Fashion today is driven by a complex mix of factors that includes social and cultural identity, economics, politics, aesthetics, and individuality. Americans, through their economic clout as much as their tastes, have heavily influenced the development of global fashion. Our media-driven worship of the celebrity designer, the unattainable aesthetic ideals projected by top models, and our new-found interest in sustainability are merely the latest twists in an old story. This class will examine the historical and theoretical underpinnings of the fashion system in America, beginning with the importation of the couture system from mid-nineteenth-century Paris and continuing to the present. This is an upper-level undergraduate seminar. Extensive outside reading, several organized class presentations, and active participation in class discussions are required. Previous study of the history of fashion at CCA or elsewhere, while not a prerequisite, is helpful; students without any background in history of fashion may, at the instructor's discretion, be assigned additional reading.

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