In the beginning there was cladding, first embraced by humans through the painting and tattooing of skin as a means of displaying one’s social position, tribal affiliation, or stage in life. Accompanied by the performance of ritual dances and movement, space was then engaged and the primitive realm of architecture was established. Thus commenced the intimate affair between fashion and architecture, a relationship that most architects have dismissed or even actively purged from their work. This thesis, however, attempts to view the two elements of architecture and fashion in a positive light, as cooperative facilitators of spectacle and event. Indeed, it is the themes of architecture, performance, and decoration that have fueled the design of a fashion school within the Distillery District. Riding the wave of what has been dubbed Toronto’s “architectural renaissance,” the proposed insertion of a fashion school in this distinct historical precinct further cultivates the district’s mission of revitalization. The design fosters a vital cultural and heritage destination while simultaneously creating a communal gathering place that gains meaning from human interaction. That is, the establishment of a cultural institution will further define the area as a forum of creativity and social engagement, stimulating both the immediate surroundings as well as the rest of the city.

Victorian women were not merely the symbols of nation nineteenth-century imagery would suggest in an era marked by the images of Queen Victoria and the symbolic representation of Britannia. They also were producers, maintainers, and even protectors of England at a time when imperial anxiety and xenophobic fears called the definition of Englishness into question. Dress, particularly fashionable dress, often was viewed as a feminine weakness in Victorian England. At the same time women were chastised for their attentions to the details of their clothing, they also were instructed to offer a pretty and neat presentation publicly and privately. Novels by George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Thackeray, and H. G. Wells and manners and conduct texts by such authors as Sarah Stickney Ellis, Eliza Lynn Linton, and Margaret Oliphant demonstrate how Victorian women used fashion and dress to redefine and manipulate the socially accepted understanding of traditional English womanhood and to communicate national ideologies and concerns without violating or transgressing completely the more passive construction of Victorian femininity. By declaring their nationality through the public display that is fashion—dress designated by its appeal to a sophisticated, cultured, and perhaps continental society— these fictional and non-fictional women legitimized the demand for female access to social and cultural spheres as well as to the political sphere. Through an examination of the material culture of Victorian England—personal letters about the role of specific dress in Suffragette demonstrations, or the Indian shawl, for example—alongside an examination of the literary texts of the period, “Dressing for England” argues that the novels of the nineteenth century and that century’s ephemera reveal its social concerns, its political crises, and the fabric of its everyday domesticity at the same time they reveal the active and intimate participation of Victorian women in the establishment and maintenance of nation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Inaug.-Diss.--Zürich. / Bibliography: p. 112-115.

Inaug.-Diss.--Bonn. / Added t.p., with thesis statement, inserted.

M.Tech. Performing Arts / "I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged" (Brook, 1968:9) According to this quotation by renowned theatre director Peter Brook, all that is needed to create theatre or a theatre production are three components: a space to walk across, someone to walk across the space and someone watching the action. If this is true then one can see plenty of similarities between a fashion show, where models walk across a runaway with people watching them, and a theatre production. These similarities between a theatre production and a fashion show are not the only elements connecting theatre and fashion. Since the birth of haute couture in the late 19th century, haute couture designers have been looking towards theatre as well as the historical costumes used in theatre production for inspiration. These two elements have influenced their designs as well as the presentation of their clothing to clientele. Elements from historical costume like specific lines, cuts, fabric and colour choices as well as decorative aspects are evident in clothing throughout history. This trend has become more visible since the turn of the century. It was also at this time when a select few haute couture fashion designers became aware of the increased sales in their clothing when presented in a more traditionally theatrical way. One of the designers from the early twentieth century in whose work and presentation thereof this influence was clearly visible was Paul Poiret. This inspiration is still present and relevant today with haute couture fashion designers like John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier and the late Alexander McQueen. For this study, John Galliano's work was selected as best representing this influence

Thesis (MTech. degree in Fashion) -- Tshwane University of Technology, 2008. / This dissertation sets out to describe the processes and dynamics at play in the development of a couture design range that attempts to engage with, and enhance notions of Namibian identity. While the end product of the practical work is a range of garments that speaks to and reflects a possible Namibian identity, the dissertation engages with the notions of identity and the dynamics of identity building, and the closer interrelationships with the creative process. The study intend to investigates design and design-related issues and how they impact on fashion design and couture design as well as how they relate to the identity formation processes in the development and justification of a possible Namibian couture collection. Therefore, the creative development process, the choices, negotiations and adaptations that the designer involves herself with, are described and then drawn through to the nature of new identity formations. The design process is measured against the basic design theories as outlined in the relevant chapters in the dissertation. The study reveals that Namibian individual identities are shaped by juxtaposing indigenous cultural identities in combination with what is “imagined” [as Anderson (2006:6-7) explained] to be a “Namibian” national identity. It considers how the designer, embedded in the design process, but also part of a particular identity, interacts with these tensions. The dissertation attempts to isolate material elements in the Namibian landscape that can be used in the identity-building process. It argues that the same Namibian material hallmarks of identity, the specific design elements that have been identified as “authentic” Namibian, have been used in this specific couture collection. Finally the study investigates how these design elements (both generic and specific) relate to the specific Namibian design element aspects in an attempt to see whether this specific couture collection contributes to “defining Namibian couture design”.

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This thesis was undertaken toward developing a better understanding of the processes by which college women adopt fashion apparel. The main objectives of the study were to identify and profile the innovator and also to determine the adoption process by a multiple regression equation.A random sample of 250 undergraduate women was drawn from tae 3all state university campus. -Data were collected on a questionnaire by personal interview. The questionnaire was divided into the following sections: (1) 6ocio-economic information, (2) Activities, (3) Information sources, (4) Adoption, (5) Purchasing (6) psychographics.The findings indicated that psychological characteristics are the major variables that differentiate the innovator from all other consumers. From a set of 3S study variables, a regression equation containing eight significant variables was able to explain 35 percent of the variation in the percentage of fashion apparel adopted by college women.

No description available.