PLFS
4004

Courtesans in Corsets: Western Fashion in the Nineteenth Century

Parsons School of Design: Sch. Art and Dsgn Hist and Th

Liberal Arts
Undergraduate Course
Degree Students
19th Century Western Fashion
Spring 2025
Taught By: Elizabeth Morano
Section: A

CRN: 5367

Credits: 3

The political and industrial revolutions in Europe and America during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and their restructuring of society created profound changes in the style, production, consumption and representation of fashion. Our exploration of the resulting modern practices and attitudes towards dress and the body addresses in particular new definitions of gender and race, including masculine dandy style, the Cult of True Womanhood and celebrity courtesan, struggles for representation in art and media and garments of resistance, and the creation of a designer-centered fashion system. Though we focus on Paris as the model modern city of spectacle and shopping, we also consider the spaces of New York City (Ladies’ Mile, Merchant’s House, Tenement Museum) and the US in general, particularly in relation to enslaved and immigrant labor in the production of cotton and clothes. Readings include Steele’s Fashion & Eroticism, Hollander’s Sex & Suits, Beckert’s Empire of Cotton, Murrell’s Posting Modernity and Sorisio’s The Body in the Body Politic, as well as excerpts from the novels of Balzac and Zola.

Open to: All university undergraduate degree students. Pre-requisite(s): first-year university writing course and at least two prior history or methods course in art, media, film, or visual culture. This course counts toward the Gender Studies minor. One of these courses should be 3000-level.

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: 20

Add/Drop Deadline: February 3, 2025 (Monday)

Online Withdrawal Deadline: April 15, 2025 (Tuesday)

Seats Available: Yes

Status: Open*

* 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: 8:16am EDT 10/7/2024

Meeting Info:
Days: Wednesday
Times: 9:00am - 11:40am
Building: TBD
Room: TBD
Date Range: 1/20/2025 - 5/14/2025