Based on the introduction courses Fashion Studies – Key Concepts and Fashion, History and Mediation, this course will enable students to reflect critically on fashion research as a practice and a process. The main methodological emphasis of the seminar will concentrate on the development and application of techniques in researching and interpreting fashion as material culture and cultural practice. In parallel to analyzing recent empirical scholarship in fashion studies students will pursue their own case-studies in which they will examine how fashion is used and positioned within a specific social and/or cultural context. Taking a qualitative research approach students will learn how to develop and approach a field study of fashion, how to generate critical research questions, how to engage in intersubjective research such as observation and interviews and how to position their own findings in relation to the scholarly discourse considering the broader framework of contemporary issues interlinked with fashion such as globalization, individualization, sustainability and ethics. The aim of the course is to enable students to cross disciplinary boundaries, to bridge ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ and to develop new and original perspectives towards future fashion research. Combined with the lecture Fashion Cultures, which opens up global perspectives on fashion as culture, system and industry, the course prepares students for their pursuit of thesis projects in the second year.

Based on the introduction courses Fashion Studies – Key Concepts and Fashion, History and Mediation, this course will enable students to reflect critically on fashion research as a practice and a process. The main methodological emphasis of the seminar will concentrate on the development and application of techniques in researching and interpreting fashion as material culture and cultural practice. In parallel to analyzing recent empirical scholarship in fashion studies students will pursue their own case-studies in which they will examine how fashion is used and positioned within a specific social and/or cultural context. Taking a qualitative research approach students will learn how to develop and approach a field study of fashion, how to generate critical research questions, how to engage in intersubjective research such as observation and interviews and how to position their own findings in relation to the scholarly discourse considering the broader framework of contemporary issues interlinked with fashion such as globalization, individualization, sustainability and ethics. The aim of the course is to enable students to cross disciplinary boundaries, to bridge ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ and to develop new and original perspectives towards future fashion research. Combined with the lecture Fashion Cultures, which opens up global perspectives on fashion as culture, system and industry, the course prepares students for their pursuit of thesis projects in the second year.