Studying at York
Rags to riches: Clothing, culture, and society in eighteenth-century England - Semester 1 - HIS00173H
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
The eighteenth century (c.1700-1830) was a key period of change for clothing in England. Not only did fashionable silhouettes look drastically different by the close of the century, but increasing numbers of people had gained access to a wide range of colourful textiles and accessories. Indeed, foreign commentators frequently noted how well dressed even the poorest members of English society appeared to be. An expanding empire also impacted on what people wore at home, providing them with new textiles and patterns as well as new understandings of their place in the world. At the same time, some scholars have characterised the century as one in which people continued to make, mend, and assign emotional value to their textiles alongside these dramatic developments. Looking across society, we will engage with and interrogate these changes and continuities.
In Semester 1, we will explore a range of primary sources including diaries, newspapers, accounts, court records, prints, and surviving clothing. By doing so, we will consider the different approaches and challenges involved in studying eighteenth-century clothing. In Semester 2, we will draw on our knowledge of sources to consider broader themes and debates, looking at key questions such as the relationship between clothing and gender, as well as at specific groups within society to explore what clothing reveals about their lives. By looking at everyday histories of dress, we will engage with a broad range of issues in eighteenth-century culture and society including (but not limited to) gender, race, status, empire, emotion, and dependency.
Related modules
Students taking this module must also take the second part in Semester 2.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
- To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
- To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
- Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
- Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
- Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
- Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.
Module content
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 and a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
- Introduction: Approaches and debates
- Shopping, stealing, and everything in between: Acquiring clothing
- Ego documents
- Print and advertising
- Lists and prices
- Clothing in court
- Visual sources
- Studying surviving clothing
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment, students will be given the opportunity to produce text commentaries in seminar, including a written commentary.
For the summative assessment students build a portfolio of two parts, to be submitted together:
a) Two text commentaries of 500-750 words; and
b) One 1,500-word essay which reflects on the significance of the chosen texts in light of scholarship and sources from across the module.
The commentaries comprise 50% and the essay 50% of the overall mark for this module. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Formative work will be live marked in seminar and supplemented by the tutor giving oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
- Serena Dyer and Chloe Wigston Smith (ed.), Material literacy in eighteenth-century Britain: A nation of makers (New York: Bloomsbury, 2020).
- John Styles, The dress of the people: Everyday fashion in eighteenth-century England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007).
- Giorgio Riello and Tirthankar Roy (ed.), How India clothed the world: The world of South Asian textiles, 1500-1850 (Leiden: Brill, 2009).