MA Culture, Style and Fashion - MA

Culture, Style and Fashion (180 credit points)

This module is taught in three parts.

Style Matters: histories and theories in style culture

The first part of this module provides a focused consideration of, and grounding in, the theories available for understanding the role and importance of style in 20th and 21st Century culture.

You will address fundamental questions like why style matters, and where trends come from. You’ll examine a range of perspectives on these issues, considering things like class, taste and distinction, branding, identity and cultural appropriation, style in modernism and postmodernism, and consumer culture.

You will also develop your journalistic and academic writing skills through tasks, taught sessions, and workshops.

Surface and Depth: themes and methodologies

In this part of the module, you will look closely at core themes in visual and material culture in which style is highly significant.

This may include:

• glamour, cool and authenticity
• nostalgia, vintage and retro
• technophilia, futurism and innovation
• romanticism, individualism and escape;
• nihilism, risk and deathliness; and
• kitsch, cute and quirky.

You will evaluate the benefits and limitations of a thematic approach, and consider the range of appropriate methodologies for the advanced study of style culture. This will prepare you for the final part of the module and potential further study at PhD level.

You will continue to develop and innovate ways of documenting research and of expressing research outcomes to a range of audiences. You’ll use simple audio-visual methods, and be supported by specialist demonstration and tuition.

Negotiated independent research project

The final part of the module provides you with an opportunity to negotiate a substantial independent research project and outcomes, relevant to your personal or professional aspirations. This will allow you to create a substantial body of knowledge and skills which are academically rigorous and vocationally relevant, creative, and push the boundaries in this field.

There is scope for you to collaborate with other students or external agencies during this project. You might research, devise and co-create a short documentary; undertake a research project to inform a design company’s approach to a new product; or produce a body of journalism for a specific publication. Alternatively, you could focus on researching and writing a substantial Masters thesis.

The work you produce will be negotiated with your tutor to ensure that the required quality, currency, depth and breadth of enquiry is achievable. You will receive ongoing support for your project through supervisory meetings and group tutorials.