Fashion and Contemporary Arts

TRACK: FASHION STYLING IED FIRENZE

DESCRIPTION OF INDIVIDUAL COURSE

Course Title Fashion and Contemporary Arts

Semester Spring

Teaching Method Theory Lessons Total Hours Total Hours Theoretical Theory Lessons 36 Lab – project 3 workshop (1 hour = 60 minutes) (1 hour = 60 minutes) Practical workshop

Credits 3

The goal of this course is to provide students with the necessary techniques to analyze fashion as a cultural phenomenon from an interdisciplinary point of view, as a cultural phenomenon, using the appropriate vocabulary and to enable them to understand the social condition of the wearers. Ideally, at the conclusion of the course they will have learned to consider of a work of art through the use of new critical tools; and they will achieve a global understanding of the Western fashion historic timeline, protagonists, revolutions, changes. We’ll focus on Italian fashion and a series of characteristics that could Learning be summarized as the International, European, and Italian style. Then the class continues studying the language and system Objectives of fashion. Specific designers are studied and presented in class during Professor’s lectures, student’s assignments, and oral presentations. During each term a selection among the designers is discussed and presented during the classes. In this course the relationship between fashion and media is stressed. Media have tremendously impacted the fashion history, and they are still shaping the industry, that’s why students by the end of the course need to be aware of who are the new protagonists that are writing now the fashion history of the future. The course explores the historical development of contemporary fashion in order to identify trends in the fashion industry and the communication process. Changing trends and styles are covered from the historical, cultural, social and economic standpoint to provide students with the necessary tools to understand contemporary fashion as well as highlight the systems and major trends and developments. The course is a journey through fashion as a mirror of Western society and as a reflection of the events that have changed the fashion system and its history, from the second half of the 20th Century up to the most recent global fashion. At this advanced level the course focuses on deepening the critical tools to be able to decode and interpreting the silent language of fashion as an interdisciplinary subject, from a critical perspective, according to many factors related to: historic, social, economic, artistic, cultural context. After a brief resume about the topics analyzed in the previous section (History of Fashion Modern 1); the course moves on through the history ending with the Contents of most recent time. The course will follow both a chronological and thematic approach in decoding contemporary styles. The the course course follows an interdisciplinary approach; fashion styles are decoded in relation to art history, society, anthropology, economy, gender studies, media studies, in a National and International context. Fashion and its interactions with culture, subculture, gender, and communication are emphasized. The course follows both a chronologic and thematic approach, as well as an experiential learning method, taking participant students into on-site itineraries and activities to enhance their educational experience based on first- hand knowledge. Florence, its rich culture, and heritage are used as the main classroom and sourse for students’ researches and learning activities. By the end of the term participants have to achieve a strong theoretical basis based on the studying of reliable academic sources, combined together with the knowledge of practical aspects related to the fashion making and behind the scenes. The main strong features of the course are: visits to museums, fashion archives and fashion sites, live demonstrations and talks at the artisans’ workshops, small and medium firms, combined with practical laboratory. The teaching method consists of series of classroom lectures devoted to explaining the subjects in question in detail, using Teaching audiovisual supports and moments when the lecturers interact with the students, who are stimulated to speak up and contribute to the process of transmitting and imparting the course contents. Students may be requested to undertake Method individual and group research projects or other development on one or more course contents, to be presented and discussed during their examinations. Course WEEK 1 - Lecture & Class Discussion: program Introduction to the course. Lecture & Class Discussion: Introduction to the course subjects. Final Project brainstorming and students open questions. Costumes and fashion. Comparing and contrasting. The fashion glossary. The Fashion Studies

Reading Assignment: Chapter 1: 1900-1913 Undulations and Exotica

WEEK 2

Lecture & Class Discussion: - The beginning of 20th century and its Revolutions - Case Study: The House of Chanel, from the origin to today

Reading assignment: Chapter 2 La Garçonne and the New Simplicity WEEK 3 Thursday March 5th 3:20PM– 6:20PM

Lecture & Class Discussion: - From Costumes to Fashion - The Orientalism - The 1910 - Fashion icons and trendsetters through the times: the Eurocentric fashion system. - From tailors to fashion designers. - The “democratization” of fashion as a reflection of social, economic, and cultural changes - Case Study: Paul Poiret and Mariano Fortuny

Assignment: Chapter 3 Recession and Escapism

WEEK 4

Lecture & Class Discussion: - The roaring Twenties - The New Simplicity - Case Study: Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiapparelli and art in Fashion, Prada and The Great Gatsby: product placement.

Assignment: Chapter 4 Rationed Fashion and Home-Made Style

WEEK 5

Lecture & Class Discussion: - Recession and Escapism - The 1930s and 1940s - Fashion Beyond the Crisis: Autarky, Austerity, Autonomy - Case Study: Gucci. Tom Ford, Frida Giannini, Alessandro Michele

Lecture & Class Discussion: Fashion as an art form. The pro and con sides. Video Assignment: Valerie Steel. Is Fashion art? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weB-SQ-XP-c&spfreload=10

Chapter 5, 1946-1956 Femininity and Conformity

WEEK 6

Visit: - The Costume Gallery and the Silver Museum at Pitti Palace - Artisan’s laboratory

Chapter 6, 1957-1967 Affluence and Teenage Challenge

Group Assignment: Oral/Visual Presentation

The Oscar night. A critical analysis of fashion trends in and out the red carpet. Do you think there are outfits that will eventually become iconic? Analyze at least one movie’s costumes and explain (from the Oscar or from this season) which are going to set a trend in fashion or that have been inspired by fashion designs.

WEEK 7

MidTerm Exam

Christian Dior interpreted by the others: Movie: Dior and I

Gianfranco Ferrè https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIMDCFHlOmk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeJVSIVjoEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSuuWtIajEM John Galliano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjXmIwIm8k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHWLWI_vQ1Q&spfreload=10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUKGqhlRXH0&spfreload=10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s4Pt8qZm6E

Raf Simons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6l1aoVyLCg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCkpCPZ59l8 Maria Grazia Chiuri https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsVrBqIGMrc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCkpCPZ59l8 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3T5fmgL4Kvk3kG1kF6JFeA

Chapter 7, 1968-1975 Eclecticism and Ecology

WEEK 8

Lecture & Class Discussion: - The 1950s

Visit: Costume and Fashion Museum at Pitti Palace

- The New Look - The Sala Bianca e the Birth of Italian Fashion - Case Study: Balenciaga, Dior, Valentino

Chapter 8, 1976-1988 Sedition and Consumerism Group Project: Fashion and movies from Sorelle Fontana to Giorgio Armani

WEEK 9

Lecture & Class Discussion: - Fashion and Cinema - Case Study: Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy and Riccardo Tisci

Mary Quant and the young fashion Movie M2M: Who are you, Polly Magoo? By William Klein, 1966 Documentary: Fashion on Film Reading assignment: Chapter 9, 1989-1999 Fashion Goes Global

WEEK 10

Lecture & Class Discussion: - Fashion and Music - The Teenage Challange - Case Study: The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, David Bowie vs. Renato Zero, Madonna vs. Raffaella Carrà, Lady Gaga vs. Katy Perry, Beyonce vs. Miley Cyrus

Video online: Gaga by Gaultier Documentary: Valentino The Last Emperor Reading assignment: Chapter 10, Planet Fashion

WEEK 11 and 12

Lecture & Class Discussion: - The 1960s and 1970s Eclecticism, ecology, - Case Study: the musical Hair (1979), Missoni, Fiorucci, Moschino, Versace

Celebrities and fashion Fashion and controversial advertisements. The Antwerp Six Yohji Yamamoto - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSJsqYH-hK4

Documentary M2M: Fashion Pack, Antifashion Documentary M2M: Fashion in the 1990’s

Movie: The First Monday on May

Documentary McQueen – Genius of Fashion

Lecture & Class Discussion: Fashion and Social Media. Conclusions Documentary M2M: Fashion Pack, Go Global

Review for the final exam

WEEK 13

FINAL EXAM – Visual & Oral Presentation

V. Mendes, A. De La Haye, Fashion Since 1900, Thames and Hudson, World of Art, London, 2010

E. Ewing Revised by A. Macrell, History of 20th Centurt Fashion, Batsford, London, 2005

Strongly Recommended Books

 Bonnie English, A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th and 21st Centuries, Bloomsbury, London, 2013  Steele, Valerie, A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk, Yale Univ. Press, 2013  Marnie Fogg, Why You Can Go Out Dressed Like That, Moden Fashion Explained, Thames & Hudson, London, 2014  Edited by Linda Welters and Patricia A. Cunningham, Twentieth-Century American Fashion, New York, Berg, 2005 Reference  Debra N. Mancoff, Fashion Muse, The Inspiration Behind, Iconic, Design, Prestel Publ, London, 2012 texts Suggested Readings

 Crane, Diane. Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender and Identity in Clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Sociological perspective that foregrounds gender issues.  Davis, Fred. Fashion, Culture and Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. A dense and coherent overview of core issues and debates that avoids the theoretical overkill of some “cultural studies” approaches.  Dickinson, Janice. No Lifeguard on Duty. The Accidental Life of the World’s First Supermodel. Australia: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. Most model autobiographies are limp and evasive (e.g. Twiggy’s) but Dickinson tells a story that out parties even Kate Moss and is also very shrewd about the processes, relationships and deals involved in modeling.  Drake, Alicia. The Beautiful Fall: Fashion and Genius and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007. Delivers everything the title suggests.  Edwards-Jones, Imogen. Fashion Babylon. London: Bantam Press, 2006. Well researched and entertaining exposé of fashion industry attitudes and etiquette.

Fashion Theory. The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, Oxford: Berg. Scholarly journal, published quarterly. The best source for reviews and current research, with many fascinating articles covering all issues of fashion and style.

 Gorman, Paul. The Look: Adventures in Rock Fashion,

London : Sanctuary, 2001. Popular music aspects of fashion

and style from Elvis to Sid Vicious to rave and hip hop.

 Gross, Michael. Model: the Ugly Business of Beautiful

Women, New York, William Morrow and Company, 2003. Easily the best overview of this under researched area. (Get the hardback edition if you can as the paperback is abridged and lacks an index and many photos).

 Grundle, Stephen. Glamour: a history. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.  Hulanicki, Barbara. From A to Biba, London: V&A Publications, 2007 Sensitive and illuminating account of the rise and crash of the quintessentially sixties Biba phenomenon.  Kunzle, David. Fashion and Fetishism: a social history of the corset, tight-lacing, and other forms of body- sculpture in the West, Stroud: Sutton, 2004. Scholarly and detailed survey of a controversial topic.  Newton, Helmut. Autobiography. London: Gerald Duckworth and Co Ltd, 2003. Candid memoirs of arguably the world’s most outrageous fashion photographer.  Steele, Valerie. Fashion and Eroticism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.  Steele, Valerie. Paris Fashion. A Cultural History. Oxford: Berg, A solid overview of several themes relevant to the course, 1988.  Watt, Judith. ed. The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Fashion. London; New York, N.Y. : Viking , 1999. A miscellany of extracts from many fictional and essay sources relating to fashion, the body, identity, etc  Zola, Emile. The Ladies'Parade, Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 1995. A very readable novel which was the first in- depth account of the social and commercial impact of mass fashion in the late 19th century, with particular reference to the role of women.  V.C. Caratozzolo, J. Clark , M.L. Frisa, Simonetta, The First Lady of Italian Fashion, Marsilio Mode, Fondazione Pitti Discovery, 2008  R. Sennet, The Craftsman, Penguin Books, 2008  S. Ricci, A love affair with shoes, Sillabe, 2004  C. McDowell, Fashion Today, Phaidon, London 2003  M. Rak, La moda in Italia, il Novecento/Fashion in Italy, The Twentieth Century, Palombi Editori, 2003  J. Finkelstein, Fashion: an introduction, New York University Press, 1998  M. Barnard, Fashion as communication, Routledge, 1996  N. Cawthorne, The New Look, London, Reed International Books, 1996  D. Forgacs, Italian Cultural Studies, Oxford, 1996  B. Morris, Valentino, Universe of Fashion, 1996  J. Anderson Black, M. Garland, A History of Fashion, Macdonald & Co. Pub., 1990  G. O’Hara, The encyclopaedia of fashion, London, Thames and Hudson, 1989  W. Albini, the Style in Fashion, Zanfi, 1988  Creativity and Technology in the Italian Fashion System, Domus, 1988  F. Boucher, 20.000 Years of Fashion, H.N. Abrams, 1987