You're Going to Wear THAT?!

There have been several times in my literature discussions that students didn’t have the first clue what era we were discussing simply by looking at the photo (period dress). This week’s article got me thinking about how our clothes really are a sign of the times and of social movements. I did more searching on the topic and found that clothing has long been a product of a person’s status and the activities of which they are a part.

In the name of connecting clothing to history through research, writing, planning, and speaking, the students will be arranging a “Fashion Through the Decades” runway show. Here is the rough outline of the project:

Purpose: To connect the relationship between clothing and culture and historical events through research.

Project: Students will connect the clothing of the times by hosting a fashion show that is well researched, planned, and narrated.


Action Steps (in brief):

1. Students are PARTNERED (or small groups) and assigned a decade (1900s-2010)
2. Focusing only on the United States, each group RESEARCHES the era, the major historical events, cultural events of the time, political movements/actions/leadership, and the clothing and style (hair, shoes, etc) popular in that time (men, women, blue collar, white collar, children, and teens)—this will be the longest part of the project
3. As they are compiling their research, they are to select 3 looks from their era that are most representative of the events/era/attitudes of the time
4. COLLABORATE with the theater department (through the teacher) and each other to find clothing that will be wearable in the show
5. LOCATE students/staff not in the class period to be models for the clothing
6. WRITE fashion descriptions for each of the looks to be read as the model is going down the runway.

Example: Here we have Rosie the Riveter. She was an active part of the 1940s during WWII. She is sporting rugged denim clothing that could withstand the hard labor she was doing each day as the men were off to war. She was in pants which was uncommon for the era, but we couldn’t expect her to work in a skirt, could we? She wore a bandana most days while working…etc

7. These descriptions must be written clearly with a factual yet fun TONE designed to teach the audience as well as be entertaining.
8. The show will be arranged by the teacher—there will be a total of 33 looks that will walk down the runway.

Again, this is just the basic concept of the activity—the teacher would need to do pre-teaching to be sure that students learned to wonder how the events of the time >were/weren’t reflected in the clothing of the time. The change in clothing would be investigated as a chicken-egg relationship. Why did things change/did things change?

It would take a lot of work, but it would be a fun activity to coordinate and to share with other students and staff in the school. The research, writing, and collaboration activities would blend well together in an effort to reflect on the culture and clothing.