The scope of this course is to provide basic knowledge and critical tools for understanding the phenomenon of Italian fashion. Through chronological and thematic readings, various stages of the history of fashion and costume will be presented from the Middle Ages to today. In showing the transition from the atelier to mass production, fundamental issues will be discussed and illustrated through readings and study of iconographic documents. Special attention will be devoted to the last century to show how certain elements of Italian identity are also linked to a phenomenon such as fashion, seemingly ephemeral and in constant evolution

Required Texts:
-Sofia Gnoli, Un secolo di moda italiana 1900-2000, Roma, Meltemi, 2005, ISBN 978-88-8353-428-7
-Moda. Storia e storie, a cura di Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli, Giorgio Rielli, Elisa Tosi Brandi, Milano, Mondadori, 2010, ISBN 978-88-6159-490-6
-Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli, Breve storia della moda in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2011- ISBN 978-88-15-25300-2