The course discusses the importance of clothing as a social marker and symbol, as well as the cross-border role fashion is given in the transition from a class society to a class society. Fashion is put in relation to other aesthetic expressions of culture and placed in an overview in a style-historical, idea-historical and popular cultural context from the 1450s through the 20th century, including the establishment of the modern fashion system. Questions about the origins of fashion as a Western or universal phenomenon are discussed, as well as the role of fashion in understanding social change and as an arena for debating social change.

The historical emergence of fashion as a cycle and system in a historical Western context is highlighted, as well as its global, political, and identity-creating dimensions.

The course is part of a package that provides a cultural studies perspective on fashion. Read more about the course package.