91674 - History and Fashion Cultural Heritage

Learning outcomes

The course treats the main phases that marks the history of fashion in a long duration perspective (from the Middle Ages to the present), reconstructing them through the analysis of multiple sources, presented to students in order to render them familiar to their use. Sources such as documents, narratives, iconography and also material culture. The aim of the program is to provide students with a better understanding and appreciation of garments both as cultural assets and as witness of technical capacities. The course offers propaedeutic basis for the study of fashion objects, aiding students to learn how to classify, catalogue and potentially organise these items in archival terms.

Course contents

During the lessons, appropriate tools and methods will be offered to investigate the history of fashion in its cultural, material and visual aspects without neglecting the "documents" of fashion kept in archives and collections. The topics will be treated by intertwining the chronological and thematic approach with an approach of material culture through the direct analysis of some objects to experiment and discuss methods of inventorying and cataloging both in the museum and in the archives.

The main topics will concern:

- Definition of Fashion Cultural Heritage

- The study of Fashion and evidences

- The Phenomenon of Fashion: origins, peculiarities, and development from the Middle Ages to the XXth century

- The objects of Fashion

- The tailor's craft from Middle Ages

- Fashion Archives between collections and Business Archives

- Business Archives: some case studies

- Rosa Genoni (1867-1954): dressmaker, intellectual, political activist and mother of Italian fashion

 

Readings/Bibliography

1. All students are required to know:
   a Manual of history of costume and fashion (V.Maugeri, Storia della moda e del costume, Bologna 2005 or S.Piccolo Paci, Parliamo di moda, 3 vols., Bologna 2004
2. and know not superficially: Rosa Genoni. Moda e politica: una prospettiva femminista tra '800 e '900, Venezia, Marsilio, 2019.
3. Power Point presentation on Virtuale (virtuale.unibo.it).

Non-attending students are also required to read a book of their choice:

- Moda. Storia e storie, a cura di M.G. Muzzarelli, G. Riello, E. Tosi Brandi, Milano, Mondadori, 2010

- C.M. Belfanti, Civiltà della moda, Bologna, il Mulino, 2008

-M.G. Muzzarelli, Breve storia della moda in Italia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2011

- M.G. Muzzarelli, Andare per le vie italiane della seta, Bologna, il Mulino, 2022.

For non-attending students an online meeting will be held in which the aims and program of the course will be illustrated at the beginning of February (see "Avvisi" in Teacher web site). Interested students are asked to contact the teacher via email who will send them the Teams link of the meeting.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons; seminars; workshops; a guided tour of a collection or historical archive of an enterprise in the fashion sector.

A selection of documentary, literary, iconographic sources and materials from the Middle Ages to today will be presented chronologically and / or by theme. A workshop to deepen knowledge of a Quattrocento fashion by Vittore Carpaccio, and a seminar / exercise on cataloging clothes is foreseen following the VeAC ministerial card will be held.

Assessment methods

Oral final exam: good orientation in the specificities of fashion from the Middle Ages to today, knowledge of debates and case studies presented in class relating to clothing as a cultural asset, methods of analysis and enhancement strategies are required.

For non-attending students the exam consists of an oral interview on the texts in the bibliography.

In the evaluation of the test, account will be taken, in particular, of the student's ability to orientate himself in the use of the sources and the bibliographic material of the exam in order to obtain useful information that allows him to illustrate themes and problems and to know how to connect them together .

We will therefore evaluate:

- Mastery of content

- The ability to synthesize and analyze themes and concepts

- The ability to express oneself precisely and appropriately taking into account the specificities of the subject matter

The achievement by the student of an organic vision of the topics addressed in class, of a critical approach to them and the mastery of concepts and terms specific to the themes of fashion will be assessed with marks of excellence.

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with synthesis and analysis skills articulated in a correct but not always appropriate language, will lead to discrete evaluations.

Training gaps and / or inappropriate language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the exam material - will lead to marks that will not exceed the sufficiency.

Teaching tools

During the lessons, case studies will be presented through seminars and in-depth exercises concerning fashion techniques and materials. Educational materials will be made available online divided by historical periods and themes (virtuale.unibo.it).

Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (DSA) needing compensatory tools will be able to communicate their needs to the Teacher in order to be addressed to the referents and agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it/per-studenti

Office hours

See the website of Elisa Tosi Brandi