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POP CONFERENCE 2025

Baby, It’s a Look!
Popular Music, Style, and Fashion at the Edge

March 13 - 15, 2025

Los Angeles, California

Presented by USC Thornton School of Music

With the  International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM-US) and Critical Minded


Over three exciting days of panels, roundtables, keynotes, and special events, the 23rd annual Pop Conference will explore the deep and complex relationship between popular music, style, and fashion. This year’s theme, “Baby, It’s a Look: Popular Music, Style, and Fashion at the Edge,” draws its inspiration from a 2017 Leikeli47 lyric and marks the first joint gathering of PopCon and IASPM-US since 2012.

Fashion and music are inextricably linked, from Josephine Baker’s banana skirt, Cab Calloway’s zoot suits, Billie Holiday’s signature gardenia, to The Beatles’ mop-top haircuts. Today, the connection between pop music and fashion remains stronger than ever. Visualizers thrive on streaming platforms; fashion runways in Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and Johannesburg deploy pop music to bring designers’ visions to life; and musicians themselves blaze new trails designing streetwear collections and serving as creative directors for major fashion houses. 

But style has always been much more than just commerce or escapism—it has long been a space for critique, refusal, defiance, and radical expression. At its most powerful, style challenges norms, blurs boundaries, and pushes artistic and cultural frontiers, moving us right to the edge. 

This year’s conference returns to USC’s Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles just months after January 2025’s catastrophic Eaton and Palisades wildfires, and during a time of profound global upheaval and turmoil. The 2025 “Baby, It’s a Look: Popular Music, Style, and Fashion at the Edge” conference presents a remix, an opportunity to reconsider how fashion and music shape the world we live in, reflecting our realities, struggles, and aspirations while leading us toward the very edge of what feels possible.

Open to the public and free admission with conference registration on Eventbrite. Some events may require separate registration.
CA

Catherine Acosta

Vans, A VF Company
Product Archivist and Historian
avatar for Christopher SW Anderson

Christopher SW Anderson

The University of British Columbia
PhD. Candidate
avatar for Jose G. Anguiano

Jose G. Anguiano

California State University, Los Angeles
Associate Professor
avatar for Alexandria Arrieta

Alexandria Arrieta

University of Southern California
PhD Student
avatar for Trish Bendix

Trish Bendix

MTV Networks
Managing Editor at AfterEllen.com
JR

Jordan R. Brown

Harvard University
Graduate Candidate
avatar for Timothy Anne Burnside

Timothy Anne Burnside

Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture
Curatorial Museum Specialist
RB

Rikki Byrd

University of Texas, Austin
avatar for A.D. Carson

A.D. Carson

University of Virginia
Professor of Hip-Hop
avatar for Xóchitl C. Chávez

Xóchitl C. Chávez

University of California Riverside
Music Department
avatar for Jackie Clary

Jackie Clary

Archival Researcher
CM

Courtney M. Cox

University of Oregon
avatar for Jacob Cupps

Jacob Cupps

Washington University in St. Louis
avatar for Richel Cuyler

Richel Cuyler

Dartmouth College
Technical Developer, Hood Museum of Art
JD

John Davis

University of Maryland
Curator, Special Collections in Performing Arts
avatar for Laina Dawes

Laina Dawes

Case Western Reserve University
avatar for Kyle DeCoste

Kyle DeCoste

Tulane University
Visiting Assistant Professor
avatar for Alex Diaz-Hui

Alex Diaz-Hui

Princeton University
Ph.D. Candidate
avatar for Ambre Dromgoole

Ambre Dromgoole

Cornell University
Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Music
avatar for De Angela L. Duff

De Angela L. Duff

NYU
Associate Vice Provost and Industry Professor
JE

Jorge Estrada

California State University, Fullerton
avatar for Kirsty Fairclough

Kirsty Fairclough

School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University
Professor of Screen Studies
IF

Izzy Fincher

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
avatar for Paul David Flood

Paul David Flood

Eastman School of Music
AB

Abigail Byrd Glidewell

Indiana University
PhD student
avatar for Dishanka Gogoi

Dishanka Gogoi

University of California, Merced
Graduate Student
avatar for Shana Goldin-Perschbacher

Shana Goldin-Perschbacher

Temple University
Associate Professor of Music Studies
RG

Robert Gordon

It Came Out of Memphis
Author
AG

Ahmad Greene-Hayes

Harvard University
avatar for Michelle Habell-Pallán

Michelle Habell-Pallán

University of Washington
Professor
avatar for Jewly Hight

Jewly Hight

NPR Music
Journalist
avatar for Charles L. Hughes

Charles L. Hughes

Rhodes College
avatar for Perry B. Johnson

Perry B. Johnson

University of Southern California
Adjunct Professor
avatar for Matt Jones

Matt Jones

Oklahoma City University
Assistant Professor of Musicology
avatar for Eddy Francisco Alvarez Jr.

Eddy Francisco Alvarez Jr.

California State University-Fullerton
Associate Professor and Chair
LJ

Lauron J. Kehrer

Western Michigan University
avatar for Jessica Ray King

Jessica Ray King

Washington University in St. Louis
avatar for Karlyn King

Karlyn King

Freelance Music Consultant
avatar for AJ Kluth

AJ Kluth

Case Western Reserve University
Lecturer
SL

Samuel Lamontagne

UC Riverside
avatar for Andy Leach

Andy Leach

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Senior Director of Museum & Archival Collections
avatar for Jorge N. Leal

Jorge N. Leal

UC Riverside—History Department
Assistant Professor
avatar for Abigail Lindo

Abigail Lindo

The Ohio State University
Assistant Professior of Global Black Popular Music
avatar for Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo

Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo

Brown University
David S. Josephson Assistant Professor of Music
avatar for Erin MacLeod

Erin MacLeod

Vanier College
Writer, teacher, researcher
avatar for Andrew Mall

Andrew Mall

Northeastern University
Associate Professor
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