Paris/Fashion

Long regarded as the “capital of fashion,” Paris has played an indisputably central role in leading fashion forward. Surveying the period of 350 years from Louis XIV’s reign to the twenty-first century, this course explores how the identity of the city of Paris and the history of fashion have been deeply entangled and mutually shaped each other. Topics include: French court fashion during the Ancien Régime, fashion and French Revolution, the haute couture and ready-to-wear industries, the cultural imagination of la parisienne, fashion and art, fashion and literature, the dissemination of Parisian fashion, and so on. We will examine a variety of roles that contribute to the fashion culture of Paris: trendsetters, designers, seamstresses, artists, and writers, as well as the textile industry, commerce, and press. 3 credits.