Wardrobe Stories
Parsons School of Design: Sch. Art and Dsgn Hist and Th
CRN: 9048
Credits: 3
This course explores the worlds of clothing through the interplay of image, clothing, and text. It is inspired by the only photo I have of my grandfather as a child standing between his two brothers, taken in the early 20th century during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The three brothers wear Korean, Japanese, and Western formal dress in recognition of the competing colonial empires of that era. Just like photographs, through clothing we seek connections to our present, past, and future. Closets too, reveal other lives lived. Wardrobes are portals that lead us into other worn worlds and dimensions. This course seeks “another way of telling” (in the words of John Berger) to make visible obscured histories, forgotten dreams, and reimagined possibilities. We will explore photography, art, performance, film, digital media and technology alongside ethnography, memoir, essays, and poetry. We will study the work of artists, writers, and thinkers who explore clothing in relation to cultural identity, the body, gender and sexuality, class, race and ethnicity. Together, we will find creative ways to locate and narrate the constantly shifting tempos, maps, and borders of our lived experience and memory through stories of the wardrobe.
College: Parsons School of Design (PS)
Department: Sch. Art and Dsgn Hist and Th (ADHT)
Campus: New York City (GV)
Course Format: Seminar (R)
Modality: In-Person
Max Enrollment: 15
Add/Drop Deadline: September 9, 2024 (Monday)
Online Withdrawal Deadline: November 17, 2024 (Sunday)
Seats Available: No
Status: Closed*
* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 8:22pm EDT 9/7/2024