on points or entry and moments where you can explore intellectually and creatively and connect with a community of learning.

Yes! Scholarships are available based on Pay It Forward! purchases. Priority will be given to fashion designers in need who are based in Nigeria. If you would like to be placed on the list to be considered for a scholarship please email mukhtara.a.yusuf@gmail.com

Yes, sessions will be recorded and available for one week after the session.