​​​ALEXANDRA CABRAL was born in the Alentejo in 1978 and lives in Lisbon. She has divided her professional activity between Lisbon, Beja and Mértola. She holds a Ph.D. in Design (Fashion), with a theoretical-practical thesis on functional textiles applied to costume design (Design of Dynamic and Interactive Costumes for Performance Art), and Licentiate and M.A. (Fashion and Contemporary Work of Art: Processes, Approaches and Contaminations in the Work of Joana Vasconcelos) degrees in Fashion Design, from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon.

 

She has taught Fashion Design, Costume Design and Fashion Materials in Bachelor's, Master's, PhD and technical and professional training courses at FA-ULisboa, ESART–IPCB, ESTAL, ETIC, Modatex, World Academy, Lisbon School of Design and Raffles Design Institute Shanghai. She lectures at Lusófona University.

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​She is a researcher of CIAUD-FAUL and her research can be found in papers and book chapters. She coordinates the projects “The Performative Body in Fashion Design and Costume Processes” and “Identity and Heritage at Disciplinary Intersections in Fashion and Design”. 

 

Her research interests are fashion as a work of art and creative industry; costume, textiles and somatic artistic expression; fashion, heritage and sustainability. She has multifaceted experience in the area of Fashion since 2001, in design,styling, design management, creative direction, costume design.

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She is the Creative Director of PONTE – International Fashion and Performance Meeting (2023-), an event currently co-produced by Via Criativa Association – Design for Local Development, which she co-founded in Mértola, in 2015. She coordinates the participatory design project “Designing the Future Land”, funded in 2021/22 by the Healthy Neighborhoods Program (Portuguese Government), promoted by the same association, which was prized, in 2024, with the 3rd Place in the Professional Category Product/Fashion of the international TraMod Awards, Tramod Academy Istanbul.

 

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