FSN 509

This unit examines fashion in the period from c.1750 to the present day by means of primary and secondary literature, visual representations and surviving objects. The unit will provide an in-depth knowledge of the period and familiarize the student with central debates, issues, resources and working methods in fashion studies. Selected themes from the period will cover both production and consumption and will include the origins of mass-production and the so-called democratization of fashion; its relation to the modern city and modern notions of identity; fashion dissemination such as developments in retailing and shopping and the emergence of mass circulation fashion magazines; the rise of the textile and fashion designer and the fashion photographer and the ethics of fashion. Throughout the unit, the central importance of gender, class, modernity and tradition will be explored.