WGSS 395 - Fashioning Bodies: Dress, Consumption, and Gender from the Renaissance to the Present

Institution:

Williams College

Subject:

Women's, Gender & Sexuality

Description:

This course explores costume and fashion as vehicles for the (re)creation and expression of gender, class, and sexual identities in Europe and the United States. We will begin by looking at the relationship between fashion and the political and economic power of the courts of early modern Europe. Revolutionary ideologies will be linked to sartorial politics, consumption of clothing to colonization, and changes in the style of clothing to shifting social norms. As our focus turns to the fashion industry in the twentieth century, when mass-produced clothing increased the possibility for reflexivity and imaginative play in dress, we will relate representations of the dressed body to the formation of diverse cultural communities, beauty ideals, and status hierarchies, examining both the normative and subversive potential of fashion. The course considers work in the fields of art history, cultural history, sociology and anthropology, feminist theory, and fashion journalism to ask questions such as: What are the origins of consumer societies? When, why, and how were fashion and consumption feminized? Is clothing a language? What cultural, political and social meanings do certain forms of dress generate? What is the relationship between prevalent understandings of the body and fashion? How is clothing used to stigmatize or differentiate individuals and communities? Topics include: the origins of uniforms and sportswear, eroticism and androgyny in fashion, the cultural politics of ethnic clothing, and the relationship between the fashion industry and cinema.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Open to first-year students with instructor's permission

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.williams.edu

Phone Number:

(413) 597-3131

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

The Course Profile information is provided and updated by third parties including the respective institutions. While the institutions are able to update their information at any time, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.