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Joanne B. Eicher, Regents Professor Emerita, University of Minnesota, USA
Three words, dress, costume, and fashion, have been used interchangeably often in writings about what children and adults wear or how they have covered or modified their bodies, for many reasons, such as modesty, decoration, display, warmth, or hygiene. Some of the writings relate to history, others to the importance or meaning of dressing the body, or signifying personal and/or cultural identity. Distinguishing types of people and describing who they are often involves understanding their dress. Many scholars, including anthropologists, art historians, costumers, economists, historians, psychologists and sociologists all study dress, even psychiatrists who want to know more about their patients.
What will students learn from this unit?
This unit focuses on the similarities and differences among dress, costume, and fashion, how different scholars view these three words and how the ideas involved in them are used in the Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion and the Berg Fashion Library. In addition, other words are related, such as ethnic and national dress and world fashion. This learning module begins with articles providing definitions and concepts followed by other articles that connect to these ideas.
Key Words
| Costume | Dress | Fashion | Undress | Nudity |
| Ethnic dress | National Dress | Clothing | World Fashion | Ethnic Style |
| Week 1: Clothing, Costume and Dress | Read the following texts prior to the class:
Discussion Questions:
Homework: Find images in magazines and newspapers from articles and advertisements that you can share in class to show examples of dress, clothing, and nudity. |
| Week 2: Fashion and Technology | Read the following texts prior to class:
Homework: Write a short two-page essay about how an economist, psychologist, or sociologist could use some of the ideas about fashion to develop a research project. |
| Week 3: Ethnic and National Dress and World Fashion | Read the following prior to class:
Discussion Questions:
Homework: Select an example of ethnic dress that you know about from personal experience or reading and write about how it is used in either festivals or special events. |
Eicher, Joanne B., Ed. Dress and Ethnicity: Change Across Space and Time, 1995, The Berg Fashion Library. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/9781847881342
Eicher, Joanne B., Evenson, Sandra Lee, Lutz, Hazel A., The Visible Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture, and Society, Fairchild 2000, 9781563670688. Not available on The Berg Fashion Library.
Entwhistle, Joanne and Wilson, Elizabeth, Body Dressing, 2001, The Berg Fashion Library. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/9780857854032
Johnson, K.K.P., Torntore, S.J., and Eicher, J.B., Fashion Foundations, 2003, The Berg Fashion Library. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/9780857854070
Loschek, Ingrid, When Clothes Become Fashion, 2009, The Berg Fashion Library. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/9781847883681
Lynch, Annette, Dress, Gender, and Cultural Change, 1999, The Berg Fashion Library. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/9781847888686
Yurchisin, Jennifer and Johnson, Kim K. P., Fashion and the Consumer, Understanding Fashion series, 2010. Not available on the Berg Fashion Library.
Magazines and Journals
If your institution has a subscription to the following journals, you will find many relevant articles for further reading within:
Find an image of a garment on the Berg Fashion Library that represents national identity to you. List five key elements that make your chosen garment a signifier of a particular national identity. Explain your reasoning.
Find images of garments on the Berg Fashion Library that are worn for the following reasons: modesty, decoration, to keep warm or to keep cool, and health/hygiene and answer the following questions for each:
For students also taking a practical course or studying fashion design:
