B9113 - ETHICS AND FASHION CULTURES

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have acquired the intellectual tools necessary to analyse the culture of fashion from the perspective of its ethical, moral, religious and intercultural issues. A further goal will be the ethical analysis of notions such as cultural identity, the self, and the understanding of the self as functions of fashion. Students will learn about topics such as cultural appropriation, Orientalism, and the histories of fashion. Students will also be introduced to key ethical notions applied to fashion, such as ecosystem and human environment protection, criticism of consumerism, and the cult of aesthetics.

Course contents

The course Ethics and Fashion Cultures explores fashion as a cultural, social, ethical, and religious phenomenon. It offers a critical introduction to the major ethical issues raised by contemporary fashion while examining the role of ethics in the creation, production, communication, and consumption of clothing.

Rather than considering fashion solely as an industry or a system of consumption, the course approaches it as a symbolic language and a cultural practice through which individuals and communities construct identities, express values, negotiate social differences, and shape their understanding of the self.

The course begins with the historical relationship between fashion, morality, and religion, from the traditional questions of modesty and dress codes to the contemporary phenomenon of modest fashion. It then examines some of the principal ethical challenges facing fashion today, including cultural appropriation, Orientalism, the representation of cultural and religious identities, labour exploitation, environmental sustainability, consumerism, greenwashing, and the ethics of fashion communication.

Particular attention is devoted to the contribution of religious traditions, philosophy, and theology to the understanding of clothing, the dressed body, identity, desire, and consumption. Fashion is therefore examined not only as an economic and aesthetic phenomenon, but also as a privileged field for reflecting on human dignity, responsibility, freedom, cultural diversity, and the ethical formation of the person.

The course ultimately provides students with an interdisciplinary framework for critically analysing the ethical, cultural, religious, and social dimensions of fashion and its role in contemporary societies.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

Required readings for the examination

Ambrosio, Alberto F., Per una morale contemporanea. Critica della moda pura [Toward a Contemporary Morality: A Critique of Pure Fashion], Milan, Mimesis, 2024.

Ambrosio, Alberto F., “Sobriety in Fashion as a Form of Spiritual Ecology”, Religions, vol. 17, no. 6, 2026, 706.

Ambrosio, Alberto F., “The Notion of Prosperity in the Aesthetics of Fashion: A Religious Genealogy”, Fashion Highlight, Special Issue “Prosperity Fashion”, no. SI1, 2025.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, translated, with an interpretive essay, notes and glossary by Robert C. Bartlett and Susan D. Collins, Chicago–London, The University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Kant, Immanuel, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by Lewis White Beck, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1959.

Hoskins, T. E., Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion, London, Pluto Press, 2014.

Simmel, Georg, “Fashion”, International Quarterly, vol. 10, 1904, pp. 130–155.

Thomas, S., Fashion Ethics, London, Routledge, 2017.

Tronto, Joan C., Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care, New York–London, Routledge, 1993.

Texts discussed in class and further readings

Several of the following texts will be read, analysed, and discussed during the course, while others are recommended for further study and for deepening the principal themes addressed in class.

Agamben, Giorgio, “What Is the Contemporary?”, in What Is an Apparatus? and Other Essays, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2009.

Arendt, Hannah, “Some Questions of Moral Philosophy”, Social Research, vol. 61, no. 4, Winter 1994, pp. 739–764.

Benjamin, Walter, “Capitalism as Religion”, in Eduardo Mendieta (ed.), The Frankfurt School on Religion: Key Writings by the Major Thinkers, New York–London, Routledge, 2005.

De Castro, Orsola, Loved Clothes Last: How the Joy of Rewearing and Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act, London, Penguin Life, 2021.

Edelkoort, Lidewij, Anti_Fashion Manifesto. A Manifesto for the Next Decade, Paris, Trend Union, 2015.

Illouz, Eva, “Emotions, Imagination and Consumption: A New Research Agenda”, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 9, no. 3, 2009, pp. 377–413.

Kollnitz, Andrea, and Louise Wallenberg (eds.), Fashion Aesthetics and Ethics: Past and Present, London, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2023.

Leopardi, Giacomo, “Dialogue Between Fashion and Death”, in Moral Fables / Operette morali, translated by Patrick Creagh, New York, Columbia University Press, 1983.

Mukendi, Amira, Ian Davies, Sarah Glozer and Pierre McDonagh, “Sustainable Fashion: Current and Future Research Directions”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54, 2020, pp. 2873–2909.

Nietzsche, Friedrich, Human, All Too Human, translated by R. J. Hollingdale, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Niinimäki, Kirsi, “Ethical Foundations in Sustainable Fashion”, Textiles and Clothing Sustainability, vol. 1, 2015, pp. 1–11.

Polhemus, Ted, Fashion & Anti-Fashion: Exploring Adornment and Dress from an Anthropological Perspective, Lulu.com, 2011.

Sontag, Susan, “Notes on ‘Camp’”, in Fabio Cleto (ed.), Camp: Queer Aesthetics and the Performing Subject. A Reader, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1999.

Weil, Simone, An Anthology, edited and introduced by Siân Miles, London, Penguin Books, 2005.

Teaching methods

The course combines lectures with an interactive teaching approach. Lectures will provide the theoretical and conceptual framework, while students will be actively involved through class discussions, individual presentations based on the topics covered and their own research interests, and, where appropriate depending on the number of participants, group work. Classroom activities will be supported by PowerPoint presentations and by the critical analysis of fashion images, advertising campaigns, films, videos, and other visual materials, with the aim of encouraging discussion and fostering critical reflection.

Assessment methods

Final assessment will consist of a written paper of approximately 20,000–25,000 characters (including spaces), corresponding to approximately 3,000–4,000 words.

The paper must address a topic related to the content of the course and the themes discussed during the lectures. The topic must be agreed upon with and approved by the instructor in advance.

Individual presentations delivered during the course may contribute to the development of the final paper.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Videos and PowerPoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Fabio Carlo Antonio Ambrosio