Frances Corner
Professor Frances Corner OBE has over 25 years’ experience within the higher education sector at a national and international level. A Green Gown finalist in 2015, Frances champions the use of fashion as an agent for innovation and change, particularly in the areas of sustainability, health and well-being. In September 2016 she performed a TED talk entitled ‘Don’t tell me fashion is frivolous’ encouraging people put more consideration into the clothes they chose to wear. Frances plays an active role in advising stakeholders on the future of the fashion industry and the role that higher education can play in the development and support of the creative industries.
Frances was given a ‘Women: Inspiration & Enterprise’ Award in 2015 for services to Education. She was Chair of the International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes -2014-2018, Chair of Trustees of the House of Illustration, Trustee at Centre Point, and also sits on the British Fashion Council Industry Advisory Board. She has been named in the Business of Fashion 500 – a professional index of key people shaping the global fashion industry – for the last four years.
In March 2016 Frances was honoured with the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT) Distinguished Professor and PhD Supervisor Award. In 2017 she was given an honouree doctorate from the University of Gloucestershire. Frances has been named in the Business of Fashion 500 – a professional index of key people shaping the global fashion industry – for the last four years. She holds a DPhil from Oxford, publishes widely on art and design education and, in 2014, published her first book entitled ‘Why Fashion Matters’ (Thames and Hudson).