| Unit name | French Dressing: The Culture of Fashion 1700-1900 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HART20149 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Mr. Lilley |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites | |
| Co-requisites | |
| School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit concentrate less on the specifics of high fashion and more on the cultural significance of clothing in general. An important aim of the unit will be to balance a consideration of the general meanings of clothing with particular case studies. For example, an important faction during the French Revolution identified itself by the name sans-culottes (without breeches). Wearing trousers rather than breeches, which were associated with the aristocracy, was a political statement as much as a fashion statement. The sans-culottes were men but, in the nineteenth century in particular, male fashion became less important, with the emergence of the men in black uniform. Womens fashion underwent a revolution through the development of department stores and pr�t � porter, although haute couture not only maintained, but developed, its significance with the emergence of the phenomenon of high fashion labels pioneered in Paris by an Englishman, Charles Frederick Worth.
