91117 - Fashion and Visual Culture

Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course the students will have acquired knowledge in the context of contemporary visual culture in relation to the heterogeneous visual manifestations of the Fashion System. Particular attention will be paid to the role of image in the definition of brand identity. The course also aims at providing students with the methodological study and analytical tools necessary for the interpretation of the visual languages adopted in the narrative, valorisation and promotion processes relative to fashion products, and in the construction of the imaginary linked to it.

Course contents

The Fashion and Visual Culture course focuses on the relationships between fashion, contemporary art and other forms of visual communication. The course aims to provide the theoretical foundations of visual culture studies and various examples of the interconnection between fashion, art and visual communication. Theoretical tools useful for understanding, describing and analyzing images in their cultural context will be provided. The themes of pattern, body, identity and 'clothed performance' will be addressed in particular by examining a number of case studies from the mid-20th century to the present. Some of the most representative exhibitions of the breaking down of boundaries between art, fashion and visual communication will also be introduced.

Readings/Bibliography

• Irit Rogoff, Studying Visual Culture, in Irit Rogoff, ed., The Visual Culture Reader. London, Routledge, 1998, pp. 24-36 [downloadable from the course Virtual page].
  
• Anneke Smelik, Fashion and Visual Culture, in Jan Brand & José Teunissen (eds.), The Power of Fashion. About Design and Meaning. Arnhem, Terra/ArtEZ Press, 2006, pp. 152-171 [downloadable from the course Virtual page].
  
• Rick Poynor, No more Rules. Graphic Design and Postmodernism. London, L. King, 2003 [available for consultation at the Central Library on the Rimini Campus].
  
• Stefania Ricci, ed., Across Art and Fashion. Mandragora, Florence, 2016 [available for consultation at the Central Library on the Rimini Campus. The text can also be purchased as eBook on the publisher's website].

Other materials and bibliographical references will be provided by the lecturer during class.

Teaching methods

Lectures and classroom exercises

Assessment methods

Classroom exercises focusing on the analysis of texts related to visual culture and the description of images are planned. Multiple-choice, true-false questionnaires and iconographic and bibliographic research exercises are also provided. At the end of the course, the student is expected to present and discuss a case study exemplifying the contaminations between fashion, art and visual communication to be agreed upon with the lecturer. The presentation should include text and images and should be made with software such as PowerPoint, Canva, Prezi or InDesign.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint and audiovisual materials

Office hours

See the website of Pasquale Fameli