Among the questions to consider are:
- should sociologists be interested in fashion?
- what can the production and consumption of fashion tell us about social relations?
- what do you wear, and why?
- How much do you know about where the clothes you wear come from, and what material they are made of?
Seminar Preparation
Group D: Where have your clothes come from? What are they made of? (See Timmerman, K. (2011) Where am I Wearing? A global tour to the countries, factories, and people that make our clothes, Hoboken: Wiley: available as E-book) Think about student fashion: is it made of particular materials? Are there key student clothing brands? How do they operate?
Group A: Read Tokatli on Zara and Prada: how do these brands operate?
Tokatli, N. (2008) “Global sourcing: insights from the global clothing industry the case of Zara, a fast fashion retailer”, Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 21-38
Tokatli, N. (2014) “‘Made in Italy? Who cares!’ Prada’s new economic geography”, GeoForum, Vol. 54, pp. 1-9
Group B: Read Benzecry’s article on the Boca Junior jersey: how can a shirt mean so much? Does what it’s made of, its colour and design, matter?
Benzecry, C. (2008) “Azul y Oro: The Many Social Lives of a Football Jersey”, Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 49-76
Group C: Read about the Global Denim Project and the work of Miller and Woodward on Denim: Why has denim been popular? Are there different types and colours? Is denim losing its prominence and fashionability?
Miller, D. and Woodward, S. (2012) Blue Jeans: The Art of the Ordinary, Berkeley: University of California Press (available as an E-book)
Further reading for all: In addition to the above, you may wish to read the extract from Simmel on Adornment (on Moodle): Is jewellery the same as fashion? Why wear it? Does it matter what form/material/colour of jewellery it is?
