A Pedagogy of Costume History: Exploring the Intersection of Art and Design

The course "Costume History of the 20th Century" at Drexel University is listed as an Art History course but is primarily taken by fashion and merchandising design students. The major goal for the course is to use students’ interest in fashion history as a gateway to engagement with sociocultural material. Topics synthesized into the curriculum include sex, gender, racism, age discrimination, bodies, mass media, technology, labor, and climate change. My teaching philosophy centers on questioning the canon in the pursuit of overlooked histories, using “visual anchors” of relatable items of everyday dress to promote a deeper understanding of the contours and connections between fashion, art, design, and the sociocultural contexts surrounding aesthetics. Visual learners can move away from rote memorization of names and dates by seeing fashions in their original environments, including physical interiors and exteriors. Students are more likely to own their education when required to do object analyses based on their personal aesthetic preferences, comparing and relating chosen fashion objects to works from other areas of design. This assignment has included museum visits and the utilization of primary resources and archival database research. Additionally, material culture lessons also take place in the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection (FHCC) at Drexel University, using garments and accessories to reinforce lecture content. This methodology combines design history with object history, taking flattened images on a screen or in a textbook to three-dimensional, tangible objects that encourage learning through spatial-emotional connections.