83341 Fashion Intersections

Description

Fashion is an expanding field of practice and research inquiry that maps continually renewed understandings of fundamental human motivations and the societal structures that support and constrain them. Fashion is made not only of things (that is, a commodity or object produced within a fashion system) but also about and because of things (a phenomena or representation). Fashion is frequently about identity, about culture and sometimes meaningfully critiques itself. Increasingly, critical fashion practice exists in the virtual realm and in curated spaces, intersecting with art, media and other forms of cultural production.

At the present historic juncture of significant global challenges— such as those posed by climate change, impacts of globalisation and the information revolution, social and economic inequality, the loss of traditional knowledge — critical theories of fashion continue to explain and defend the practice and products of fashion. There are many valid and important ways to learn about both Western-style clothing and non-Western dress and textiles practices which centre on the value of tacit knowledge. Those who have chosen to undertake a fashion and textiles degree at university have the added opportunity to learn skills in critical thinking, research and English-language academic writing conventions, including referencing of scholarly sources, as they explore their own relationship to creative practice.

Fashion Intersections is the core second year subject of the Bachelor of Design in Fashion and Textiles degree in which students have this opportunity. Students first learn about how contemporary fashion theory frameworks are made at intersections between other scholarly fields including, but not limited to: art history and theory; curatorial studies; photography, film and media studies; cultural studies; feminist, queer and gender studies; studies of decoloniality; sociology; and postmodernist philosophy. Supported by a team of expert tutors, students then develop an understanding of how contemporary fashion practice intersects with other creative forms as they explore their researched ideas in a proposal for a self-devised exhibition-making project.

Typical availability

Autumn session, City campus