FFS 120

This course will investigate the ways in which fashioned identities emerge within a racialized context in an effort to gain access, visibility and power–bridging key concepts in fashion studies with foundations in critical race theory, as well as methodologies from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, art history and material culture. Discussions and exercises will address topics such as (but not limited to): The history of ‘race’ and the Western beauty canon; how race sets the limitations of belonging and citizenship when it comes to dress and appearance; cultural appropriation and the boundaries of material ownership; how the business of fashion grapples with race in retail spaces, image-making and employment diversity.