Gillion Carrara

This course is a chronological inquiry into fashion and dress and their relationship to a legacy of visual arts and literature. Content begins with the life and work of nineteenth-century dressmaker Charles Frederick Worth in Paris, and continues through to the modern radical designers of 1960s Paris.

Students should expect to learn about art, decorative arts, literature, and the lives, times and oeuvre of designers. Visits to various libraries are included in the syllabus.

Class content begins with the start of the youth quake of the 1960s and continues until the current day of designers? oeuvres, expanding to such arenas as video art, performance and creation of merchandise.
On occasion, a select number of students will participate with an end of year presentation together with students of the Department of Fashion Design.

This course is a chronological inquiry into fashion and dress and the relationship to a heritage of the visual arts, politics, literature, gender, and equality. Students will gain recognition of primary sources for analysis relating to art and dress in the Ryerson and Flaxman libraries. The SAIC Fashion Resource Center is a fully comprehensive venue as resource for any project. While individually and as a class, conversations are immediate, since surrounded by publications, garments and related materials in the F R C Study room and Wardrobe.

Six assignments progress from the knowledge of history to lives and practices of global designers. Of significance is an exercise of garment examination in the F R C Wardrobe resulting in museum like documentation permitting students to learn vocabulary and accurate assessment. Emphasis is placed on students mastering the skills of writing, presenting visual arts and oral presentation.

This team taught 3 week summer intensive course examines the unique lives, art and garments which have contributed to fashion theory and practices of the past 200 years. Topics introduce style innovators and creators of dress and menswear, relating fashion to cultural influences, subcultures, sculpture, performance art, dance, textiles, interior design, merchandising, journalism and creative writing. Roundtable readings will generate daily discussion while weekly collaborative research projects will lead to group presentations and individually-written essays. Visits to museum exhibitions and studios will inspire responses. For 3 hours daily M-F for 3 weeks, students with diverse interests can gain knowledge of fashion arts history and contemporary fashion practices while strengthening skills in research, speaking and writing.