British Fashion and Social Change in the 20th Century 3301-KB2412
The course proposes to examine fashion as a system of signs, whose meaning can be interpreted and connected to social, political, economic and cultural history. The methodology used to examine sartorial practices is based on the principle that fashion is a form of communication and that as such it can be subject to analysis as any other text of culture. Therefore, the discussion of changing styles and trends in fashion is informed by fashion theory and criticism, as well as elements of semiotics. Using photographs, fragments of films, newspapers, magazines, diaries and memoirs students discover and discuss the relation between dress and social change in Britain in the 20th century. Suffragettes' and feminists' attitude to fashion is presented as indicative of the political function of clothing. Diverse approaches to fashion among women's right activists are illustrated with the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) urge to dress fashionably and the strong anti-fashion stance of the second-wave feminism. The impact of World War I and World War II (the British Utility Clothing Scheme of 1941) on female fashion will be discussed in relation to promotion of more masculine styles for women. Revolutionary changes in fashion in the 1960s epitomised by Mary Quant's and Barbara Hulanicki's designs are to be examined in a wider context of democratisation and levelling of class diffrences as well as women's rights legislation. Finally the role of fashion as a tool of political subversion is to be analysed on the example of styles adopted by the Punk subculture.
Type of course
Mode
Remote learning
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students know and understand:
K_W02 at an advanced level, key terminology, main methods and theories of research on British visual culture (in particular regarding social changes in British fashion) within the framework of English philology;
K_W03 at an advanced level, tendencies in the development of cultural studies, in particular the history and theory of fashion within the English philology;
K_W05 at an advanced level of grammar, syntax, phonology, phonetics, morphology, pragmatics of the English language;
K_W07 principles of designing cultural studies, in particular the use of methods and tools in formulating research problems.
Skills
Students can:
K_U01 use the terminology and conceptual apparatus in the field of cultural studies, in particular regarding the history and theory of fashion;
K_U02 use the methodology of cultural studies within the English philology, respecting the standards of scientific ethics and copyright
K_U04 use the acquired knowledge to describe and solve problems and perform tasks related to the discipline of science about culture and religion
K_U11 design their own development path
Social competence
Students are ready to:
K_K02 lifelong learning and personal development, using the skills to select subjects and projects corresponding to the interests of a given person
K_K03 taking responsibility for one's own work and respecting the work of others, taking care to observe the principles of professional ethics as well as ethical principles and standards in project activities and other activities undertaken as part of professional work, volunteering, etc.
Language education at the B2 + level.
Students will have learned to identify fashion of each decade of the 20th century as well as connect the arrival of specific trends to social and political transformations.
B2+ language training
In class discussions students acquire skills of expressing their thoughts in a clear, coherent, logical and precise manner, with the use of language which is correct grammatically, lexically and phonetically.
Assessment criteria
Three absences are allowed.
ASSESSMENT:
Attendance, participation, presentation - 20%
Final test - 80%
GRADING:60-65 % - 3; 66-70 % - 3,5; 71-80 % - 4; 81-90 % - 4,5; 91-100 % - 5
Retake exam during a retake session
Bibliography
Adams, R. (2008). “The Englishness of English Punk: Sex Pistols, Subcultures, and Nostalgia.” Popular Music and Society, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 469-488.Barnard, M. (Ed.). (2007). Fashion Theory, London: Routledge.Barnard, M. (1996). Fashion as Communication. London: Routledge.Barthes, R. (2013). The Language of Fashion, London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.Breward, C. (2002). Style and Subversion: Postwar Poses and the Neo-Edwardian Suit in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain, Gender & History, 14(3), pp. 560–583.Clark, D. (Ed.). (1991). Marriage, Domestic Life and Social Change, London: Routledge.Craik, J., & Peoples, S. (2006). Exhibition Review: Vivienne Westwood: 34 Years in Fashion, Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, 10(3), pp. 387-399. Craik, J. (1995). The Face of Fashion. Cultural Studies in Fashion. London: Routledge.Crane, D. (2000). Fashion and Its Social Agendas, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Fawcett, H. (2006). Fashioning The Second Wave: Issues Across Generations, Studies in the Literary Imagination, 39(2).Hall, S. (Ed.). (2002). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage Publications.Lewis, J. (1994). Women in Britain since 1945, Oxford: Blackwell.McRobbie, A. (1998). British Fashion Design, London: Routledge.McRobbie, A. (1999). In the Culture Society, London: Routledge.Mirzoeff, N. (Ed.). (2005). The Visual Culture Reader. New York: Routledge.Rose, C. (2011). Continuity and Change in Edwardian Children’s Clothing, Textile History, 42(2), pp. 145-161.Wilcox, C. (2008). Vivienne Westwood. London: V&A Publications.Wilson, E. (2013). Adorned in Dreams, London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.Woodward, K. (Ed.). (2009). Identity and Difference. Culture, Media and Identities. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: