Sarah Cheang

Sarah Cheang is Professor of Global Design History at the Royal College of Art, where she joined in 2011 and has led the History of Design Programme since 2020. She is based in the School of Arts & Humanities and is a founder member of the Research Collective for Decoloniality and Fashion, working with international scholars to counter Eurocentricism in fashion studies.

Her educational background includes a BA in History of Design from Brighton University, an MA in Art History from Sussex University, and a DPhil from Sussex University completed in 2003. Her doctoral work focused on Western representations of China and the collecting/consumption of Chinese material culture in Britain from 1890.

Cheang's research spans Chinese material culture, fashion history, decolonial theory, and the intersections of race, gender, and ethnicity. Her work has significantly contributed to understanding East Asian fashion, cultural translation, and decolonial approaches to design history. She has published extensively on topics including chinoiserie, hair studies, material culture, and fashion globalization.

Her recent publications reveal a strong focus on decolonial methodologies in fashion studies, with particular attention to transnational perspectives and non-Western fashion histories. The themes across her work demonstrate consistent engagement with issues of cultural translation, power dynamics in fashion, and alternative knowledge production that challenges Eurocentric frameworks.

• Pasold Prize 2009 for best article in Textile History
• AHRC Network Award for Fashion and Translation project

Cheang has actively supervised numerous PhD students, both current and completed, reflecting her commitment to mentoring the next generation of design historians. Her teaching interests focus on shaping more inclusive curricula and decolonial approaches to global history through experimental teaching methods and the research-led initiative OPEN. She has also been instrumental in curatorial projects, including the twentieth-century section of the exhibition 'Chinese Whispers: Chinoiserie in Britain 1650-1930' which won best temporary exhibition at the Museum and Heritage Awards.