NYC Gazette

The fashion industry, often associated with high-profile events such as Fashion Week and the Met Gala, has recently seen a shift in focus. Journalists and cultural commentators are broadening discussions to encompass sustainability, labor, and gender inequality. An undergraduate course at the Global Liberal Studies and College of Arts and Science titled “Couture/Culture: Fashion and Globalization” has been exploring these multifaceted issues through the lens of fashion for over a decade.

Led by Liberal Studies Clinical Professor Jessamyn Hatcher and Arts & Science Professor Thuy Linh Tu, the course delves into the industry's past and present to gain insights into wider commercial, cultural, and political processes. Topics such as the role of department stores in racial integration and social media users' efforts to identify counterfeit fashion are explored through various texts, guest speakers from the design industry, and local exhibition visits.

"Using fashion as a lens to examine histories of capitalism and colonialism encourages students to recognize how these have shaped clothing production, consumption, waste, and reuse in the present," Tu explains. "This helps students not only broaden their understanding of the industry but arms them with ways to conceive of alternatives to our existing social and economic systems."

The semester culminates with a group project where students identify a social problem within a specific component of the fashion system. They trace its historical roots before developing a future-focused solution.

Another assignment involves a “textile revival workshop,” where students "revive" each other’s garments. Each student performs a “fashion hack” on an item provided by a classmate, guided by its history and desired improvements.

Hatcher emphasizes that this hands-on experience is crucial for debunking misconceptions about garment workers' skills or creativity. She states that it is important for students to understand "just how much skill, creativity, and time it takes to perform even simple transformations."

The course also encourages students to experiment with creative methods to reduce the social and environmental costs of fashion production, distribution, consumption, use, and disposal. Hatcher concludes, "We want the students to explore the possibilities, but also the limitations, of projects like the textile revival workshop to enact change."