Fashion, Politics, and the Anti-Imperial Imagination (with visuals)

Stephanie Marie R. Coo is a Filipino Chinese author of the acclaimed book, Clothing the Colony: Nineteenth-Century Philippine Sartorial Culture, 1820-1896 (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2019), which won the 39th National Book Award and the John C. Kaw Prize for Best Book in History (2022) and the prestigious IIAS-ICAS International Book Prize for Best Book in Humanities (2021), conferred biennially by a consortium of universities led by Leiden University, Netherlands. After earning her PhD in History, mention très honourable avec les félicitations du jury à l’unanimité (summa cum laude), from Université Nice Sophia Antipolis in France, Dr. Coo was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Universidad de Granada in Spain [EU Horizon 2020 – Athenea3i grant agreement no. 754446] and Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany.

Currently, she holds an associate professorship at the Ateneo de Manila University and conducts research with Centro de Humanidades, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (CHAM NOVA-FCSH), Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal, with funding from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia [2022.05581.CEECIND/CP1725/CT0031]. Her second book, Seams of Sedition: Sartorial Symbols in José Rizal’s Noli Me Tángere (Ateneo de Naga University Press, 2025) – made possible through the support of Ateneo de Manila University´s Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC), the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, and the Philippine Embassy in Portugal – was, and will be, presented at the Leipzig (March 2025) and Frankfurt Book Fairs (October 2025), where the Philippines is the Guest of Honour Nation. Email: stephaniecoo@fcsh.unl.pt