Is this a new degree program? How many courses will be required for the new degree and do you have any control over what they might, or could be?
In terms of those books, I personally don't know either. But unless it is a course entirely on costume history, I would advise to give brief lectures of each period. This is how the Costume History course I had was taught. (Granted it was combined equally with costume design so the time was really limited.) But my professor spent one of the two classes each week on a time period, starting from the Egyptians and working forward in history. It was a very brief into to each period but it covered the basic differences as the era's changed - enough to "cover" costume history but if one wanted a further knowledge, they then knew terms and resources to research. We did not have a required book in the costume history portion, however on our syllabus were listed a couple books that were recommended to purchase. Many of these could even be bought second-hand for cheap. On another note, if they are pushing for a fashion design degree with the aims of being able to design and then produce a line, then I would highly recommend Kathleen Fasanella's book *The Entrapreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing*. It is the only book of its kind, and it is aimed soley at Design Entrepreneurs (DE's) in any sewn product field. Within its pages, there is real-world, industry advice on everything from what not to do, to how to go through every stage of the process. She wrote and published it herself, so it can be quite frank at times but the points she makes are worth it! She has a blog at http://www.fashion-incubator.com/. For the purchase of a new book, anyone can then gain access to the members only forum where everyone is somehow connected to the industry and there are many DE's on there in the process of developing lines - I'm one of them! Currently, most fashion design schools worry all about the designing element and put little emphasis on actual manufacturing. If your community college focus on the degree from this angle, not only will it be a unique program out there but the students who earn that degree will be able to actually get jobs. Most fashion school graduates are unprepared for the industry and the industry is way oversaturated with amazing designers who can't manufacture their designs because their education lacked those skills. And if it helps, my degree is in theatrical costuming, not fashion. Most of the DE's on Kathleen's site did not go to fashion schools either and those who did only have a slight advantage over those who didn't but mostly in skill such as patternmaking or such. Hope this helps, and at the least check out Kathleen's blog. She also replies to emails and has even talked to people over the phone before to help them out. Michael Deibert On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 3:37 PM, Kathryn Pinner <pinn...@mccc.edu> wrote: > The powers that be at my community college (where I am a theatrical costume > and set designer) have decided to start a Fashion Design and Merchandizing > program (the push seems to be from the merchandizing/businesss side) and > they are expecting me to teach the history of costume, basic sewing, and > textiles. They seem to be leaning toward using books from Pearson and the > the text for costume history they are looking at is 'History of World > Costume and Fashion' by Daniel Delis Hill. Anyone know this text and have a > comment? (I suggested 'Survey of Historic Costume' by Tortora & Eubanks -- > don't know if they will listen to me). Other texts they are looking at are > 'The Sewing Book' by Alison Smith and 'Textiles' by Kadolph. Any comments? > > > Kate Pinner > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
