ART 169 Fashion, Body and Identity

This class explores the relationship between body, identity and dress throughout history, with particular emphasis on concerns framing gender norms and social constructs in our global time. As women and men have decorated themselves since the dawn of humankind, we will study how clothing and ornaments have helped fabricate and maintain social identity throughout the millennia and examine how norms regulating body display change in time and across cultures. We will address traditional and contemporary notions about the body and its role in fashion, including pivotal currents and major figures that shaped the world of modern and contemporary fashion in their historical context. GS-IIIA.