A Chronological Look Through Fashion History: a Trip Through Fashion History As Art and Film
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Curriculum Units by Fellows of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 2001 Volume IV: Race and Ethnicity in Contemporary Art and Literature A Chronological Look Through Fashion History: A Trip Through Fashion History as Art and Film Curriculum Unit 01.04.11 by Toni Tyler Introduction I presently teach at James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut. It is an urban comprehensive high school with a student body of diverse abilities and backgrounds. We are working hard to create an environment that will allow our students to reach their goals and full potential both academically and socially. The students I teach vary through grades nine through twelve. Their ability and general knowledge of the subjects also varies. Some students deal with many problems and many lack a strong feeling of self-esteem and basic reading and math skills, yet the school is unique in its own way because there are many schools within this school. My school offers programs such as the Macy's Programs, School to Work, Art Magnet, and many more; however, there are some programs in the school that are given little and insufficient attention, including the family and consumer science program, better known as home economics. This program is offered as an elective and due to its mandating through the state, only fifteen students are allowed per class. The program, given the appropriate attention, will allow our students to excel. The benefits of taking Family and Consumer Science classes are it builds self-esteem through the knowledge of applicable skills that can be used in later stages of life, for example, as a vocation or possible career, a better understanding of how clothes are influenced by styles of the past, gain an insight into fashion that will satisfy both immediate and long range goals, improving social skills and decision making skills, selecting appropriate clothing for different occasions, personal satisfaction, and increased understanding of history, literature, and art to build knowledge about artist and designers. In today's society, images of fashion can be seen all over, but are strongly displayed in the media with television, music videos, commercials, and other means. We as people within society are human billboards for companies to display their name and logos. Trends have been set throughout history changing from decade to decade. Society has given the impression that in order to fit in or be cool, you should own and wear designer labels. Those who wear Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klien are more likely to fit in than those who chose to wear no name clothing. We also look to entertainers throughout the media and major fashion trends to determine our look. Being original with style is not as common and trends set back in the 1970's are returning to main stream fashion. Fashion is for everyone, but a sense of style is individual and personal. I believe that if we had a better understanding of fashion history, we would be less likely to follow trends and be trend setters. Curriculum Unit 01.04.11 1 of 15 If the Surgeon General had been around throughout history, there might have been labels on certain clothing that said "Surgeon General Warning: Wearing this clothing may be hazardous to your health." Buttons can be to blame for the development of some extreme fashions. The introduction of buttons in the thirteenth century made it possible to cut garments to fit the shape of the body. By the fourteenth century, men and women were tightly lacing and binding their bodies with stiff undergarments, called corsets, so that they could fit into the fashionable clothes of the times. The corset caused many dangers and deformities of the spine, respiratory, and digestive problems and complications with the pregnancy. Doctors suggested strongly in the 1800s that the corset be done away with. In 1920s, the ideal body shape was thin. People went to any length to achieve this goal. The objectives and goal of this unit will be two fold. First, my major objective would be to teach my students about fashion history and have them to understand how closely related eighteenth and nineteenth century fashion is related to modern day, both in society's view on personal appearance and fashion similarities. Secondly, my other objective is to expose students to the history of fashion dating back as early as the thirteenth century. In teaching this unit, I will explore the evolution of clothing in a chronological sequence. I plan to cite the works of James VanDerZee and other artists to help achieve my learning goal and objectives.. The strategies that I plan to use in order to teach in this unit effectively will include class discussion of several time periods by students. Students will be allowed to draw or sketch one of the designs from the time period chosen and using construction techniques, students will design their own pattern to make a garment that will fit into their chosen time period. Finally, the garment that is made by the student will be incorporated into our modern day fashion show that is usually held at the end of the school year. I will be focusing on the similarities and differences in the fashions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the modern day fashions. Some of the similarities that I will emphasize will include hair styles, dress, and accessories. During the eighteenth century, hair styles were very important to the images of both men and women. Wigs were the order of the day, plain and simple. However, wigs lost their popularity during the eighteenth century, but today they have returned in a myriad of styles. Not only are the wigs popular, hair weaving, extensions, and braids are among the fashion trends of today. Hair was very important to a woman's image. Even today, women are so concerned about their appearance that they would go to extremes to make themselves look beautiful, attractive, and noticeable. The dress of the eighteenth century was designed with horizontal lines, wide necklines, and hoop skirts accessorized with bows, lace, and fresh flowers. Similarly, the nineteenth century men's fashion were especially designed with lace and ruffles. Basically, men's fashion took on the feminine appearance. In the nineteenth century, accessories played a major part in a woman's attire. The trend was that a woman was not considered completely dressed unless she was accessorized with fresh flowers. Many women neglected their hygiene to keep alive the flowers that adorned their dresses. Today, our women wear lapel pins or brooches which, to some extent, have replayed the fresh flowers. On the other hand, for special social events such as weddings, dancing, proms, cotillions and luncheons, and teas, to name a few, women wear corsages and men wear boutonnieres. Another aspect of fashion history that I will focus on will be the influences of James VanDerZee, a famous African-American photographer of the Harlem Renaissance era. VanDerZee, a self-taught photographer, specialized on community leaders, family and children, weddings, and racial groups as the subjects for his photography. In his photos, one could see dignity, pride, well-dressed, and well-groomed individuals. These Curriculum Unit 01.04.11 2 of 15 images showed a sense of well being and productivity in the community. Among those photographed were World War I heroes Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, singers Mamie Smith, Hazel Scott, and Florence Mills, dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, poet Countee Cullen, heavyweight champions Jack Johnson, Harry Wills, and Joe Louis and Madame C.J. Walker, beauty salon proprietor, who became a millionaire selling salon products. The students will explore the similarities and differences in the fashions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and modern day fashion through the use of visual aids and the media. Using visual aids, the students will view photographs of VanDerZee and identify the different features of the garments including necklines, hemlines, sleeve styles, and collars. The students will compare these features to today's fashion. The idea is to see how fashion has changed and how it is similar. It is important for students to speak the language of fashion when they are identifying, comparing, and contrasting features of the fashion periods. Therefore, the students will be required to create a glossary of fashion terms, using reference materials. To assess student mastery of the objectives, I will assign each student a fashion from one of the periods studied in class. He/She will write a three hundred word essay about one or more people whom they consider to be current fashion leaders. Urban wear has recently over-powered fashion in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Companies such as FUBU, Phat Farm, and Mecca are now commonly being sold in department stores such as Filenes and JCPenny. Urban wear is not only worn and geared towards African-Americans, but Hispanic and Caucasian people also. Although wearing "baggy" clothing was thought to only be a fad, it is still commonly worn today and has shown that this particular style will stand the test of time. Caucasians in suburban America are faithful consumers of Urban fashion and footwear, such as Timberland boots. Urban fashion and means of talk is slowly weaving its way into suburban America and will leave its imprint on fashion history. Twelfth to Fifteenth Century Two great movements during these centuries had dramatic effects on the costume fashion. First was the crusades, which allowed those involved to be exposed to costumes of many lands. The crusader's exposure to costumes of the Eastern cultures resulted in the addition of very lavish detailing to Western culture.