CCCX 212 Fashion Ethics and Aesthetics

This interdisciplinary course engages the city of Chicago as a site for investigating the ethics and aesthetics of contemporary fashion. Building on the foundational experience of the first semester Big Chicago courses (and specifically, “Chicago Fashion Tribes”), this course frames fashion as one of the most polluting and exploitative global industries as well as a creative medium through which designers can challenge inequality and further environmental and social justice initiatives. In thinking broadly about the ethics of fashion, this course takes a deep dive into tough topics such as environmental sustainability, fast fashion, sweatshop labor and style piracy, and will introduce students to local actors who are using the medium of fashion to effect meaningful change in Chicago and beyond. Through site visits, participant observation, craft-based workshops and community partnerships, students will be challenged to develop an understanding of the place they occupy in the fashion system, to devise actionable solutions to the myriad problems plaguing the industry and to hone their creative and critical voices as future leaders in the fashion industry.

For more information go to Creative Communities

Repeatable: N
DEI CC
Requirements Sophomore Standing or Above (SO)
Minimum Credits 3 Maximum Credits 3