Fashion and Dress History BA(Hons)

Why study with us? 

• Our Fashion and Dress History degree was one of the first to be developed in the UK. From Beau Brummel in the Regency era to the mods portrayed in the film Quadrophenia, Brighton has a rich association with the UK's fashion history.

• You’ll be immersed in a city where vintage clothing shops are commonplace and an ‘anything goes’ cultural scene brings its own opportunities to observe and be a part of the changing world of fashion.

• You’ll acquire an in-depth knowledge about fashion and dress history, but have the freedom to follow your passions whether you are interested in the work of particular designers, eras, social contexts or the nature of fashion itself.

• This is a hands-on history course where you’ll discover what archive films, photographs and prints can teach us about societies’ attitudes through the way people dressed for work, sport and leisure.

• On-site at the university, you will have access to the Dress and Textiles Teaching collection, founded by Professor Lou Taylor, our world-class Design Archives, an excellent art and design library and the Screen Archive South East. You can view the Design Archives blog for insight into our conservation work.

• You will benefit from our productive relationships with local and national museums. Work placements will give you a competitive edge when you graduate.

• You’ll be part of our lively student community studying History of Art and Design courses at Brighton. Check out the History of Art and Design blog and Twitter feed for an insight.

Emmy Sale, 2018 Fashion and Dress History graduate, discusses her experiences of studying the course. Since filming, Emmy has won the Design History Society Undergraduate Essay Prize, which included a trip to New York, and has become an Association of Dress Historians Student Fellow.

Year 1

In the first year of study, you will learn about the history of art and design from 1750–1900, covering topics such as ‘exotic’ goods in eighteenth century society, the emergence of the department store, and the depiction of fashionable dress in Impressionist painting.

Most of your teaching will take place in small groups with one tutor. The first year familiarises you with good study practices and introduces you to the different kinds of assessment used on the course, including essays, seminar presentations, display projects and exams.

Modules

• Art, Culture and Commerce

  In this module you will explore core concepts and historical phenomena, including colonialism, consumption, national identities and class constructions, which impacted on art, design and culture from the closing decades of the eighteenth century to the opening decades of the nineteenth. Through lectures and seminars, you will explore how enlightenment ideas and philosophies, as well as revolutionary upheavals and developing institutional practices, informed the conditions in which art and design was produced and consumed.

• Art and Design History in Brighton: Places and Processes

  In this module you will explore aspects of Brighton and Hove that are significant to the history of art and design within the locality and in some cases more broadly, through the introduction of key sites, themes and resources, for example, the Royal Pavilion and Museums; the historical development of local identities in subcultures and sexualities and Brighton on film. The topics are complemented by a seminar series that will equip you with the skills and tools to the study of history of art and design at degree level.

• Critical Approaches: Core Concepts in History of Art and Design

  This module will introduce you to core concepts and key words in the humanities (including ideology, gender, class, nationality and ethnicity) and will provide opportunities for evaluating your utility as a means of understanding art and design through your application to practices, sites and artefacts.

• Art, Design and Modern Life

  Through lectures and seminars, you will examine how ideas of ‘the modern’ and the contradictions of modernity are manifested in a wide range of visual and material culture including realist paintings, photography, advertising, dress, cities and international exhibitions during the long nineteenth century. The module relates practices of art, design, exhibition and dress to changing social structures and occupational patterns that informed many of the debates around art and design in the period.

• Analysing Art and Design: Techniques and Tools

  This module will introduce you to the frameworks and tools by which a variety of visual and material objects, images and environments can be ‘read’ and understood. The emphasis of the module is on the acquisition and application of a range of different technical methods for image and object analysis across a range of media forms, including acquisition of the specialist vocabulary suitable to the analytical method deployed, and an understanding of the appropriateness of each technique.

• Introducing Themes in History of Art and Design

  In this module you will undertake an intensive themed study related to your individual preferences and/or programme of study. The module will introduce you to the teaching and learning methods most relevant to the investigation of a particular area of inquiry within the History of Art and Design programme.

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through our applicant portal.

Year 2

In the second year you choose two option modules from a range of subjects that reflect staff research interests, as well as a module from one of our other arts and humanities courses. 

You can go on a five-day trip to a European city to study art, design and visual culture in context, with possible destinations including Paris and Berlin. The trip is optional and costs around £300.

Modules

• Modernism, Ideology and the Avant-garde in the Twentieth Century
• After Modernism: Postmodernism and Beyond
• Constructing Histories: Research Methods and Professional Practice in History of Art and Design

Options*

• Image Object Text**
• A Trip to Europe: Visual Culture, Art and Design in a European city
• Considering Debates**
• Behind the Scenes: Arts and heritage placements
• Option module from across our humanities and arts subjects

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

**These modules may explore themes including modernism in Asia; museums, material culture and representation; cold war cultures; reading dress.

Final year

The final year sees you execute independent but closely supervised research projects. In these projects you are supported by one-to-one or small group supervision as well as peer support.

You will also develop your subject knowledge in an option module, and in a special module covering the interpretation of fashion and dress.

Modules

• Framing Fashion: Theory and Interpretation in Fashion Studies
• Dissertation in History of Art and Design
• Communicating Research
• Special Subject

Options*

• Real World Research in Art and Design History
• Professional Paths in Art and Design History

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

The Special Subject module typically enables students to explore themes like making the modern home: design, domesticity and discourse; participation, performance, politics; the limits of representation; the past in the present: retro, vintage, revival; and fashion contexts. 

Original poster designs produced for dissertation projects by final-year students.

Resources

• We are proud to have a world-class Design Archives based on campus
• The university's excellent art and design library is nearby
• Screen Archives South East, a moving image archive, is based on campus
• Our Dress and Textiles Teaching collection gives you the chance to closely examine and photograph historical and world fabrics and garments

The university has close relationships with local festivals and organisations such as CineCity, the Brighton Photo Biennial, Brighton Festival, Brighton Festival Fringe, Brighton Digital Festival, Fabrica and Lighthouse. These connections provide a range of opportunities for students.

Poster by HA Rothholz for Ministry of Labour and National Service, 1940. University of Brighton Design Archives.

Staff profiles

Charlotte Nicklas, course leader

Charlotte is interested in all aspects of the history of dress and textiles as well as material culture and the history of design. The focus of her research to date has been dress in Britain and the United States in the 19th century. At the centre of her research is the way in which dress and fashion both influence and reflect the cultural concerns of a particular historical period. From 1998 to 2002, Nicklas worked in the Department of Textile and Fashion Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, managing departmental projects and helping with curatorial work.

Find out about our other staff: Harriet Atkinson, Verity Clarkson, Angelica Groom, Anna Vaughan Kett, Yunah Lee, Annebella Pollen, Louise Purbrick, Megha Rajguru, Cheryl Roberts, Dr Glenn Ward.

Student views

Wendy Lowe Second year student

"I chose to study Fashion and Dress History at the University of Brighton as I’m really interested in art and fashion as well as social history; I wanted to learn about not just the rich and famous, but also the everyday people, what they wore and how they lived. I found that this course combined these interests perfectly. I completed an Art Foundation course after my A Levels and realised that I really enjoyed the process of researching, something which is key to this course.

"Brighton is a great place to live, particularly as a student. There’s always something to do, but it has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. I’m really happy I found this course, I can’t imagine studying anything else. I like that I am able to learn more about things I am already familiar with, such as William Morris, but also discover new things that I wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to know about. For example we recently had a seminar on Sonia Delaunay and I fell in love with her beautiful geometric textile designs and use of colour.

"As a Fashion and Dress History student, I also love the Dress History Teaching Collection that we are luckily enough to have access too. This is a great resource as it allows us to really study garments, by being able to touch them and understand the construction and fabric.

"If I was to give advice to someone coming to study this course I’d advise them to make good use of all of the great resources that the university has, such as the Dress History Teaching Collection as well as the great collection of books and periodicals at the library, which holds old issues of Vogue, Picture Post magazine and Liberties catalogues, all of which I have found very useful.

"In the future my dream is to work at the V&A, but I’d also love to work in costume, or as an archivist for a fashion or textiles brand. I feel the course has given me such great core design history knowledge that there are lots of opportunities to pursue."

Student work 

History of Art and Design programme dissertation catalogues 2018. View catalogues from previous years on Issuu.

International requirements

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Course fees

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2019–20.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with us for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly. You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

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