Write a Report

CW1 will take the form of a 2000 word essay.  MUST INCLUDE HARVARD REFERENCE PAGE Students will choose ONE of the questions from the list below to answer and follow the guidelines:- ESSAY QUESTIONS • Is Fashion exclusively a phenomenon of western capitalist societies?  Using academic, theoretical sources to back up your argument, provide examples as evidence in order to demonstrate your points • Explain subcultural style, using a case study approach supported by subcultural theory.  What is its relationship to mainstream dress and in what ways can it be assimilated by the wider society? • Describe the history of haute couture.  What role does it play in the fashion industry today?  Use a couture house or couturier to demonstrate your argument. • The 19th Century Department Store changed the way society consumed goods.  Trace the development of either a large department store, the boutiques of the 60s, a contemporary designer fashion store, or a street market and consider these changes in terms of shops and shopping. • Fashion photography has provided a unique vehicle to promote fashion and as an art form has developed considerably since the early 20C.  Either: a) discuss this in relation to a particular photographer or period or b) compare and contrast two different contemporaneous photographers work.  Alternatively, you may want to look at fashion illustration using the same format. • What is vintage fashion?  Consider carefully the suggested definitions by various writers quoted in the lecture as well as keywords such as retro, pastiche, nostalgia and history to argue this idea, using an outfit or item of clothing as the example through which to discuss it.    • Make a detailed examination of a couture craft such as shoemaking, embroidery or millinery and discuss through examples how it would have been used to complete a fashion look.   • Film is a useful medium through which trends in fashion can be either established or interpreted.  Using either an historical or contemporary example, show how fashion has been represented or innovated by an actor/actress or film. • Clothing and dress are an important part of how popular music functions.  Show how a certain type of music produces a particular style of dress, using a case study approach.  How far does the issue of gender influence its appearance?   • Discuss the work of an individual couturier/textile designer and the influence of the fashions they created, on society. • The 1960s was an important revolutionary cultural period.  Analyse the impact it had on one area of fashion/design (such as Youth quake or counterculture) with particular consideration as to the causes.  • Choose a fashion from an historical period and analyse it in terms of class, race or gender (or any combination of the three).  You will need to consider societal issues related to the period of the chosen costume.  Use academic texts and images to support the discussion.