This class exists in these courses :
• IÉSEG > MSc in Fashion Management > Semester 2 > 2,00 ECTS

Prerequisites

No prerequisite is needed

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student should be able to :
- have a knowledge and understanding of fashion as a social and cultural phenomenon
- critically evaluate the dynamic of the fashion process through different sociological theories
- have an understanding of the evolution of fashion meanings and fashion images from the beginnings of fashion to nowadays.
- have a critical understanding of the symbolic values of fashion and fashion brands.
- historically and semiotically contextualize the different interactions between fashion and art and the the different visions of the gender issue in the fashion history
- Assess the values of the organization in which they work
- Convey powerful messages using contemporary presentation techniques
- Effectively apply in-depth specialized knowledge to take advantage of contemporary opportunities in their professional field

Course description

Day 1
-Introduction - Content and aim
Sociology of Fashion: fashion as social phenomenon. Modernity
Visual expression of social meanings. Reading fashion as social and cultural sign = semiotic approach
1900 The Belle Epoque: Differentiation and imitation.
The Roaring Twenties: Fashion and Self-Expression (Gabrielle Chanel). The gender revolution: La garçonne. Translation in contemporary fashion.


Day 2
Fashion and the gender issue
The gender construction: Conformity and Hetero-normativity during the 50s. Christian Dior and the New look
Fashion and Cinema. Analysing the notion of the Femme Fatale and male gaze within Hollywoodian classical movies. From cinema to fashion nowadays

Day 3
From class differentiation to collective selection. Fashion and the 60s and the 70s: Blumer and the notion of Zeitgeist. Yves Saint-Laurent: fashion and the street. Post-Modernity: the new langage of fashion, art, gender. Translation into contemporary fashion

Day 4
Fashion Art, Sustanibility,Gender fluid. Ethical and Aesthetical issues in contemporary fashion. From the fast fashion and the trickle across model to the Slow Fashion as the emotional values of clothing.
From the Japoneese Avant-Garde to the new post-subcultures.


Day 5 Final assessment and group presentations starting at 10 am.

Class type

Class structure

Teaching methods

• Case study
• Interactive class
• Presentation
• Seminar

Assessment

The course assessment consists of a group research of one specific period among all those analysed during the week.
Each group of students have to write a 800words report in which explores and analyses fashion within its social and cultural context. The report has to identify the most relevant fashion issues in termes of social meanings, gender identity, art and fashion connection.
The report has to be supported by a visual illustration of the period through examples from fashion brands style, fashion images, social and cultural movements in order to demonstrate an understanding about the identified issues.
The link with contemporary fashion has to be critically discussed as a form of conclusion.

Presentation will take place on Friday at 10 am, through an in-class presentation of a 10 minutes Power point with a maximum 10 slides. Each student of the group should contribute equally to the group's workload and oral presentation. A printed copy (Helvetica font, font size 12, double spaced) will be handed in at the beginning of Friday's class. All images must be referenced and sourced. A bibliography must figure at the end of the presentation, and follow the Harvard referencing rules.

Recommended reading

• Vinken B.(2005) Fashion Zeitgeist : Trends and Cycles in the Fashion System, Berg Publishers -

• Geczy A.& Karaminas V. (2012) Fashion and Art, Berg Publishers -

• Fashion Theory, the Journal of Dress, Routledge -

• International Journal of Fashion Studies -

Internet resources

• Palais Galliera

• Victoria & Albert Museum

• Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent

• Musée des Arts Décoratifs