Dr Jo Jenkinson
Reader and Deputy Head
As Deputy Head of Manchester Fashion Institute I am committed to making Fashion education accessible. As a first-generation student who found my way into Higher Education through my love of Fashion, I view Fashion as an enabler and a gateway into lifelong learning. I enjoy working collaboratively across sectors and disciplines in my leadership roles and in my research. I co-lead the F/fashion Narratives research group with Dr Benjamin Wild at Manchester Met. and the international research network Locating Menswear.
Academic and professional qualifications
Graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1993 with a 1st class degree in BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Technology, I have since been awarded a PGCert in Academic Practice (2007), HEA Senior Fellow status (2019) and my PhD (2023).
Previous employment
I have over 20 years of international industry experience including senior design positions with River Island, Ted Baker, Levis, Dockers and Denham. In 2004 I established a luxury unisex brand, Avelon, that sold globally into stores including Liberty London and Jeffrey New York. This experience continues to influence my work, and I am fortunate to be part of exciting collaborative projects such as Portrait Youth and Locating Menswear that bring research, education and industry together.
Government and industry links
Through my work with the British Fashion Council and the Association of Fashion and Textiles Colleges I regularly contribute to round table discussions on education policy and practices.
Membership of professional associations
Higher Education Authority, Senior Fellow (SFHEA).
British Fashion Council (BFC), Colleges Council, steering committee member.
Fashion and Textile Colleges Association (FTC), steering committee member.
External Examiner /Advisor
Undergraduate: De Montfort University, Southampton Solent University, Bath Spa University, Falmouth University, NCAD, Dublin, AMFI, Amsterdam
Postgraduate: Nottingham Trent University, London College of Fashion
PhD: Liverpool John Moores University
Postgraduate research supervision
Jennifer Richards, PhD (2025) ‘Manifesting the Gothic: Reflections on Fashion and Visual Culture’.
Julian Randall, PhD in progress, ‘Black American Men’s Lived Experiences of Dress: Examining Dress and Identity Through a Framework of Race, Black Masculinity and Cultural Expression’.
Ruth Eaton, PhD in progress. ‘Thanks! It has Pockets! The Intertextual Pocket on Twitter (2006 – 2021)’.
Sarah Collins, PhD in progress. ‘Identikit: Exploring fan participation in the design process of the football shirt’.
Sophie Scott, PhD in progress, ‘Wear your Waste: A Practical Investigation Exploring Fashion as a Fragment to Produce a Framework for SMEs’.
Please get in touch if you are interested in finding out more about studying for an MRes or PhD.
Research
Research interests
My research examines the intersections between fashion, gender, and youth - how dress relates to identity formation for young people, and how memories of youth live with us through dress throughout the life course. I enjoy working collaboratively, across disciplines, using creative methods that position dress as a biographical lens or method through which lived experience is articulated and understood.
Academic collaborations
Locating Menswear began as an AHRC funded network investigating the cultural and industrial connections between London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Milan, Italy, and how they have influenced the production, display, and consumption of British menswear. Led by me and Professor Andrew Groves, Director of the Westminster Menswear Archive (PI) with Dr Danielle Sprecher (WMA), Dr Susan Atkin (Man Met.), Paul Owens (Liverpool John Moores University) and partners including C.P. Company and Sevenstore. The network hosts a biennial forum which encourages contributions from academics, industry professionals and those with lived experience of menswear.
Portrait Youth documents the personal and collective identities of youth through portrait photography. The project invites young people from Greater Manchester and beyond to take part in creative ‘wear your identity’ workshops that explore the communication of identity through fashion, styling and dress. Since 2017 myself and co-founder John Earnshaw have worked with over 100 young people and many collaborators on the project, most recently Dr Laura Way, Adam Johnson, Following Young Fathers Further, North East Young Dads and Lads (NEYDL) and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. We welcome new collaborations.
Conference organisation
Conference Committee, Futurescan (2022 > date)
Conference Chair, Locating Menswear (2024 > date)
Conference Committee, New Research in Dress Histories Conference, Manchester Met. (2023)
Conference Committee, IFFTI, Manchester Met. (2019)
Grants
AHRC network bid (Co-I), ‘Locating ‘the Absent Shadow’: Exploring Connections and Encounters in British Menswear’, with Professor Andrew Groves (PI), £34,469, 2022.
ESRC festival of social science exhibition (PI), ‘Portrait Youth: Reclaiming the Narrative’, with Fatima Khan (Co-I), Alice Kettle, John Earnshaw, Maryam Wahid, £1000, 2022.
GMCA/Design Manchester funded exhibition (Co-I), Portrait Youth, with John Earnshaw and Zoë Hitchen, Manchester Central Library, Manchester Youth Council, £3000, 2017.
ESRC festival of social science workshop (Co-I), Identi-Tee, with Hannah Smithson (PI), Zoe Hitchen, Kelly Joseph, Rebecca Neary, MCYS, ESRC, The Childrens Society, £457.84, 2017.
Exhibitions
Jenkinson, J., Way, L., Johnson, A., 2024. North East Young Dads and Lads: Portrait Youth, The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, 19/11/2024 - 1/6/2025.
Jenkinson, J., Khan, F., Earnshaw, J., Kettle, A., Wahid, M., 2022. Reclaiming the Narrative: Portrait Youth, British Muslim Heritage Centre, 22/10/2022 - 27/10/2022.
Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Kelly, R., 2022. Portrait Youth x Dandy Style, Manchester Art Gallery, 7/10/2022 - 1/5/2023.
Groves, A., Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Bedford, N., 2022. Through A Lens, Nexus, Leeds University, 7/9/2022 - 8/9/2022.
Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Groves, A., Bedford, N., 2021. Portrait Youth x C.P. Company, Blackburn and Darwen, 30/9/2021 - 10/10/2021.
Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Glazzard, J., 2019. Portrait Youth x The Proud Trust, KAMPUS, 21/8/2019 - 11/9/2019.
Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Powell, M., 2019. Portrait Youth x Getting Out for Good, Manchester Metropolitan University, 26/6/2019 - 1/11/2019.
Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Gwatkin, A., 2019. Portrait Youth: Wearing Identity, IFFTI Conference. Fashion: ID. Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester Art Gallery., 30/3/2019 - 7/7/2019.
Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Hitchen, Z., 2018. Portrait Youth X Fashion:ID - Youth Transforming, Bunka Fashion College, Japan., 17/5/2018.
Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., Hitchen, Z., 2017. Portrait Youth, Central Library, Manchester, 7/10/2017 - 30/11/2017.
Book Chapters
Jenkinson, J., 2023. 'Wardrobes and soundtracks: resources for memories of youth'. In Slater, A., Atkin, S., Kealy-Morris, E. (eds.) Memories of Dress: recollections of material identities, pp. 99-116, Bloomsbury Academic.
Jenkinson, J.K., 2017. 'Unisex Fashion'. In Eicher, J.B., Tortora, P.G. (eds.) Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Journal Articles
Khan, F., Jenkinson, J., 2026. 'Young Muslim Women's Self-Styling: A Decolonial Research Architecture', Fashion Theory.
Groves, A., Jenkinson, J., 2025. 'Editorial: Locating Menswear', Critical Studies in Men's Fashion, 12 (1-2), pp. 3-7.
Groves, A., Jenkinson, J., 2025. 'Locating identity in self-styled portraits: Youth, masculinity and subcultural capital through a C.P. Company lens', Critical Studies in Men's Fashion, 12 (1-2), pp. 9-30.
Jenkinson, J.K., 2020. '‘Wear your Identity’: Styling identities of youth through dress - a conceptual model.', Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 7 (1), pp. 73-99.
Non-Peer Reviewed Articles
Jenkinson, J., 2018. 'Cultures of Youth: New narratives of style and identity', Document 17, pp. 44-49.
Conference Papers
Jenkinson, J., 2026. 'Fashion as method: repositioning fashion as a conduit to lived experiences of youth.', London College of Fashion, UAL, UK, 24/3/2025 - 28/3/2025, in 27th IFFTI Annual Conference.
Jenkinson, J., 2025. 'Biographical wardrobes and soundtracks: How the cultural practices of dress and music adopted in youth impact on self-affirmation across the life course.', FCVC2025: Fashioning Ageing, Emotion, and Memory in Film, Fashion Media, and Clothing., Rovinj, Croatia, 18/7/2025 - 19/7/2025.
Andrew, G., Danielle, S., Jenkinson, J., Paul, O., 2023. 'Locating Menswear – A non-hierarchical exploration of place and community.', Dress Devolution, Falmouth University, 6/7/2023 - 7/7/2023.
Jenkinson, J., 2023. 'Wardrobes and Soundtracks: Resources for Memories of Youth', New Research in Dress Histories Conference, Manchester Metropolitan University, 21/4/2023 - 21/4/2023.
Jenkinson, J., Kelly, R., Earnshaw, J., 2022. 'Dandy Style and Portrait Youth', 49th Annual Costume Society of America Symposium, Salt Lake City, Utah, 23/5/2023 - 27/5/2023.
Groves, A., Jenkinson, J., Earnshaw, J., 2022. 'Through a Lens – A comparison of contested masculine identities as reflected in clothing, place, and portraiture.', Futurescan 5, Leeds University, 7/9/2022 - 8/9/2022.
Jenkinson, J., Joseph, K., 2019. '‘I wear what I want to wear’: Youth, style and identity at the fashion and business Saturday club.', IFFTI Fashion: ID, Manchester Metropolitan University, 8/4/2019 - 12/4/2019, in https://fashioninstitute.mmu.ac.uk/ifftipapers/paper-138/.
Jenkinson, J.K., 2015. 'Dress, Music, Gender and Emotion: Methods for exploring lived experience of women in post-war youth culture.', Fashion and Gender Symposium, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1/5/2015 - 2/5/2015, in Conference Proceedings. Edited by Kim.K.P.Johnson, pp. 18-19.
Presentations
Jenkinson, J., 2024. 'Who’s Ordinary? Manchester Girls’ Narratives of Dress and Identity', London College of Fashion.
Jenkinson, J., 2021. 'Portrait Youth: Documenting narratives of youth through styling and dress.', Human Stories of Dress Series, The Sartorial Society (online).
Eagle, R., Jenkinson, J., 2019. 'Labelling Ourselves? Fashion, Gender and Social Identity', HOME, Manchester.
Theses and Dissertations
Jenkinson, J.K., 2023. 'Wardrobes and Soundtracks: Women’s Narratives of Youth, Experienced and Remembered through Dress and Music'.
Office Location
Room RG.07
Righton Building
Manchester Fashion Institute
Manchester Metropolitan University
Cavendish Street
Manchester M15 6BG
Office Hours
Please email for an appointment