You are requires to write an illustrated essay of 2500 words (excluding bibliography and title).
• You are to select do Branding –Fashion branding as one of the themes we address in the lecture and workshops .
• You are then to select an object of study that you can study, analyse, assess and critique in relation to your chosen theme.
• You must extend your reading beyond that which is covered in class to write a rich essay.
You will be provided with key texts each week in the workshop and lecture that relate to each theme. These will be your first point of reference for research.
The term ‘object’ is defined in the broadest sense; for example this could be an advertisement, a film, a store window, a magazine, a fashion design or even a particular area of London but your chosen object of study must provide you with plenty of room for discussion around your chosen theme.
Your object of study must be a primary source and analysed in its immediate context. This means it has to be something that you can see ‘in the flesh’ so to speak and it must be analysed in its original context; for example if it is a magazine advert, you must locate the magazine it was originally featured in, consider the year of publication (and the social, cultural and political implications of this) and show an awareness of how the magazine itself (target audience, reputation etc.) influences your reading of the image.
You must conduct broad and in-depth research from a variety of sources (do not rely solely on internet research!) in order to successfully achieve learning outcomes 1 & 2. These may include, but are not limited to:
• Books
• Journal articles
• Documentaries
• Museum displays
• Museum archives
• Online articles (these must be reliable. There is plenty of material on the internet that is highly unreliable: for example, Wikipedia is NOT reliable. Trust official websites: of museums, galleries, university research pages, etc. Ask if you are not sure)
The readings that we will be discussing each week can be viewed as examples of academic writing as they all apply theoretical approaches to their selected object(s) of study. Use these as examples to follow: consider their structure, the sources being used, the way the authors apply their research to their objects of study, the way they use images etc.