Faculty First Year Seminars 197COMM1 - Media, Fashion, Culture, Style

This seminar will look at the use of clothing for communicative expression and cultural meaning, and the way it has been represented in the media. Our interdisciplinary approach will be informed mainly by cultural studies and film/media studies but will draw in other discourses and fields such as journalism, cultural anthropology, visual rhetoric/semiotics, gender and sexuality studies, performance theory, and design practices. Our main examples will include cinema, television, street-style and personal style blogs, fashion journalism, and advertisements. We will incorporate short readings, classroom discussion, several short writing exercises (cultural critiques), in-class interactive hands-on activities/presentations/projects, and a field trip.

Freshmen Only