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• Diversification in Fashion Markets, Street Styles and Cultural Change

Joseph H. Hancock, II, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Introduction
Course Terminology
Textbook
Suggested Learning Assessment
Suggested Learning Module Directions
Further Reading
Discussion Questions
Enrichment Materials


INTRODUCTION

Purpose
This course provides students with an introduction to multidisciplinary and popular cultural influences (race, ethnicity, gender, sex, religion) on fashion and style. It also introduces students to the ways in which individual characteristics have shifted the meanings and notions of what we call fashion and style. Through various readings related to fashion, style, identity, race, ethnicity, gender, sex and religion, this course will serve as an educational guide on cultural, social, and unique consumer markets. This lesson plan has been designed to conceptually expose students to various types of popular groups and unique individuals. The readings are a starting point and are not intended to be comprehensive; students should build upon these readings as the class progresses.

Today’s popular mass fashion does not exist in a vacuum, nor is it part of a collective consciousness. It is a multicultural, diversified, micro-marketed, segmented, fragmented and at the same time a global market phenomenon. Most of us will not wear couture clothes nor work in couture fashion houses, so understanding street style, and how mass culture transforms fashion and is influenced by history, consumers, marketing, merchandising, retailing, and sales is extremely important. Contrary to popular belief, the creative process for fashion does not start with design genius. It begins when last year’s sales, retail successes and failures, and merchandisers’ “wish lists” have been analyzed in conjunction with changing consumer demographics and psychographics. Demographics are characteristics of consumers such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, while psychographics are usually attitudes related to personality, interests, values, lifestyles and opinions.

Students of fashion will eventually work in areas such as retailing, merchandising, buying, designing, branding and other such fields. They will find it helpful to understand the theoretical concepts behind fashion and style and how these meanings have shifted in the 21st century, through new innovations and a multicultural marketplace. By exposure to various ideas of dress, apparel, culture, style and fashion, this conceptual curriculum will allow students to serve a diverse range of clients and consumers, informed by an understanding of the ways in which purchasing behaviors are shaped by an individual’s identity and view of the world.

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COURSE TERMINOLOGY

The terms below are the basis and foundation for understanding cultural groups, some demographics and psychographics, as well as the fashion business and changes in fashion. Students should build upon these concepts through the references and resources presented in the following readings.

Cultural Groups
Tortora, Phyllis. "Introduction to Cultural Groups." 2010. 

Fashion Marketing and Merchandising
Stone, Elaine. "Fashion Marketing and Merchandising." 2005.

Gender and Sex
Michelman, Susan O. and Miller-Spillman, Kimberly. "Gender." 2010.
Suthrell, Charlotte. "Clothing Sex, Sexing Clothes: Transvestism, Material Culture and the Sex and Gender Debate." 2004.

Identity
Evenson, Sandra Lee. "Dress and Identity." 2010.

Race and Ethnicity
Cheang, Sarah. "Roots: Hair and Race." 2008.
Eicher, Joanne B. "Introduction: Dress as Expression of Ethnic Identity." 1995.

Religion
Tortora, Phyllis. "Religion and Dress." 2010.

Street Style
Polhemus, Ted. "Street Style." 2005.
Woodward, Sophia. "The Myth of Street Style." 2009.

Technology
Fortunati, Leopoldina. "Wearable Technology." 2010.

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TEXTBOOK

For a more structured approach to understanding changes in the field of fashion scholarship, as well as some cultural shifts and changes in fashion, you may want to choose a textbook. A good textbook for this learning plan would be:

Lynch, Annette. and Strauss, Mitchell D. Changing Fashion. 2007.


SUGGESTED LEARNING ASSESSMENT

Since the purpose of this course is to conceptually educate participants about multidisciplinary and cultural influences in the areas of fashion and style, users may develop their own learning modules. However, below is a suggested outline for taking notes and writing reaction papers to course materials.

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SUGGESTED LEARNING MODULE DIRECTIONS

Course instructors may choose to use either a textbook in combination with articles from the Berg Fashion Library (Option One), articles from the Berg Fashion Library (Option Two) or to focus on one area such as Technology (Option Three). Whatever option or combination of options, participants should also search the Berg Fashion Library for more readings and should read those articles and write reaction papers when appropriate. See the three options below:

Option 1: Using Lynch and Strauss, Changing Fashion, as a Textbook

Option 2: Using Articles from the Berg Fashion Library Only

Option 3: Using Just One Section of This Lesson for Your Course

An instructor may choose to use this learning plan as a supplement to a course they are teaching. You can supplement any course you are teaching by the following instructional approach.

1. Choose the appropriate article from the Course Terminology section.
2. Next, select the group of readings that correlates to your specific area from Further Reading.
3. Formulate or use the Discussion Questions to enrich classroom discussion.

Here is an example for Technology:

Part 1: Course Terminology
Fortunati, Leopoldina. "Wearable Technology." 2010.

Part 2: Further Reading
Dunne, Lucy. "Smart Clothing in Practice: Key Design Barriers to Commercialization." 2010.
Park, Juyeon. and Delong, Marilyn. "User Perceptions of Technology Adoption and Implementation: A Case Study of Footwear Production in a Global Market." 2009.
Quinn, Bradley. "Sportswear." 2002.

Part 3: Modified Discussion Questions

• How does technology influence textiles and fashion? Give examples of retailers or businesses that have a unique approach to the infusion of fashion and technology.
• Can you give specific examples of how technology has changed fashion? Is there a dominant technological theme in fashion?
  
• From a merchandising and marketing perspective, what do you see as the future of fashion and technology?
  

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FURTHER READING

Many of these readings cross list into other categories. Instructors should choose where they feel articles fit best. This list is by no means exhaustive, however it presents a starting place for students to begin researching their topic of interest for their final presentations.

Fashion: Popular
Craik, Jennifer. "Uniforms in Fashion and Popular Culture." 2005.
Debord, Matthew. “Texture and Taboo: The Tyranny of Texture and Ease in the J.Crew Catalog." 1997.
Goodrum, Alison L. "Who Wears the Trousers? Fashion, Nation, Gender." 2005.
Hancock II, Joseph H. "Brand Storytelling: Context and Meaning for Cargo Pants." 2009.
Olesen, Bodil. "Changing the World with a Pair of Jeans: Cotton Fiber, Environmentalism and Experiential Marketing in Present-day America." 2011.

Fashion: Style
Broome, Karl. “Tattooing Starts at Home: Tattooing, Affectivity and Sociality.” 2006.
Church Gibson, Pamela. "Concerning Blondeness: Gender, Ethnicity, Spectacle and Footballers’ Waves." 2008.
Cole, Shaun. "Hair and Male (Homo)Sexuality: ‘Up Top and Down Below’." 2008.
Delong, Marilyn, Heinemann, Barbara, and Reiley, Kathryn. “Hooked on Vintage!.” 2005.
Hannel, Susan L. "The Influence of American Jazz on Fashion." 2005.
Cunningham, Patricia A. "Television and Fashion in the 1980s." 2005.
Miller, Marilyn. "Guayaberismo and the Essence of Cool." 2005.
Peterson, Giles. and Lythberg, Billie. "Pacific Street Styles in Auckland." 2010.
Tulloch, Carol. "Resounding Power of the Afro Comb." 2008.
Welters, Linda. "The Beat Generation: Subcultural Style." 2005.

Fashion: Race and Ethnicity
Arias, Claudia M Milian. "Fashioning United States Salvadoranness: Unveiling the Faces of Christy Turlington and Rosa Lopez." 2005.
Chandler, Robin M. and Chandler-Smith, Nuri. "Flava in Ya Gear: Transgressive Politics and the Influence of Hip-Hop on Contemporary Fashion." 2005.
O’Neal, Gwendolyn S. "The Power of Style: On Rejection of the Accepted." 1999.
Quinn, Bradley. "Japanese Innovation." 2002.
Yaqin, Amina. “Islamic Barbie: The Politics of Gender Perfomativity." 2007.

Fashion: Sex and Gender
Cole, Shaun. "Fairies and Queens: The Role of Effeminate Stereotypes." 2000.
Finnane, Gabrielle. "Holly Golightly and the Fashioning of the Waif." 2009.
Hancock, Joseph H. "Chelsea on 5th Avenue: Hypermasculinity and Gay Clone Culture in the Retail Brand Practices of Abercrombie & Fitch." 2009.
Harper, Catherine. "Double Dresses for Double Brides." 2009.
Hegland, Jane E, and Hodges, Nancy Nelson. "Embodying The Feminine: Male-to-Female Cross-Dressing." 2007.
Pancrazio, James J. "Transvestite Pedagogy: Jacqueline and Cuban Culture." 2005.
Suthrell, Charlotte. "Dressing Up/Dressing Down: Reconsidering Sex and Gender Culture." 2004.

Fashion: Religion
Anijar, Karen. "Jewish Genes, Jewish Jeans A Fashionable Body." 1999.
Hamilton, Jean A. and Hawley, Jana M. "Sacred Dress, Public Worlds: Amish and Mormon Experience and Commitment." 1999.
Michelman, Susan O. "Fashion and Identity of Women Religious." 1999.
O’Neal, Gwendolyn S."The African American Church, its Sacred Cosmos and Dress." 1999.

Fashion: Technology
Dunne, Lucy. "Smart Clothing in Practice: Key Design Barriers to Commercialization." 2010.
Park, Juyeon and Delong, Marilyn. "User Perceptions of Technology Adoption and Implementation: A Case Study of Footwear Production in a Global Market." 2009.
Quinn, Bradley. "Sportswear." 2002.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The discussion questions can be utilized interchangeably for all articles and within any section should an instructor choose to focus on just one area. These questions have been designed to give instructors suggestions for formulating their own types of questions. The discussion questions should be used to generate discussion and are not intended for written assignments that should be tailored by the instructor.

• How does culture influence fashion? How does understanding the multicultural attributes of various consumers allow you to be a better businessperson for working in the world of fashion, apparel and clothing? Give examples of retailers or businesses that specifically cater to a unique target market. Are they successful and why?
  
• Why is it important to have a cultural critical analysis of fashion? Does this allow you to comprehend the processes behind fashion change better? Why?
  
• What cultural attributes do you find the most important in the examination of fashion change? Why? Are there cultural attributes or characteristics that should have been added to this lesson plan? Why?
  
• Can you give examples of how culture has influenced fashion? Is there a dominant culture in fashion? Can you give examples of the dominant culture? If not, why?
  
• From a merchandising and marketing perspective, what do you see as the future of fashion? Where do you see the future of fashion studies in academia? Do you think the course readings truly reflect where fashion is going? Why or why not? How can the “real world” and “academe” work together to create a better learning situation for students interested in studying fashion?

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ENRICHMENT MATERIALS

Instructors can enrich the classroom experience for students by having guest lectures or by showing films such as these few examples:

Another Country, 1984
Bladerunner, 1982
Good Hair, 2009
Hairspray, 1988
Kinky Boots, 2005
La Vie en Rose, 1997
Paris is Burning, 1990
Precious, 2009
Queen Sized, 2008
RuPaul’s Drag Race, 2009
RuPaul’s Drag U, 2010
The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, 1994
The Broken Heart’s Club, 2000
The Joy Luck Club, 1993
The Kids are All Right, 2010
The Namesake, 2006
The Sum of Us, 1994
The Trip to Bountiful, 1985
To Woo Fong, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, 1995
Transamerica, 2005

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