ART H 260 A: Fashion, Nation, and Culture

Office hours:

Professor Gaylard:

Mon Wed 3.30-4 (in Pdl C-259);

Tue 3-4 (from CDH 139 toward Padelford C-259); sgaylard@uw.edu

Giordano Conticelli:

Thur 3.30-5.30 in Art 008 (basement, just across from Parnassus Cafe); conticg@uw.edu

Course objectives:

• Gain an overview of Italian (and Western European) culture by focusing on fashion and manners from the late medieval period to today.
• Explore common assumptions about nation, gender, clothes, and make-up, through literary and visual analysis,
• in order to seek answers to two primary questions: “What is fashion?” and “What makes Italian fashion Italian?”
• Use resources from the Henry Art Galleryand the library’s Special Collections.
• Engage in a discussion that relates contemporary American concerns to issues raised in European culture since the middle ages.
• Improve skills of critical analysis in both reading and writing:

* Pick out the main point(s) of a piece of academic writing.

* Contextualize an academic article using your new knowledge (from this course), and respond to it.

* Build on your new knowledge to develop an argument that supports your opinions.

Course overview

This course provides a broad introduction to Italian culture by examining the category “fashion” —beginning with late medieval livery, and the Renaissance emphasis on adapting one’s clothes, speech and personal style to the occasion. The early modern emphasis on manners, and the plethora of “how-to” manuals, corresponded with a growing identification of “dressing up” with effeminacy. We will examine the problem of gender and consumption, so as to contextualize the English adoption of the three-piece suit as modest masculine attire. We will also consider the role of clothing in constructing Italian, French, and American national identity. In this light, students will study both the post-war Italian idealization of American culture, and American idealization of Italian fashion.

In analyzing literature, images, films, and material objects, we will focus on a series of questions: How can clothes constitute identity? And can clothes constitute national identity? What is the role of gender in the production and consumption of “beauty”? Which early modern elements of style and behavior remain current today, and why? What is “Italian” about Italian style?

Course expectations and grading scale

In order to help you succeed in this course, I (the professor) undertake to:

• begin and end class on time
• be available for office hours MonWed 3.30-4 and Tue 3-4
• ensure that grading is fair and timely
• respond to brief email queries within a reasonable timeframe (Mon-Fri); and respond to longer questions by phone or in person

Your success depends on your commitment to:

• attend lecture and section
• complete readings well before class, thinking about the question of the week
• turn in assignments on time
• respect your classmates:

• learn from your classmates’ comments and questions
• avoid chatting, eating, using your phone, and social media
• if you have to arrive late or leave early, minimize disruption by sitting at the end of a row near the door
• use available help for writing your papers - visit CLUE: http://depts.washington.edu/aspuw/clue/home/

- use the resources at: http://depts.washington.edu/owrc/handoutsespecially “How to Organize & Structure Your Paper” and “How to Perform a Close Reading”

- make an appointment at Odegaard: http://depts.washington.edu/owrc/for-writers

If you have questions or concerns, don’t wait! Bring them to the professor or TA asap.

Grades:

Short in-class written assignments                                    10%

One very short paper (1 page max, double spaced)          5%

Two short papers (4-6 pages):                         2 x 20% =   40%

Midterm exam                                                                       20%

Final exam                                                                             25%

In-class written assignments (graded check plus, check, check minus, or zero) are a way for you to identify where your concerns are, or questions you want to explore. They also show us where you may need more help to understand the readings. Assignments may be one-minute freewrites, short quizzes, quick responses to a question, or some other format. Assignments will be given randomly in lecture or section; only completed work turned in during class will receive credit. You are most likely to receive full credit for these assignments if you prepare all readings carefully before class, and pay attention during class.

In-class writing assignments and the very short paper are designed to help you formulate ideas for two short papers (graded on a percentage scale). That way, you can improve your grade as your writing skills develop through careful reading and consistent writing. Papers that are too short or too long may be penalized (use 12-point Times Roman font and margins of 1 inch).

Plagiarism of any kind is unacceptable; here is how to avoid it:

http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/plag.html

To prepare for the exams, it is important to attend lectures and discussion sections. While the exams will require you to remember some facts, the focus is your ability to use what you have learned in order to contextualize and critically analyze images and texts.

Required texts:

*Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy (GREEN 2^ndedition, 2014 or older BLUE edition)

*Molière, The Bourgeois Gentleman, trans. Bernard Sahlins (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000)

*Course reader at EZ Copy n Print, 4336 University Way NE.

*Images, paper topics, assignments, and other information will be posted via http://canvas.uw.edu

Religious accommodations: Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).

Access and Accommodations

If you have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (e.g. mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), please contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions. If you already have DRS accommodations, please let me know as soon as possible.

Course Schedule

This timetable may change during the quarter; check email and Canvas for updates

1.Introductions

9/26 Introductions

9/27 no section today!

2. When did fashion become fashion, and why?

10/1 Christopher Duggan, Concise History of Italy, 46-59 (photocopies in course reader)

Catherine Richardson, “Introduction,” Clothing Culture, 1350-1650(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004): 1-3.

Evelyn Welch, “Introduction,” Shopping in the Renaissance(Yale UP, 2005): 1-15

10/3 Very short paper due (on Canvas)

Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass, Renaissance clothing and the materials of memory(Cambridge UP, 2000): 1-11

Boccaccio, DecameronX.10 (1348)

10/4 section

3. What is the relationship between clothing and identity?

10/8 Duggan, “The Invasions of Italy,” Concise History of Italy, 60-65 (both editions)

Baldesar Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier(selections) (1528)

Giovanni Della Casa, Galateo(selections) (1558)

10/10 Timothy McCall, “Brilliant Bodies,” I Tatti Studies in the  Italian Renaissance16.1-2 (2013)

Duggan, Concise History 65-75 (both editions)

10/11 (section): review of paper-writing skills; work on first paper draft

4. What is the relation between clothing, shoes, and power?

10/15

First short paper due (on Canvas)

Giambattista Basile, The Cat Cinderella  (1634)

Joan DeJean, ‘Cinderella’s Slipper and the King’s Boots’, in The Essence of Style(Free Press, 2005), 83-103

10/17 Molière, The Bourgeois Gentleman, trans. Bernard Sahlins (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000) (1670)

10/18 (section) Midterm exam review

5. Why did men stop wearing “pretty” clothes?

10/22 Molière,The Bourgeois Gentleman, trans. Bernard Sahlins (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000) (1670)

10/24 IN-CLASS MIDTERM EXAM (1 HR 20 MIN)– bring a blank exam book

10/25  visit to SAM leaving Husky Stadium light rail at 1pm or 2pm

6. How can women perform “inner” beauty and national identity?

10/29  Duggan, “The Eighteenth Century,” Concise History, 75-86

David Kuchta, “The Making of the Self-Made Man: Class, Clothing, and English Masculinity, 1688-1832,” The Sex of Things, ed. Victoria De Grazia (UC Press, 1996), 54-78

10/31Duggan, “The Emergence of the National Question,” Concise History, 87-116 (BLUE edition); or 87-117 (GREEN edition)

Valerie Steele, The Corset: A Cultural History(New Haven: Yale UP, 2001), 1, 34-41

11/1 section

7. How does dress reflect nationhood?

11/5  Duggan, ‘Italy United’, 117-146 (BLUE edition); or 118-143 (GREEN edition)

Kathy Peiss, “Making Up, Making Over: Cosmetics, Consumer Culture, and Women’s Identity” in The Sex of Things, ed. Victoria De Grazia (UC Press, 1996), 311-336

Harvey Newcomb, How to be a Lady: a book for girls(Boston: Gould, Kendall, and Lincoln, 1850), p. 107

“The small-waist nuisance”, The Ladies’ Repository(1864), 97-98 (Special Collections – posted on Canvas under FILES)

11/7  Stephen Gundle,‘Garibaldi’s female figures’, ‘The blonde aura of Queen Margherita’, Bellissima, 28-32; 33-57

Duggan, ‘Giolitti, the First World War, and the rise of Fascism,’ 171-204 (BLUE edition); or 173-206 (GREEN edition)

11/8(section): Visit to SPECIAL COLLECTIONS CLASSROOM, 1.30-2.20 or 2.30-3.20

8. What is the relation between Italian style and American style?

11/12Duggan, “Fascism,” Concise History, 205-210, 221-232 (BLUE edition); or 207-212, 223-234 (GREEN edition)

Selections from Federico Fellini, Amarcord(1973) (in class)

Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, “Peeking under the Black Shirt: Italian Fascism’s Disembodied Bodies,” Fashioning the Body Politic, ed. Wendy Parkins (Oxford: Berg, 2002), 145-65

11/14Selections from “The Night of the Shooting Stars” (in class)

Duggan, Concise History, 232-244 (BLUE edition), or 234-247 (GREEN edition)

Annemarie Strassel, “Designing Women: Feminist Methodologies in American Fashion,” Women’s Studies Quarterly41.1-2 (2013): 35-44, 51-55

11/15 (section)Second short paper due / Final exam review

9. What is “Italian” about Italian style?

11/19Giuseppe De Santis,Riso amaro(1948) – watch online before coming to class

11/21 Duggan,Concise History, 244-261 (BLUE edition); or 246-264 (GREEN edition)

Christian Dior, “The New Look,” Dior by Dior, 27-37

Stephen Gundle, ‘Feminine Beauty, National Identity and Political Conflict in Postwar Italy, 1945-1954, Contemporary European History8.3 (1999): 359-78

Lee Wright, “Objectifying Gender: The Stiletto Heel,” Fashion Theory, ed. Malcolm Barnard (Routledge, 2007), 197-207

11/22 (section)Visit to private exhibit at HENRY ART GALLERY: 1.30-2.20 or 2.30-3.20

10. What is “Italian” about Italian style?

11/26

Beverly Allen, “The Novel, the Body, and Giorgio Armani: Rethinking National ‘Identity’ in a Postnational World,” Feminine Feminists: Cultural Practices in Italy, ed. Giovanna Miceli Jeffries (U of Minnesota P, 1994): 155-156 and 166-169

Duggan, “The Revolts of 1968-73”, 269-86 (BLUE edition); or 272-287 (GREEN edition)

11/28-29:holiday

11. What is “Italian” about Italian style?

12/3

Duggan, “The Republic,” Concise History, 286-297 bottom of page (BLUE edition); or 288-299 (GREEN edition)

12/5IN-CLASS FINAL EXAM(1 hr 20 min) – bring a blank exam book