Online: The Semiotics of Fashion Styling

In this short course, we will analyze the wider meaning of fashion signs. We will study the works created by famous stylists and key designers and critically survey the rise of certain trends, trying to explain them through the prism of the social and cultural changes. The course examines the identity issue in fashion and discusses the current state of the fashion world through the prism of postcolonial studies.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this course will be facilitated online using a mixture of daily live-sessions and guided tasks to be completed.

The course consists of online lectures, online tours to galleries and museums, and seminar-like discussions. The students are expected to conduct research and analyze their subject of interest, and work on research-related tasks (in groups and individually). The course also includes individual tutorials where students will be able to discuss the most challenging questions, as well as their projects. At the end of the course, each student will print the results of their work and research. 

This course might be interesting for design students and those who would like to embark upon a career in styling and is wondering about navigation in popular culture. At the end of the workshop, the students will be required to complete an assignment.

REQUIREMENTS

Knowledge of/interest in the history of fashion or fashion sociology.

Ira Solomatina is a Berlin-based writer. She holds M.A. in Cultures and Literature of South- and Southeast Asia (Moscow State University) and Modern South- and Southeast Asian Studies (Berlin Humboldt University). Since 2018, she is an external Ph.D. student at the University of Amsterdam.

Ira curates content for brands and magazines and contributes to a number of publications on art, culture, and fashion in Europe and Russia. She has worked with renowned magazines such as Artguide Magazine, Vogue Russia Online, Sleek Magazine, GQ Russia, Moscow-based Theory of Fashion, and Munich-based Mytheresa. As a freelance researcher, whose interests span issues of cultural appropriation and fashion globalization, she also works with universities and fashion schools across Europe. Since August 2018, Ira has been working as a freelance editor for Brand Marketing at Zalando, giving lectures at London College of Fashion for BA Fashion Styling, and working as a research tutor at the University of Arts in Berlin for MA Fashion Design.