FASH 207 - Sustainable Style in the Fashion Industry

This class will analyze historical incidents of fashion’s impact on the environment, people and animals, from the birth of the Audubon Society as a reaction to women’s hat trends, to the revolutionary Dandys’ use of dress as a tool for political change, to the popularized anti-sweatshop and anti-fur movements of the 1990s. Past and current representations of various forms of power communicated through dress that are utilized in marketing will also be examined. Students will explore how certain symbols and icons used in fashion not only rationalize and excuse the exploitation of animals, but encourage their consumption and the display of their skins as the primary method of showcasing one’s individual sexuality, power and worth. Students will also explore the contradictory dynamic of greenwashing and indigenous/native appropriations that aim to visually represent communion with nature yet accomplish the opposite. (offered in Spring only) (offered in Spring only)
3 credits
Prerequisite: FASH 105