Fashion & Society Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Program Fall 2019 Semester - Barcelona

Our fashion choices reflect an image we project of ourselves and of our times. With its profound and complex influence on contemporary society, the business and culture of fashion are being examined and reevaluated across a variety of media and academic disciplines. New areas of research are being explored, including: the industry, history, and cultural impact of fashion; the diverse stylistic influences derived from societal and media sources; the influence of design; and the role played by contemporary fashion photography in magazines and advertising.

Through music, fine art, subcultures, foreign influences, and individual choice this course examines the fashion icons that define our culture and society. The course explores the cultural diversity mirrored in the clothes we design, manufacture and wear, and what fashion is, how it differs from style, and the prominent designers that shape our modern times. The course examines how creative fashion design is rooted in both historical sources and current trends. You will have the opportunity to analyze contemporary fashion 'looks' in the streets and haute couture studios of Barcelona as well as the design of clothing and how clothes are manufactured, presented, marketed, and consumed.

The course will also analyze international trends, regional differences and influences, and homogeneous similarities between markets in the global village. Fashion capitals like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Spanish fashion will be compared and contrasted though coursework and field study. In addition, the influence and co-influence of popular culture and high art in fashion will be examined as well as the relationship between emerging trends and their commercialization through a business case study of the Spanish fashion chain Zara. By the end of the course, you will have an accomplished understanding of fashion as business, as artistic expression, as a commodity, and as lifestyle.