Final Project: Historicism

PURPOSE:
1. To demonstrate student knowledge of the influence of historic costume on contemporary fashion design.

2. To demonstrate student ability to use primary sources to determine which period of historic costume influenced a particular style of contemporary dress during the twentieth century.

3. To explain (through analysis of current themes or trends in society) why students believe the historic style was used by the contemporary designer.

METHOD:

Step 1. Choose images from primary sources of ten fashion items (2016-17) that you believe have been influenced by historic styles of dress. You may use photographs of actual garments currently for sale or recently purchased. (For this project they are primary sources.) The current fashion items may include men's and women's clothing, accessories, and jewelry. Do not repeat any style of clothing or accessory items. Example: you may use a necklace only once.

There are many items to choose from because there are many styles and elements of dress. You may separate out elements of dress. For instance, you may focus on a type of sleeve, a neckline, or skirt style that was borrowed from the past. You are not limited to the 20th century. You may pick styles of dress from ancient times through the 20th century. Sources of the earlier styles must be primary sources.

Step 2. Capture an image of each of the ten clothing items (women's, men's, or accessories, jewelry, etc.). Be sure to document each image.
a. Describe it in full, name it, date it, and give designer if available.
b. Where did you find the image? Give a full citation for each of the ten items. Please use MLA format. The following link will give you a great source for the correct formatting.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

Step 3. Determine which period or decade from costume history served as inspiration for each of the ten items that you have chosen.

For historic periods, you may use the following:

The Ancient World 3000 BC - 300AD

The Middle Ages 300-1500

The Renaissance 1400-1600

Baroque and Rococo 1600-1800

The Nineteenth Century 1900's

The Twentieth Century 1900-2000 Use decades

Be sure to label the period for each comparison

Step 4. Find photographic images of primary sources that show the historic styles. A primary source is a portrait, sculpture, painting, illustration or photograph, garment or other artifact produced at a particular period of time. That is, the period you are using for comparison.

Example: You select a garment in Vogue that looks similar to a garment in Hogarth painting. A Hogarth portrait is a primary source for the 1750s or 60s. You may then use a photograph of the Hogarth painting that you found in a historic fashion book or a book about Hogarth or online.

Step 5. Capture the image that you found

a. Document all primary sources found https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

b. document all bibliographic data on the book or journal where you found the image of the primary source.

Step 6. Each page should include an image of the current fashion image next to the image of the "historic" inspiration taken from a primary source.

a.--Don't forget to include all information on primary sources, including bibliographic data. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

b.--Label each period.

Step 7. For each of the ten items provide an explanation of the relationship between the two images, current and historic. Refer to specific elements of the clothing design using correct costume terminology for each, (for example, "leg of mutton sleeve"). Discuss why you believe the contemporary designer might have been inspired by the historic period. What was happening that made the earlier style acceptable for today's fashion. Did it correspond in some way to the current thinking of the clothing artist? Reflect current trends?