Alongside its material and visual forms, our collective notions of fashion have largely been shaped through language. Throughout time and place, writers have probed clothing’s numerous aspects, using it to augment their individual narratives. This writing-intensive course will explore a range of current and historical fashion writing, from memoirs and criticism to editorial and copywriting, in order to develop an understanding of fashion writing as a varied set of genres, under the wider areas of fiction, non-fiction and fashion work. This course welcomes guest speakers to share a diversity of perspectives and stylistic approaches, including novelists, fashion industry professionals and fashion studies scholars. In reading, we will question how language shifts and hinges on industry and cultural developments; and address themes such as gender and the body; and clothing’s links to art, identity-building, geopolitics and activism. Through a series of workshops, students will experiment with voice, style and form as they build a portfolio and hone their understanding of what writing does and can do, in relation to their own professional goals, interests and values. Students will also have the opportunity to contribute the work undertaken to BIAS: The Journal of Fashion Studies for publication in Spring 2024.