The aim of this thesis is to explore the evolution and global dissemination of fashion values, both aesthetic and commercial, in the interfaces between fashion, media, celebrity, sport, and the cultivation of the modern body. In particular, it traces the career of the modern swimsuit, showing how an inventive individual, Annette Kellerman, and a peripheral nation, Australia, influenced the design direction of the swimsuit in the 20th century and beyond to create a distinctly Australian niche in global fashion. Annette Kellerman, an Australian long-distance swimmer, diver, vaudeville performer and silent movie star, was a modern woman shaped for speed. She achieved success across a number of related fields – in fashion, film, sport, and as a role-model for women, encouraging self-motivation and self-development. Kellerman achieved global fame and recognition for popularising the one-piece swimsuit, and for her innovations as an aquatic performer, entertainer, and fitness writer. As a prototypical Hollywood star she prefigured the celebrity culture focused on the body that has predominated since then. Australia has continued to be associated with the values championed by Kellerman. It is also a launching pad for a number of international swimwear and surfwear companies, from iconic brands like Speedo, Quiksilver, and Billabong through to a new breed of contemporary swimsuit designers who tap into fashion trends while maintaining an Australian handwriting. This is exemplified by the Zimmermann and Tigerlily fashion labels. This study demonstrates the fluidity of fashion as a result of geographic and cultural influences, and the convergence and cross-pollination between individuals and global currents. Using a combination of historical and archival research, interviews, textual analysis, and the author’s own experience as a fashion designer, this thesis explores the shaping of the modern swimsuit and its eventual incorporation into global high fashion. It shows how a garment and a nation have migrated from the periphery to the centre of international attention by combining popular culture and high fashion to embody the values of modernity for women.

Th.--Lettres--Paris, 1964. / Bibliogr. p. 527-540. Index.

The purpose of this study is to provide a feminist poststructuralist analysis of the dominant international discourses in environmental education, and how these have been realised in Australian national statements and in state policies over the past two decades, in terms of their implicit views about science, the environment, epistemology and education. The methodology of the study presents an argument for a 'politics of method' in the form of a research approach which reflects the ideology and intent of the study, i.e. an argument toward feminist poststructuralism as a methodology, but with elements of critical feminist research. Part of this methodology involves consideration of the gendered nature of language and discourses, particularly in the sciences. The argument is for the reconstituting of knowledge through feminist standpoint theory and the adoption of standards of 'strong objectivity'. In the spirit of its poststructuralist methodology the study presents three different stories (archaeologies) about environmental education: one told in terms of people, events and their outcomes; one told in terms of the changing views of education and how these were interpreted in environmental education; and the third told in terms of the emergence of ecofeminism as a parallel movement to environmental education and the emerging relationship between these two movements. These stories serve two purposes: to review the relevant literature in these three areas, and to provide the 'data' for later chapters. The discourses of environmental education, particularly those of the 'founders' and UNESCO documents, are then analysed from a poststructuralist perspective, followed by a feminist reconstruction of environmental education which argues for thinking from women's and other marginalized lives as a preferred strategy for environmental education, and develops research principles to explore this possibility. The conclusion reflects on the philosophical and theoretical issues engaged, and the methodological issues addressed, in the study.

Inaugural Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Hohen Philosophischen Fakultät der Königlichen Universität Greifswald.

Thesis--Köln.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2006. / Document formatted into pages; contains v, 63 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Biography of Annette Torres

Zugl.: Bochum, Universiẗat, Diss., 2005.

M.A. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Mémoire de maîtrise--Histoire--Paris 4, 2006. / Bibliogr.