Fashion and Culture
Spring 2025, PUFY1235 CRN: 2356 Section B
Course Description
An integrated studio exploring contemporary couture, designer fashion, and the influences they draw from. The cultural backdrop related to fashion history will be explored, placing the changes of styles within the social, political, and economic context. Studio work will involve creative interpretations of lectures to strengthen understanding of concepts and/or synthesize them with the modern world.
Learning Outcomes
By the successful completion of this course, students will be able, at an introductory level, to:
1. Evaluate information gathered from images, objects and readings in order to question assumptions related to past and current practices of fashioning the body. (Weeks 1-15)
2. Exhibit familiarity with cultural-historical narratives in fashion history in order to identify possible intersections between fashion and cultural/artistic movements. (Weeks 7, 9)
3. Demonstrate the ability to extract information from various forms of research and translate it into written and studio practice. For example, utilizing “gathering” skills to collect found objects, transforming these objects through techniques in order to create meaningful forms of body ornamentation (Weeks 4, 6, 15)
4. Collate, integrate, and synthesize key concepts and skills in depth and breadth into cohesive studio-based projects. (Weeks 4, 6, 15)
5. Learn to transfer skills and knowledge gained in this course for use in your creative practices. Our third project is designed to contextualize work undertaken by students outside of our course. (Weeks 2-13)
6. Demonstrate fundamental literacy for the links between fashion and socio-political concepts and a capacity to describe how clothing has been used to express different types of identity such as gender, status, social rank, and socio and cultural affiliations. (Weeks 3,4,5,6)
7. Develop a responsible, reflective process of communication through self and peer critique. (Weeks 6, 15)
8. Reflect on their learning in posts on the Parsons Learning Portfolio. (Weeks 4, 10)
Course Format
This course is an in-person course. Most class sessions take place in our classroom. Students are required to:
-Attend weekly class meetings in person on Friday from 12:10 pm - 2:50 pm.
-Post their grade-based work in Canvas and post reflections and progress reports in the Learning Portfolio if available.
-Students are expected to check Canvas regularly for updates about the class.
-Spring Break First-Year courses DO NOT have assigned homework over Spring Break.
Weekly Outline
Topic |
week + date |
Activity |
Due |
Introduction to course |
Week 1 |
Class community agreements, expectations on attendance and communication, Canvas site review
Resource Introduction: NSU library, WWD, Bloomsbury Fashion Central, Google Arts and Culture, Fashion and Race Database
|
Homework Assignments: -Explore Syllabus and Assignments on Canvas -Introduce yourself via “Getting to Know You” Discussions in Canvas Due: 1/26
Read and respond: Body Styles: Adornment Customized Chameleon; The Function of Adornment Due: 1/28
View: Body Adornment in the Ancient Americas: "The Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas" Due: 1/28 |
Body Ornamentation Sources and viewpoints
|
Week 2 1/29 |
Discuss Body Styles reading Body Ornamentation Project overview
In Class activity: Marks of identity (Partner interviews on your own body ornamentation) |
Homework Assignments: Read and respond: Jewelry: The Body Transformed Due: 2/4
Designer Connections: Body Ornamentation Due: 2/4 |
Body Ornamentation Meaning |
Week 3 2/5 |
Discuss Designer Connections: Body Ornamentation
Body Ornamentation Project check-in Bring in found materials
|
Homework Assignments: Body Ornamentation Project Due: 2/12
Read and respond: Feathers as Adornment Due: 2/12 |
Body Ornamentation Presentation submitted via Learning Portfolio |
Week 4 2/12 |
Student Presentations via Learning Portfolio: Body Ornamentation
|
Homework Assignments: Designer Connections: Traditional Craft Due: 2/18
Read and respond: “Exoticism” MFIT exhibition material Exploring traditional craft reading TBA Due: 2/18 |
Traditional Design / Craft
|
Week 5 2/19 |
Student Presentations: Body Ornamentation continued
Discuss Designer Connections: Traditional Craft
In class reading: Huipil |
Homework Assignments: Read and respond: Orientalism Visions of the East in Western Dress Due: 2/25
View and Respond: Video tour of the Costume Institute exhibition, China Through the Looking Glass Due: 2/25
Designer Connections: Words or text Due: 2/25 |
Pictographs and text as ornamentation |
Week 6 2/26 |
Discuss Designer Connections: Words or Text
In class activity: using words or text meaningful to you create an original design
Images of Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation from WWD
Discuss Inspiration/Appropriation Project |
Homework Assignments: Read and respond: Curbing Cultural Appropriation in the Fashion Industry and Reframing Fashion from original to copy to adaptation Due: 3/5
|
Globalization and Appropriation |
Week 7 3/5 |
In-class partner research: Orientalism Visions of the East in Western Dress |
No Homework Assignments
|
Spring Break |
3/12 |
NO CLASS MEETING |
|
Midterm Check-ins
|
Week 8 3/19
|
Online via Zoom
|
Homework Assignments: View and respond: Fashion, Culture, Futures: Introduction and Read and respond Racial Plagiarism and Fashion Due: 3/25 |
|
Week 9 3/26 |
Work on Inspiration/Appropriation Project
|
Homework Assignments: Inspiration/Appropriation Project Due: 4/1
Read and respond: Fashion Between Inspiration and Appropriation Due: 4/1 |
Inspiration/ Appropriation Project presentation submitted via Learning Portfolio
|
Week 10 4/2 |
Project Presentation via Learning Portfolio: Inspiration/Appropriation
Discuss Design Storyteller Project |
Homework Assignments: Listen and Respond: Podcast: BBC A History of the World in 100 Objects: Silk Princess Painting Due: 4/8 Read: The history of purple https://www.worldhistory.org/Tyrian_Purple/ Due: 4/8 |
|
Week 11 4/9 |
Inspiration/Appropriation Project presentations continued
Discuss Design Storyteller Project
|
Homework Assignments: View and Read and respond: Fairy Tale Fashion https://artsandculture.google.com/story/PgXBun-debzuKw online information on exhibition and Fashioning Wonder https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/fashioning-wonder/index.php Due: 4/15
Designer Connections: Myths and Fairytales Due: 4/15
|
Museum Visit |
Week 12 4/16 |
Museum at FIT Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities (closes April 20) |
Homework Assignments: Designer Connections: Utopias/Dystopia Due: 4/22
|
Myths and Fairytales, Utopias/Dystopia |
Week 13 4/23 |
Discuss Designer Connections: Myths and Fairytales, Utopias/Dystopia
|
Homework Assignments: Design Storyteller Project Presentations Due: 4/29
|
Design Storyteller Presentations submitted via Learning Portfolio |
Week 14 4/30
|
Project Presentation via Learning Portfolio: Design Storyteller Group I Course Evaluations
|
|
Design Storyteller Presentations submitted via Learning Portfolio |
Week 15 5/7 |
Project Presentation via Learning Portfolio: Design Storyteller Project Group II “Learning Portfolio Reflection Post” |
|
Homework Assignments Weekly assignments consisting of written responses and visual comparisons to specific questions about readings and viewing are due before each class session. These assignments will require online image and text research. Grade based on meeting the assignment deadline, fulfilling what is asked for in the prompt, and the quality of content provided.
Museum Assignments and Museum Notebook There will be one museum visit undertaken this semester with a museum assignment due the following week. Assignment consists of a museum notebook containing sketches and notes created at the exhibition. Additionally, specific questions pertaining to the exhibition must be answered in paragraph form. Grade based on meeting the assignment deadline, fulfilling what is asked for in the prompt and the quality of content provided. (Word count approx. 200)
Projects and Presentations
In-depth projects requiring outside research with creative making elements. Two to three weeks are given for work on each topic. Projects are supported by museum visits, readings, and film viewing. All projects must be included on student’s Learning Portfolios. Project topics include:
-Body Ornamentation – Create a form. of body ornamentation using found objects, recording process of making and methods used through text description and visual references. (Word count 1800)
-Inspiration/Appropriation – Research evidence of cultural appropriation in fashion. Compare and contrast original cultural artifacts that could be a possible source of inspiration. Devise a "solution/mediation" for your case study that will be sensitive to the originators as well as to the appropriators. Project consists of research writing, critical thinking and formal presentation. (Word count 2400)
-Design Storyteller TBA – Past projects have included: Create an original illustrated myth/fairytale explaining how an aspect of fashion was first created. (Word count 2,200)
Participation and Attendance You are expected to attend every class session, and assigned museum exhibition from our start time to our finish time, unless you have alerted me in advance with good reason. In addition to attendance, you are expected to engage with and participate in the learning environment. This may include contributing to in-class or online discussions, asking thoughtful questions and initiating meaningful dialogue. Students will be asked to come prepared for class discussions through an assignment of a homework reading, outside research or small project. Participation in discussion is required. All in-class activities, including readings, group assignments and research are due at the end of the class. If you miss an in-class activity because of absence you will not be able to make it up.
Learning Portfolio
You will use the Parsons Learning Portfolio throughout your education at Parsons. It is an ongoing, cumulative repository for your creative development and experience across courses, and across years. It archives your working process, skills learned, and connections you make between assignments, courses, and years, as well as final “finished” work. The courses in the first year emphasize the process – how you started, what happened next (and why), and how you ended up at your final work for each project.
Showing preliminary work (sketches, drafts, notes, research, etc.) as well as final documentation of your work will help to tell your story and make connections that may not have otherwise been apparent. In Fashion and Cultures the Parsons Learning Portfolio will serve as a platform. to present projects, aid sharing and conversation, provide access to the breadth of your coursework this semester, and stimulate critically reflective learning, thinking, writing and making.
Make sure to use the MANDATORY Parsons Learning Portfolio Template- and do not change the template as this is a shared component of the Parsons experience. Also please add a Learning Portfolio link to your Canvas Bio. This allows fellow students and faculty to access your portfolio.
All readings required for this course are available via Canvas
Polhemus, Ted. Body Styles. Seven Hills Books, 1989.
Martin, Richard and Koda, Harold. Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western Dress. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004
Recommended Readings
For a better understanding of Fashion History
Brown, Susan. Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style. 1st ed. New York, N.Y.: DK., 2012
Cole, Daniel James, and Nancy Deihl. The History of Modern Fashion, Laurence King Publishing, 2015
For Writing Format
Turabian, Kate. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations. 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Online Resources
-Google Art and Culture app
-Fashion and Race Database
-Timeline of Fashion History (FIT)
-Metropolitan Museum of Art, Collection database http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/
-Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History at the Metropolitan Museum of Art http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/
-NSU library databases including: Vogue Archive, Harper’s Bazaar Archive, Ebony Archive, WWD Archive, Women’s Magazine Archive
Please note that there are materials costs associated with this studio course and you should expect to purchase up to $50 on supplies. The expected cost does not include printer points that you receive as a student, nor does it include the materials from the materials kit that is purchased as you enter the first year. You can find a list of the materials kit items on the First Year advising page: http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/academic-advising-first-year-students/
Materials requirements are: a 5X7 Notebook to use as your Museum Journal; Scissors for cutting paper, pencil, measuring tape; tools already acquired for previous Parsons classes; found or bartered material for Body Ornamentation project.
Learning Together/Community Agreement
● Our class time together is valuable. While in class, I ask that you concentrate exclusively on our conversation and activities. Do not allow yourself to get distracted by other activities on your screen(s) and beyond.
● All classroom interactions should be in support of group and individual learning. Please reach out to me if you have any concerns about the learning environment or classroom dynamics. Keep in mind the following:
● Practice active listening; ask questions; be curious.
● Recognize intent, address impact
● Don’t assume identity
● No one knows everything, everyone knows something, and together we know a lot: We all get to practice being humble, because we have something to learn from everyone in the room. We all have a responsibility to share what we know, as well as our question, so that others may learn from us.
● We can’t be articulate all the time & will make mistakes. Fashion History pronunciation is difficult. Do not worry if you say a designer name or art movement incorrectly. There is one particular designer whose name I struggle with all the time. I also have a New Jersey accent that leaves me tongue tied with French pronunciation.
Grading and Evaluation
Students’ ability to meet the course’s learning outcomes will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
● Attend regularly and communicate any challenge or absences to their faculty
● Solve problems, both creative and technical through an iterative process
● Turn in project assignments and course material on time
● Document their research in the development of projects
● Describe the cross-course exploration between the Studio and Seminar
● Participate in class discussions and critiques
● Be accountable in collaborative work
● Improve in technical, creative, and problem solving abilities
● Submit thoughtful studio works that have undertaken several stages of ideation.
About Attendance and Grading
Your final grade will be calculated based on class participation (40% total) and projects (60% total). The following grade calculation demonstrates the need for your consistent participation, and equally as important, your active engagement in each step of the learning process. Weekly participation will allow you to successfully complete course projects and to contribute to our learning community.
Students who must miss a class session should notify the instructor and make up any missed work as soon as possible- ideally in an email prior to the class meeting. The student is responsible for following the course on Canvas and continuing to meet due dates, regardless of absences. A student who anticipates an extended absence should immediately inform. the faculty and his or her program advisor.
(For more information on attendance see the University Policies below)
Final Grade Calculation
Class Participation: 40%
10% Attendance/ Meeting Due Dates
10% Work-in-progress reviews; class discussions
10% In-class exercises
10% Learning Portfolio engagement
Homework 21%
Reading and Viewing Responses
Projects*: 39%
13% Project 1
13% Project 2
13% Project 3
* See individual assignment sheets for grading criteria.
100% TOTAL
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