|
Abstract:
|
Dress and fashion are rich and varied fields of study. Some scholars refer to
them as ‘hybrid subjects’ because they bring together different conceptual
frameworks and disciplinary approaches, including those from anthropology,
art history, cultural studies, design studies, economics, history, literature,
semiotics, sociology, visual culture and business studies. Invariably, such a
pervasive phenomenon as dress has always been the subject of much
commentary. Since the late 19th century, there has been no scarcity of research,
but studies have been somewhat sporadic and tended to stay within these
bounds of their own disciplines. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the leading
educational institutions with words like dress and fashion in their titles, were,
firstly, design schools and technical training institutions, servicing the industry,
and secondly, institutes devoted to the study of dress history, directed as
museums. It was only in the last decades of the 20th century that various
approaches were integrated across disciplines and institutions so that it became
possible to talk about something like ‘fashion studies’, reflected by the
emergence of research centres, academic journals and graduate programmes
with such heading. However, both the term, and what it is perceived to
represent, is contested; while some scholars and institutions endorse ‘fashion
studies’, others reject it or distance themselves from it. |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
