History of American Fashion. From Puritans to the Fashion Industry of the 21st century 4219-SH0036
This course offers an insight into the history and meanings of fashion in the US. It will give students a chance to gain a new understanding of fashion and garments in several aspects: as a means of self-expression, an identity marker, as an art, and an industry in a global economy. The theoretical approach combines cultural studies and social sciences theories, which allows students to appreciate cultural, social and economic aspects of fashion, and its role in the American culture. The course will require some visual learning and new vocabulary. The historical scope of the course spans from the 19th to the 21st century, and includes clothing of ethnic minorities, various classes and regions; subcultures; high fashion and the current “aesthetics” popularized on the Internet.
The goal of the course is to equip students with new research methods and theories, as well as necessary historical knowledge that will allow them to better understand, analyze and interpret the fashion and costume aspects of American music and media. Each historical period will be accompanied with cultural texts (music video, movie, photography, other…) and their interpretations of the period / type of dress. We will connect fashion with its cultural significance in Afro-American culture (eg. AfroFuturism), Native American culture, and commercial and high fashion of particular decades in American fashion. We will also look into the material and economic aspects of fashion production and their impact on trends and environment.
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
The course will entail learning about fashion periods and elements, learning some fashion terminology and memorizing images. The main portion will be dedicated to discovering the meaning of fashion and its cultural significance in America.
By the end of this course students:
1. KNOWLEDGE:
- have broadened their knowledge of the history of American fashion and cultural studies terminology
- understand how social and cultural changes are reflected in fashion
- are aware of the role of fashion and costume in cinema, photography and other art forms
2. SKILLS:
- can analyze the elements and historical context of fashion in American texts of culture
- can critically apply theory and terminology of fashion history and fashion studies
- can link fashion styles and trends to wider cultural phenomena, cultural groups and identities
3. COMPETENCES:
- know how to work in groups and engage in academic debates
- understand the role of visual media in creating, communicating and questioning identities and cultural movements
- identify and determine underlying meanings and contexts in the use of fashion
Assessment criteria
Students will be graded based on class activity (small entry tests) (30%), group presentations in which they will apply the methods learnt during the course to analyzing and presenting new Internet aesthetics (20%) and end-of-semester test (50%).
92-100% - 5 (97-100% - 5!)
84-91% - 4,5
76-83% - 4
68-75% - 3,5
60-67% - 3
Bibliography
Barnard, Malcolm. 2012. Fashion : Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Breward, Christopher. 1995. The Culture of Fashion. A New History of Fashionable Dress. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Bruzzi, Stella. 2005. Bringing Up Daddy: Fatherhood and Masculinity in Post-War Hollywood. BRI Publishing.
Bruzzi, Stella, and Pamela Church Gibson. 2014. Fashion Cultures Revisited: Theories, Explorations and Analysis. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Clothing and Fashion. American Fashion from Head to Toe. 2015. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kaiser, Susan, and Denise Green. 2021. Fashion and Cultural Studies. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kawamura, Yuniya. 2020. Doing Research in Fashion and Dress. An Introduction to Qualitative Methods. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Paulicelli, Eugenia, Veronica Manlow, and Elizabeth Wissinger, eds. 2022. The Routledge Companion to Fashion Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
Undressing Cinema: Clothing and Identity in the Movies (Routledge, 1997). n.d.
This list may be altered by the lecturer at a later date.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: