Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Leeds : B - Design
Outlining a fashion studies project
This paper first analyses the evolution of fashion studies as an academic (separate from craft-based) discipline. It identifies its ‘nation building’ activities (identity formation, agenda setting and gatekeeping) as fitting a discipline in the making.
Noting the impact of the post-structuralist approach to the fluidity of previously rigid definitions of class-appropriate, or gender-appropriate fashion, and the boundaries between art and fashion, it discusses four major themes that dominate the literature in the field: the role of the visual in reflecting on clothes, the role of classification in thinking about clothes, the limits of sartorial signification and the culture of brands.