History of Fashion and Style Online Short Course

Topics covered

• Academic, historical, cultural and industry definitions of “Fashion” and “Style.” What do these words mean? How would you define them? How their meaning and use has changed with fashion.
• Physical and cultural constructions of “the body” – from undergarments to media representations and body politics.
• History of the Fashion Image and the Fashion Media: from Fashion Plate to Fashion Film. How these representations have been (and still are) crucial in creating what we think of as Fashion.
• Extravagant 18th Century court fashions and the politics of clothing during the Revolution.
• Fashion Timeline: From Regency to present day.
• The origins of the Fashion Designer, the birth of the fashion brand and the changing role of a Creative Director. How the process of designing, developing, making, showing, promoting and selling fashion has changed over this period.
• How France’s luxury industry created the modern fashion industry, and how this has changed through the 20^th and 21^st How the meaning of luxury completely changed with Globalisation and the formation of the conglomerate fashion “groups.”
• Trend and the cycles of Fashion. How nostalgia and revivals have been a key feature of Fashion for over of the last 200 plus years.
• How shopping provided social, economic and political opportunities for women, and how shopping for fashion has changed over 200 years.
• Subculture, Rebellion and “Style as Refusal.” From the French Revolutionary sans-culottes to the explosion of postwar youth culture and the legacy of street style.
• Approaches to fashion curation

Learning outcomes

• Learn about key moments in fashion history
• Reflect on the social, political and economic backdrop to fashion
• Explore approaches to fashion curation
• Receive a digital badge and certificate of attendance
  
  

Materials

Please see our Guide to taking online short courses.