The lecture traces the social and cultural histories of fashion from the early 20th century to the present, and provides an overview over the historical significance of fashion in relation to cultural and social processes.

This lecture aims to develop a broad understanding of the historical development of fashion and explores the values, ideas and aesthetic concepts underpinning historical and contemporary fashion cultures. Key fashion designers, styles, movements and events which have shaped fashion in the 20th and 21st centuries are examined in relation to the ways in which fashion communicates social identities and discusses concepts related to identity politics, gender, race and ethnicity.

Written exam at the end of the term.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Riello, Giorgio, 2020: Back in Fashion: Western Fashion from the Middle Ages to the Present. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
• Entwistle, Joanne, 2000: The Fashioned Body – Fashion, Dress and Modern Social Theory. Cambridge/Malden: Polity Press.
• Evans, Caroline, 2003: Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity, and Deathliness. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
• Lehnert, Gertrud, 2014: Mode – Theorie, Geschichte und Ästhetik einer kulturellen Praxis. Bielefeld: Transcript.
• Geczy, Adam, 2013: Fashion and Orientalism: Dress, Textiles and Culture from the 17th to the 21st Century. New York: Berg.
• Troy, Nancy, 2003: Couture Culture: A Study in Modern Art and Fashion. Cambridge/London: MIT Press.
• Edward Said, 1993: Culture and Imperialism. London: Chatto & Windus.
• Cullen, Oriole, Burks, Connie Karol, 2023: Gabrielle Chanel. Exhibition Catalogue. London: V&A Publishing.
• Bailey, David and Richard J. Powell, 1997: Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance. University of California Press.
• Parkins, Ilya, 2012: Poiret, Dior and Schiaparelli: Fashion, Femininity and Modernity. London/New York: Berg.
• Carron de la Carriere, Marie-Sophie, 2022: Shocking: The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli. Exhibition Catalogue. London: Thames & Hudson.
• Eugenia Paulicelli, 2004: Fashion Under Fascism. Beyond the Black Shirt. Oxford/New York: Berg.
• Victoria de Grazia, 1992: How Fascism Rules Women. Italy, 1922-1945. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press.
• Mario Lupano & Alessandra Vaccari (eds.), 2009: Una giornata moderna: Moda e Stili nell’Italia Fascista. Bologna: Damiani.
• Irene Guenther, 2004: Nazi Chic? Fashioning Women in the Third Reich. Oxford/New York: Berg.
• Bennemann, Nils (ed.), 2018: Glanz und Grauen : kulturhistorische Untersuchungen zur Mode und Bekleidung in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Exhibition Catalogue. Ratingen: LVR-Industriemuseum.
• Breward, Christopher, 2003: Fashion. Oxford History of Art. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
• Palmer, Alexandra, 2019: Christian Dior: History & Modernity 1947-1957. Exhibition Catalogue. Hirmer.
• Pavitt, Jane, 2008: Fear and Fashion in the Cold War. London: V&A Publishing.
• The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols Film. Directed by Julien Temple, 2000.
• Mendes, Valerie and Amy del Haye, 1999: 20th Century Fashion. London: Thames & Hudson.
• Granata, Francesca, 2017: Experimental Fashion: Performance Art, Carnival and the Groteseque Body. London: I.B. Tauris.