83921 Research: Fashion and Textiles Dissertation
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Credit points: 6 cp
Subject level:
Undergraduate
Result type: Grade and marksThere are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
In this subject students undertake a self-directed conceptual research dissertation that supports their individual practice-led studio design research in fashion and textiles. Students develop critical research skills by engaging in fashion and textile theory discourse and exploring related research methodologies that expand their understanding of praxis (the dynamic relationship between theory and practice in design). Critical and reflective design thinking skills are refined, allowing students to add conceptual depth and contextual breadth to their design research practice. Existing skills in academic reading, writing, research and referencing conventions are developed. This research-based subject assists students to develop skills for postgraduate study in a supported learning environment and affords opportunities to hone written and oral communication, promoting synthesis and concise communication of conceptual design ideas.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
| 1. | demonstrate an understanding of the historical and contemporary context of fashion in society |
|---|---|
| 2. | effectively analyse research data and assimilate findings into theoretical outcomes |
| 3. | demonstrate a high level of competency in communicating visually and verbally and written formats |
| 4. | critique, analyse and evaluate the relationship between design practice and fashion theory |
| 5. | effectively demonstrate the ability to understand theoretical concepts to innovative design outcomes. |
| 6. | communicate with professional clarity and accuracy |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:
- Demonstrated understanding of appropriate academic and professional practice in the acknowledgement of others' work and ideas (A.4)
- Advanced communication skills for industry professional context (C.1)
- Advanced written communication skills (C.2)
- Ability to innovate existing fashion practices and system (I.4)
- Ability to develop sophisticated arguments and rationales (R.1)
- Ability to analyse and synthesise complex ideas (R.2)
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
The term CAPRI is used for the five Design, Architecture and Building faculty graduate attribute categories where:
C = communication and groupwork
A = attitudes and values
P = practical and professional
R = research and critique
I = innovation and creativity.
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs) are linked to these categories using codes (e.g. C-1, A-3, P-4, etc.).
Teaching and learning strategies
Students will be encouraged to undertake individual research into Fashion & Textiles theory (drawing from many sub-disciplines within the humanities), to inform their conceptual design thinking and contextualize practice through a critical engagement with theoretical discourse. This will include reflective strategies where students explore their unique design philosophy and how this relates to contemporary design practice and theory. Learning and teaching strategies will be based on independent research; academic reading, research, writing and referencing conventions; reflective thinking and writing; design thinking; and collaborative peer-to-peer discussion and critique supported by individual weekly consultation with tutors to support self-directed projects. This subject has been designed to include formative and summative feedback opportunities with assessment tasks that develop research, writing and oral presentation skills. These critical research skills support students in their studio-based work by bringing conceptual and contextual breadth to their practice.
The subject takes the student through the research process and the research methodologies and frameworks to understand how theory is embedded in to design practice. This takes place through weekly formative feedback in consultation with your tutor. This will will address the content of work and a student's approach to learning. It is designed to help students iteratively improve the quality of the final dissertation. For this to occur students need to respond constructively to the feedback provided on a week to week basis.
Formative feedback will be provided during the learning process, typically provided verbally by the subject's teaching staff. It will address the content of work and a student's approach to learning, both in general and more specific ‘assessment orientated’ terms. It is designed to help students improve their performance in time for the submission of an assessment item. For this to occur students need to respond constructively to the feedback provided. This involves critically reflecting on advice given and in response altering the approach taken to a given assessment. Formative feedback may also, on occasion, be provided by other students. It is delivered informally, either in conversation during a tutorial or in the course of discussion at the scale of the whole class. It is the student’s responsibility to record any feedback given during meetings or studio sessions.
Summative feedback is provided in written form with all assessed work. It is published along with indicative grades online at UTS REVIEW. Summative feedback focuses on assessment outcomes. It is used to indicate how successfully a student has performed in terms of specific assessment criteria.
Content (topics)
Students will undertake research into Fashion Theory, Textiles Theory or Fashion History depending upon the nature of their individual dissertation research question. This subject develops a student's ability to effectively critique and analyse research material and develop this into a written project.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Research Proposal and Presentation
| Intent: | Develop a research proposal in response to a chosen theme. Clearly communicate your design question, your initial research findings and your theoretical/methodological approach. Identify examples that indicate your understanding of the dynamic relationship between theory and practice in design. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): A.4, C.1, I.4, R.1 and R.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Presentation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 30% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Research Dissertation
| Intent: | Prepare a written research dissertation that effectively analyses fashion theory research around a chosen theme. Develop critical research skills by engaging in fashion and textile theory discourse to explore and expand your understanding of the dynamic relationship between theory and practice in design. | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 2, 3, 4 and 5 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): C.2, I.4 and R.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Essay | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 50% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | See assessment brief for detailed information | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria: | [no content] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 3: Concept statement
| Intent: | Write a 500 word written concept proposal. Drawing on your research undertaken for Task 2 Dissertation you write a 500 word project rationale that outlines the conceptual basis for proposed project work for Fashion Concept Lab. It will include a conceptual rationale and physical description of proposed work. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): A.4, C.2, I.4 and R.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Essay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 20% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | See assessment brief for detailed information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Minimum requirements
The DAB attendance policy requires students to attend no less than 80% of formal teaching sessions (lectures and tutorials) for each class they are enrolled in to remain eligible for assessment.
Students are expected to attend a miniumum of 80% of all scheduled classes, contribute to class discussion and participate in assessable presentations.
Required texts
There are no essential readings. This subject is project based and readings will be project specific in consultation with the student’s supervisor.
Some further suggested readings will be available on UTS online throughout the course.
Fashion & Textile Journals
Fashion theory: the journal of dress, body & culture
Fashion practice
Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice
Vestoj
Recommended texts
Barnard, M. (ed.), 2007, Fashion theory: a reader, Routledge, London & New York.
Barnes, R. 1992, Dress and gender: making & meaning, Berg Publications.
Barthes, R. 2006, The language of fashion, Stafford, A. & Carter, M. (eds.), Power Publications, Sydney.
Bartlett, D, Cole, S. & Rocamora, A. (eds), 2013, Fashion media: past and present, Bloomsbury, London.
Baudelaire, C. 1995. The painter of modern life and other essays. J. Mayne (trans. and ed.), Phaidon, London.
Black, P. 2017. Smile, particularly in bad weather: the era of the Australian airline hostess, UWA PUblishing, Cawley WA.
Breward, C. & Gilbert, D. 2006, Fashion’s world cities, Berg, Oxford & New York.
Breward, C. & Evans, C. 2005, Fashion and modernity, Berg, Oxford & New York.
Bruzzi, S. & Church Gibson, P. (eds), 2013. Fashion cultures revisited: theories, explorations and analysis. Routledge, London & New York.
Carter, M. 2003, Fashion classics: from Carlyle to Barthes, Berg, Oxford & New York.
Craik, J. 2009, Fashion: the key concepts, Berg, Oxford & New York.
Craik, J. 2005, Uniforms exposed: from continuity to transgression, Berg, Oxford & New York.
Davis, F. 1992, Fashion, culture and identity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London.
Eicher, J. B. & Evenson. S. L. 2015, The visible self: global perspectives on dress, culture, and society, 4th edn, Bloomsbury, London.
Entwistle, J. 2015 [2000], The fashioned body: fashion, dress and modern social theory, 2nd edn, Polity, Cambridge.
Evans, C. 2013, The mechanical smile: modernism and the first fashion shows in France and America, 1900-1929, Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Evans, C. 2003, Fashion at the edge: spectacle, modernity and deathliness. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Findlay, R. 2017, Appearances: personal style blogs, Intellect, Bristol and Chicago.
Findlay, R. & Card, A. (eds), 2018, About performance: fashioning performance/performing dress, Special Issue, No 16. https://search.informit.com.au/browsePublication;py=2018;res=IELHSS;issn=1324-6089;iss=16
Flugel, J.C. 1966, The psychology of clothes, Hogarth Press.
Francis, P. 2009, Inspiring writing in art and design: taking a line for a write, Intellect, Bristol & Chicago.
Garber, M. 1992, Vested interests: cross dressing & cultural anxiety, Routledge.
Gray, S. 2017, Friends, fashion & fabulousness: the making of an Australian style, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne.
Harrison, M. 1991. Appearances: fashion photography since 1945. Rizzoli, New York.
Hebdige, D. 1979, Subculture: the meaning of style, Routledge, London & New York.
Hollander, A. 1975, Seeing through clothes, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles & London.
Konig, R. 1978, The restless image: a sociology of fashion, Allen & Unwin.
Laver, J. 1969, Modesty in dress, Heinemann.
Lehmann, U. 2000, Tigersprung: fashion in modernity. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass & London.
Lewis, R. (ed.), 2013, Modest fashion: styling bodies, meditating faith, I.b. Tauris, London.
McLean, A. (ed.) 2016, Costume, makeup and hair, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
McNeil, P. (ed) 2009, The men’s fashion reader, Berg, Oxford & New York.
McNeil, P. (ed) 2008, Fashion: critical and primary sources, Berg, Oxford & New York.
Miller-Spillman, K. A., Reilly, A. & Hunt-Hurst, P. (eds) 2012, The Meanings of Dress, 3rd edn, Fairchild Books Inc, New York.
Rees-Roberts, N. 2018, Fashion film: art and advertising in the digital age, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, London & New York.
Riello, G. & McNeil, P. (eds) 2010, The fashion history reader: global perspectives, Routledge, New York.
Rocamora, A, & Smelik, A. (eds), 2016, Thinking through fashion :a guide to key theorists, I.B.Tauris, London.
Shinkle, E. (ed.), 2008, Fashion as photograph: viewing and reviewing images of fashion. I.B. Tauris, London & New York.
Steele, V. (ed) 2010, The BERG Companion to Fashion, Berg, Oxford & New York.
Troy, N.J. 2003, Couture culture: a study in modern art and fashion, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. & London.
Wilson, E. 2007 [1985], Adorned in dreams: fashion and modernity, I.B.Tauris, London.
Welters, L. & Lillethun, A. (eds) 2011, The Fashion Reader, 2nd edn, Bloomsbury, Oxford & New York.
References
Databases and Online Resources
UTS library subject guide Fashion & Textiles: http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/guides/design/fashion-and-textile-design
Berg Fashion Library; Bloomsbury Fashion Central; Fairchild Books Library; Fashion Photography Archive. Available through UTS library https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au
The Vogue Archive. Available through UTS library https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/vogue/index?accountid=17095
www.businessoffashion.com
www.firstview.com
www.hintmag.com
Women's Wear Daily: http://www.wwd.com/
The Fashion Studies Journal www.fashionstudiesjournal.org/
Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies Journals, LGBTQ Center, Brown University.
www.brown.edu/campus-life/support/lgbtq/gender-sexuality-and-feminist-studies-journals
Other resources
UTS library Harvard referencing guide: http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/help/referencing