Fashion Studies is a new, multidisciplinary field that has emerged alongside the expansion of fashion into a global culture industry, growing popular interest in fashion, and renewed academic attention to the study of dress and material culture. This course introduces students to fashion theory and the diverse approaches to its study as a “field” and “practice”: From its expression as identity, a subculture, or a global industry, to its conception as power and phenomenon, we will look at how art historians, cultural theorists, anthropologists, writers, and artists have reflected on fashion through time. Class sessions will be organized around important themes that have emerged in fashion studies: the body, beauty and image, subculture and style, identity and desire, creation and consumption, art and value, etc. Students will be introduced to classic theoretical writings on fashion, draw on contemporary everyday examples for discussion, and apply learned research methods in the development of research questions that critically reflect on fashion.

Fashion Studies is a new, multidisciplinary field that has emerged alongside the expansion of fashion into a global culture industry, growing popular interest in fashion, and renewed academic attention to the study of dress and material culture. This course introduces students to fashion theory and the diverse approaches to its study as a “field” and “practice”: From its expression as identity, a subculture, or a global industry, to its conception as power and phenomenon, we will look at how art historians, cultural theorists, anthropologists, writers, and artists have reflected on fashion through time. Class sessions will be organized around important themes that have emerged in fashion studies: the body, beauty and image, subculture and style, identity and desire, creation and consumption, art and value, etc. Students will be introduced to classic theoretical writings on fashion, draw on contemporary everyday examples for discussion, and apply learned research methods in the development of research questions that critically reflect on fashion.