Call for Papers: Fashion Marketing of Luxury Brands
Journal of Business Research-Special Issue
Deadline: March 15, 2010
This JBR special issue will include selected papers from research reports presented at the 2010 Global
Marketing Conference at Tokyo, September 9-12, 2010. Venue: Shinmatsudo Campus of Ryutsu Keizai
University, Chiba, Japan.
The main topic of this JBR special issue is to explore the fashion marketing strategies of luxury brands. The objective of the special issue is to bring together international scholars from different disciplines and different
countries working to advance knowledge on the fashion marketing of luxury brands. The luxury industry is
relatively small in terms of the number of companies, but punches far above its weight both in terms of sales and
more importantly, influence. The best design, the best materials, the best merchandising, and the best packaging
occur in the luxury industry, and hence luxury brands frequently lead the way for the rest of the marketing world.
The role of fashion marketing of luxury brands is an area in need of new developments, theories, and knowledge
in light of the trends toward global luxury and fashion markets.
In honor of the 2010 Global Marketing Conference at Tokyo organized by the Korean Academy of
Marketing Science, Ryutsu Keizai University, and the Society for Marketing Advances, JBR will publish a
Special Issue on Fashion Marketing of Luxury Brands featuring suitable papers presented at this conference.
The JBR focuses on presenting applications of empirical research to practical situations and theoretical findings
to the reality of the business world.
Topics for the JBR special issue focus on, but are not limited to, the following:
Advancing the theory and managerial implications of fashion marketing
Understanding global luxury consumers
Cross-cultural issues in a luxury fashion marketing context
Development of scales related to luxury branding and fashion marketing
Service expectations and strategies in the luxury industry
Product design and innovation management in the luxury business
Merchandising process of luxury brands
Customization and digital processing of luxury brands
Pricing issues in the global marketing environment
Customer relationship management in luxury brand industries
Luxury retailing trends and directions
Salesforce issues in the global luxury fashion business
Marketing communications in the luxury industry
Global branding issues in the luxury industry
Strategic collaborations with different businesses
Corporate social responsibility issues in the marketing of luxury brands
New marketing issues and trends in fashion marketing of luxury brands
Technology integration and application in luxury brand industries
Social and psychological perspectives of luxury brands
All papers submitted to the Fashion Marketing of Luxury Brands Tracks of the 2010 Global Marketing Conference at Tokyo are eligible for review for inclusion in the JBR special issue. Scholars seeking consideration of their papers for publication in this special JBR issue should communicate such intention to the JBR Guest Co-Editors:
Professor Eunju Ko, Dept. of Clothing and Textiles, College of Human Ecology,
Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea Email
and
Professor Carol Megehee, Coastal Carolina University, Dept. of Management, Marketing & Law, E. Craig Wall, Sr., College of Business Administration, Coastal Carolina University, USA Email
This week I interviewed famed stylist extraordinaire Phillip Bloch.
Our task was to talk about the upcoming Emmy Awards (Sept. 20, 2009) as well as dive into the world of wardrobe styling.
The hope was to 1. get his take on some of this year’s Emmy noms that have a strong historical/cultural costume angle 2. get a little insight into how a fashion student could morph into a highly successful stylist. We only had 10 minutes to talk, so I tried to make the most of it.
If you’re into fashion, you’re probably familiar with Phillip, or at least his work, having styled an endless list of celebrities including Michael Jackson, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman, Will and Jana Pinkett-Smith, Jim Carrey, Mariah Carey, Drew Barrymore, Jodie Foster, Barbara Streisand, Pamela Anderson, Heather Locklear, Nicholas Cage, William H. Macy, David Bowie, and Samuel L. Jackson.
He created such famous looks as Halle Berry‘s red carpet style in ’02 when she won the Oscar. He’s also styled a zillion music videos (including Prince, Van Halen) and editorial shoots for mags including “In Style,” “People,” “Rolling Stone,” “Vanity Fair,” “Vogue,” “GQ,” “Glamour,” “Harper’s Bazaar,” “Esquire,” “Vibe,” “Newsweek,” “New York Times,” among many others. You might have also seen him on TV as he’s a fixture on programming having to do with fashion and glamour (“The Tyra Banks Show,” “America’s Next Top Model”), and also often has cameo’s in feature films (“Bruno”).
So, given the opportunity, I figured he’d have some insight for WT readers. I certainly think he did provide some valuable tips for students and aspiring stylists, and as well as had fun commentary on the Chanel and Grey Gardens TV movies and of course my fav, Mad Men.
Fun? In the classroom? Why not? There’s no reason for the two to be mutually exclusive, even in college. This week, I’m sharing with you some games I devised to allow my Fashion History students to have fun while studying for an exam.
To prepare this game, you will need some relatively simple supplies, plus an investment of time to put everything together. Here is your supply list: a collection of historical costume images, index cards, glue, scissors, access to a photocopier, and, for the bonus round, access to a laminating machine.
Start by deciding which images are most important for students to be able to identify for their exam. What you will be making are flash cards, in identical pairs. In my case, I made three decks of cards. When I photocopied my images, I made six copies of each. Next, I cut out the images, plus their captions. I recommend using images which come with their own captions, otherwise you have to make your own captions, which adds to your preparation time. I also recommend using a paper cutter over scissors, to reduce your time spent cutting out the images. Next, I glued each image to an index card. Each of my three decks had 76 cards, and it took me a couple of hours to do the gluing, so while it may sound like a project that could potentially take a lot of time, you may surprise yourself with how fast you can glue your images to your cards. Laminate the cards for posterity, and then the work of this project is completed.
Because they are made in identical pairs, these cards can be used for more than one type of game. My two favorites, to date, are Go Fish and Concentration (also called Memory). There are countless variations on either game, so decide on a particular set of rules to adhere to and share them with your students before you begin to play.
We gave Go Fish a try during class this week and it was well received, with several students remarking that it seemed like a good study method for them, and some wishing they had their own sets to take home. It was really nice to hear questions such as, “Does anyone have an Assyrian ruler?” and “Does anyone have a 6th century Byzantine man?” throughout the classroom. Even better was, “Does anyone have an ionic chiton?” “No, but I have a doric chiton.” “What is the difference between the two? We’d better look that up in the textbook,” at which point, they did, right then and there, to answer their question.
In making up the exam, I of course use some of the images that are in the flash card decks. Most teams in my class this week played several rounds, thereby being exposed to each of the images several times. I imagine this will give them an advantage over the students who missed class that day, when it comes to answering those questions on their exam, and I’m curious to see what these games do for test scores and retention of the information. Studying, cleverly disguised as fun and games, can surely have a positive effect.
Those of you who teach, do you incorporate games into your lessons? How have they worked for you and your students?
Those of you who have been (or currently are) students, what kinds of games do you wish were in your classrooms, to help you learn material and prepare for exams?
1.) “WORKSHOP MISSONI: DARING TO BE DIFFERENT”
Through September 20
Estorick Collection
London, England
This exhibit includes 20+ outfits spanning the first 40 years of the long-standing collaboration between the husband and wife team of Ottavio and Rosita Missoni. The Missonis’ designs were inspired both by the natural environment and by their own collection of art from Europe’s Modernist era including the work of Tancredi, Sonia Delaunay, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini, whose dynamic images of dancers reveal close parallels with the geometric patterns of Missoni fabrics.
2.) “XY”
Through October 5
Spencer Museum of Art
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
This exhibit explores the many and complex meanings of manhood with 6 exhibition sections: “Forever Young,” “Naked,” “The Clothes Make the Man,” “Work Hard; Play Harder,” “Degrees of Desire,” and “Man Enough.” For sociologist R.W. Connell, author of the highly influential gender studies classic Masculinities (1995) male behavior is informed by what she characterized as “hegemonic masculinity.” This is a culturally accepted or normative ideal of male behavior that is calculated to guarantee the dominant position of some men over others and the subordination of women.
Excerpt from a Literary Text Analysis: Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum with pictures by W.W. Denslow
The high definition version of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz will be playing in theatre’s nationwide on September 23 in celebration of the films 70th Anniversary.Much discussion has been made over the Adrian designed costumes in the film, but little attention has been paid to the original vision the author had for the characters. This excerpt from a paper I wrote in 2002 provides some analysis of Denslow’s use of clothing to develop a character.
Born in 1856, L. Frank Baum grew up in Syracuse, New York. Married in 1882, his wife (the daughter of a suffragette) influenced his views on feminism. Mother Goose in Prose was his first work of children’s fiction, and was published in 1897.[1]The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written in Chicago and published in May of 1900.[2] Baum wrote over 70 children’s books before his death in 1919.[3]
Written in a simple and straightforward style, The Wonderful World of Oz is a fantasy adventure for children. With this book, Baum created the first “truly American fairyland, using language and imagery that would be familiar to the ordinary American child.”[4] Eventually, Baum was asked to write the book and lyrics for the stage production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (first produced in Chicago in 1902, and in 1903, it moved to New York City). This in turn, spawned two silent films and finally, the MGM classic in 1939.[5]
Thecostumes in the book are not described in great detail, with cut and shape often left out altogether. Emphasis is usually placed on the fabric itself. For example, when Dorothy and the other main characters first enter the Emerald City to meet with Oz, the costume description focuses on only the fabric. The girl who greets them wears “a pretty green silk gown.”[6] And later, when Dorothy is shown to the room she will sleep in that night, she discovers a wardrobe full of, “many green dresses, made of silk and satin and velvet; and all of them fitted Dorothy exactly.”[7] Dorothy eventually chooses a gown to wear, the next day, “made of green brocaded satin.”[8] These fabrics are all easily associated with luxury and wealth.
Emphasis on the materials used aid in illustrating the contrast between the fantasy world, and the dull, real world from which Dorothy comes. An exception to this focus on fabric is the description of the Good Witch of the East, who first helps Dorothy. “. . .the little woman’s hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in plaits from her shoulders; over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds.”[9] Here, not only do we get a description of the color and pattern, but we are also given some structural information.
Accessories, especially shoes and hats add to the sense of luxury and wealth in Oz, and aid in furthering the plot. Due to the materials it is created from, the Golden Cap is instantly associated with jewelry and wealth. The cap also has “a circle of diamonds and rubies running around it”[10] which only serves to reinforce the idea of affluence and power. Both the Golden Cap and the Silver Shoes have magical powers. The shoes are made of silver and are shown as a comparison to the faded and old shoes that Dorothy is more familiar with. In Kansas, her uncle wore gray boots[11] to match the gray description of Kansas. In addition, Dorothy’s original shoes (from Kansas) are “old and worn.”[12] This emphasizes the extreme difference between the two worlds.
Additionally, the Silver Shoes and Golden Cap act repeatedly as sources of power and help to further the action of the plot. Without the Golden Cap the characters could never defeat the various obstacles they face. Without the Silver Shoes, Dorothy could never get home. Therefore they act less as fashion, and more as functional objects. Dorothy even notes that the shoes, “. . . would be just the thing to take a long walk in, for they could not wear out.”[13]
More general information is conveyed by the costumes belonging to the fantasy peoples of Oz. While their clothes do not seem to establish time, they do help establish place within the world of the story. For example, when Dorothy and her group are in the Emerald City, everyone’s clothes appear green; the color to match the city. And when Dorothy first arrives in Oz, the munchkins all wear blue and indicates that they are in the last of the East. In addition, the fact that Dorothy is wearing both blue and white, helps to communicate to the Munchkins that she is both good and powerful. When she encounters a Munchkin named Boq, he thinks her a sorceress and tells her it is “because you wear silver shoes and have killed the wicked witch. Besides, you have white in your frock, and only witches and sorceresses wear white.”[14]
In terms of defining character, costumes have only a slight effect. As a children’s book, the characters are simple and so are their clothes. To the child reader, Dorothy’s clothes help establish her innocence. Blue gingham indicates (at least to me) that she is a simple and innocent character, whom children can identify with. The scarecrow’s costume establishes him as an imitation of a Munchkin man, and lets the reader know that he can not think as “real” man. The Good Witch of the East wears stars over her dress, indicating the magical quality of her character.
There have been many interpretations of the symbolic meaning within The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Some suggest that the book is in fact a political allegory, based on the American Populist Movement at the turn of the century. The silver shoes are used to discuss the value of having a silver, instead of a gold standard.[15] Some criticism has seen it as a heroic myth, as it appears to follow that structure.[16] Other perspectives seen reflected in the story include the feminist, spiritual, mystical, psychotherapeutic, Freudian, political, and social perspectives.[17] It seems that because the story is so basic that it can be found to have any symbolic meaning.
More details on the book and illustrations can be found here and Amazon has a collectors edition available here:
[1]Brooke Allen, “The Man Behind the Curtain,” Review of L. Frank Baum; Creator of Oz by Katharine M. Rogers. The New York Times Book Review, November 17, 2002. 13
[2] Mark Evan Swartz, Oz Before the Rainbow (Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 2000) 9
[15] David B. Parker, “The Rise and Fall of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on Populism,’” JOURNAL OF THE GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF HISTORIANS, vol. 15 (1994), pp. 49-63.
[16] “Edward Hudlin maintains that the book follows very closely the structure of the heroic myth as outlined by Joseph Campbell.” (Swartz, 19)
The vamp image, incorporating the requisite sex and death themes.
Occasionally fancying myself an exotic woman of mystery too, I have a special place in my heart for that early 20th century icon, The Vamp. When my friend (whose intelligent and fun horror blog And Now the Screaming Starts this is cross-posted on) suggested I write about them, I welcomed the opportunity to revisit some silent films when this aesthetic was solidified in concept and look.
THEDA BARA & THE LURE OF THE EXOTIC
Though Theda Bara (1890 – 1955) enshrouded her adult life in mystery, she was born plain old Theodosia Goodman in Cincinnati, OH. Hollywood producers gave her the anagram of “Arab death,” on the one hand cultivating her image of smoky, exotic sensualism — claiming she lit incense on her sets and swathed herself in tiger pelts — and on the other hand, hyping the macabre and frightening side of her.
Most recognize the term “vamp” to mean a femme fatale — an irresistible woman who leads to the destruction of those who surround her, typically men. But the term was initially coined only after the success of Theda Bara’s single surviving film, A Fool There Was (1915), in which her gleefully man-destroying character is listed in the credits simply as “The Vampire.” Based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The Vampire” (1897) and Sir Edward Burne-Jones’ painting of the same name (1897); the visual inspiration is obvious:
Sir Edward Burne-Jones' "The Vampire"
In A Fool There Was, The Vampire is seen in her nightgown several times, casting a spectral quality over her. Opaque and voluminous, they are not lingerie we are accustomed to today, but were risqué for the time, obviously derived from Burne-Jones’ sex-laden picture.
The Vampire grinning over her dead lover.
When wearing outerwear, The Vampire wore the amusingly impractical (and thankfully short-lived) hobble skirt, topped with exotic turbans and heavily kohled eyes. To seduce her victim she drops a flower and lifts her skirt to reveal her ankle — she is unashamed to show blatantly erotic skin.
What differentiated Theda from other actresses of her time was her other-worldliness, which she cultivated with her Oriental aesthetics. The horror genre is filled with tales of distant or remote lands; the audience’s presumed unfamiliarity with the locale makes the fantastic tales slightly more plausible; the storyteller prays on the public’s inherent mistrust and simultaneous attraction to the exotic, The Other. Though the most exotic location in A Fool There Was was Italy (puzzlingly portrayed as a palm tree paradise more suggestive of the Far East), The Vampire produces a non-specific and highly erotic exoticism. Not a tremendous actor, it was largely Theda’s unusual costumes and makeup on and off-screen that enshrouded her in Oriental mystique and secured her notoriety.
Theda Bara in hobble skirt and turban ensemble
Promises of harem girls with all the connotations of master / slave dynamics and orgies have been irrevocably linked to soft, sheer, feminine fabrics that simultaneously cover and reveal forbidden flesh (see my post onInnerwear as Outerwearfor more on this subject). Seemingly anticipating the Egyptian madness that occurred after the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, the Far East captivated the imagination of the Western world. Designer Paul Poiret (1879 – 1944) made his mark on the fashion world by morphing the 19th century S-shape silhouette into un-corseted, athletic figures, and he incorporated many lose-fitting, Oriental-inspired designs to this end including harem pants, “formal” silk pajamas, and turbans. Poiret designed extravagant costumes for stage productions, hosted legendary Arabian-themed costume parties, his fondness for theatrical-scale dress-up evident in the fashions he produced for general consumption.
Paul Poiret, harem ensemble, 1911
Even earlier was Emilienne d’Alençon (1869 – 1946) who performed at the Folies Bergères in the 1890s (with trained rabbits!) and was just as famous a courtesan, who wore an Art Nouveau inspired Salome costumes:
The Ballet Russes’ performance of “Schéhérazade” in 1910 was enormously successful, due in large part to the extravagant costumes of vague Eastern inspiration:
Ida Rubinstein in Ballet Russe "Scheherazade," 1910
Erte, who worked with Poiret and with whom I am obsessed, was yet another costume designer who marketed sensual Oriental decadence for lavish stage productions.
Erte Fashion Sketch with turban and harem pants
Mata Hari (1876 – 1917), the exotic Orientalist dancer of Dutch descent who posed as princess from Java while acting as courtesan and spy, was executed by firing squad just 2 years after A Fool There Was. Rumor has it that she blew a kiss to her executioners.
Mata Hari
Similar to our Theda Bara, non?
Theda Bara publicity shot for Cleopatra (1917)
Theda tapped into a cultural obsession with styles of the Far East, while exploiting the unease and xenophobia that often accompanies our regard of The Other, rolling it all into a destructive, man-eating “vampire” character. The Vamp concept was to evolve, though never to shake the ruinous qualities Theda imbued in her.
LOUISE BROOKS & MODERN ADVANCEMENTS
As Theda’s star waned, a new Vamp talent stepped up: Louise Brooks (1906 – 1985). If Theda was the vaguely ancient, exotic vamp, Louise was her modern flapper vamp successor. As women’s rights gained momentum in America, a powerful new woman emerged, wearing visible makeup as she walked to the voting polls, smoking and drinking and dancing in shift dresses that bared shins! Even as many women embraced this freedom, societal concerns of propriety remained and moralist detractors prophesized hedonistic anarchy. Dress also changed radically in the nineteen-teens, with fewer layers that a woman could slip into (and out of!), exposing more skin than ever. And so Louise Brooks was a very different looking vamp from Theda, even while her characters carried the torch of man destroyer.
More often than not, Louise Brooks smiles, a huge departure from Theda Bara's vamp image. Here she sweetly pours a drink for her stressed out lover.
Pandora’s Box (1929) was adapted from 2 erotic plays written in the 1890s by Frank Wedekind, but updated to modern times. As many young women cut their cumbersome long hair, Brooks as the Lulu character sports her own iconic, modern bob and wears clothes un-constrictive enough that she can do light gymnastics (like swing from a strongman’s biceps), hinting at the newly acceptable athleticism for women (see my post on Athletic Aesthetics). The erotic zones had shifted and multiplied since Theda Bara’s time, moving from the ankle to the shoulders, back, legs, and breasts which were often displayed braless.
Lulu appears practically naked in this Y backstrap dress, with a whiff of rope bondage.
Having become a somewhat accidental murderess, Lulu goes into hiding and curls the famous hair, sweeping it off her forehead. Ridiculous as it sounds, Brooks’ hairstyle was so recognizable that this shoddy disguise actually succeeds in confusing the audience a little, though Lulu is discovered anyway.
Lulu is a dangerous vamp not because she’s controlling and malicious, but because she’s a beautiful young woman whose very power is derived from her lack of pretension and seeming ignorance of her own desirability, her delicious un-self-conciousness. One-upping Bara’s Vampire, Lulu was a double threat desired by both men and women, so potent was her sexual power. The Pandora of the Greek myth was not an inherently evil woman either, just one whose curiosity got the better of her, with unfortunately dire consequences. Lulu is not even interested in money or advancing her social status — she shows equal preference for newspaper moguls and paupers, all of whom are trying to exploit her. However, she shares with other vamps her unrepentantance for acts that inconvenience or even destroy others and herself — they are all animalistic, with no regrets (as a side note, non-moral tales like these was only possible to portray in American cinema pre 1934, before the Hays Code was enacted).
She’s an unusual vamp fatale because she doesn’t have malicious intent. “Money, they all want money!” she complains of her blackmailers and suiters alike. She’s not a gold-digger, she’s simply a careless and carefree pleasure-seeker — exactly what conservatives feared about real-life flappers and, by extension, the women’s movement.
RESURRECTION OF THE VAMP
Since these early 20th century beginnings, the vamp has been resurrected in film and fashion many times. Blood sucking, literal and figurative, has unavoidably sexual connotations, and fetish gear and goth style has both influenced and been influenced by vamp(ire) lore. Fashion photographer Helmut Newton channels the sexy and macabre themes of bondage and female sexual power regularly. Even as women expose themselves in his photos, they seem to retain absolute authority over their settings:
Helmut Newton photo, c. 1990s
And Uma Thurman seemed to channel a bit of Louise Brooks herself with her portrayal of modern-day Mia Wallace, another beautiful, hedonistic woman whose pursuit of carnal pleasures (leading to the infamous drug overdose) jeopardizes all the men around her in Pulp Fiction (1994).
Impulse control is often explored in times of economic or political turmoil. True to point, there has been a rash of vampire productions recently including Twilight and the True Blood HBO series, but truth be told, I much prefer the original vamps!
Harper Collins generously gave me 5 copies of Nina Garcia’s The Style Strategy to give away to Worn Through readers. It has lovely illustrations by Ruben Toledo. You probably read in my previous posts that Garcia featured WT as a go-to blog as a style resource, and so I received an advance copy and did a review.
I’ve decided the best way to give away the books is through a trivia contest. Below are five relatively quick questions related to things we’ve written about on Worn Through. I’m looking for people who can hopefully answer all five, or at least most. You will find the answers by searching WT. (Yeah maybe it’s a cheap ploy to get you to read our posts….but I swear they are fun ones to check back on).
QUESTIONS:
1. What are Lauren‘s are three main forces that go into her fashion instructor wardrobe?
2.Heather wrote about what shoe designer who did innovative work on the platform and is usually credited with inventing the Stiletto heel?
3. When I (Monica) went to London to research punk dress, what was the name of the collection I visited and displayed images from?
4. I recently saw in the windows of cosmetic retail giant Sephora that they are advertising what retro eye make-up style that Lucy discussed as being very “in” when she spent time in France?
5.Tove wrote about what type of gown that was invented by the English and has been featured in numerous women’s portraits?
Answer between now and midnight 9/15/2009.
The five people with the most correct answers to all five questions wins.
In the case of multiple people with the same number of correct answers to all five questions, there will be a lottery.
Email me your answers and make sure to include your name and address so I can send you the book if you are a winner.
Only one book per winer.
NOTE-I CAN ONLY AFFORD TO SEND THEM MEDIA MAIL THROUGHOUT THE U.S., SO IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS, YOU’D HAVE TO PAY YOUR OWN SHIPPING VIA PAYPAL IN ADVANCE. IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS AND DON’T WANT TO PAY YOUR OWN SHIPPING, PLEASE DO NOT PLAY. SORRY!
1). Communication Studies Faculty Positions, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan, Department of Communication Studies seeks applicants for tenure-track/tenured positions. Expanding department emphasizes interdisciplinary study of the mass media and encourages applications from a broad range of methodological perspectives. We seek top scholars to complement current faculty interests and strengths.
Anticipated starting date for all positions is September 1, 2010. All areas will be considered, with a special interest in the following:
Media Effects, a social scientist who studies the societal and individual effects of traditional and/or emerging media and whose methods include experiments, surveys, quantitative content analysis and other social science techniques. All areas of emphasis will be considered. Areas of particular interest are representations of race and/or ethnicity in the media; media effects on racial identity and attitudes; media effects on children and young people; media effects on health behavior; media effects on sexuality, sexual orientation and sexual attitudes; media effects on cognitive processing and learning; on political behavior and attitudes; on public opinion and civic engagement.
Assistant Professor, Visual Representation, Digital Visual Cultures, a scholar whose research focuses on the evolution and impact of media imagery in traditional and/or emerging media. We are interested in candidates who are developing critical-cultural approaches to production, circulation and reception of visual imagery, semiotic analysis of media imagery, the commercial, political and cultural uses of media imagery, or on how audiences consume, interpret and use media images; Web design and aesthetics; new imaging practices and technologies; production of identity in visual forms; virtual signifying practices; new media objects/new media forms; production of identity in visual forms; virtual signifying practices; new media objects/new media forms; history, materiality and production of the image.
We would expect this scholar to develop an undergraduate course on Visual Culture and Visual Literacy, and to develop related undergraduate and graduate courses that will help students engage in critical analyses of digital environments and visual forms. The position is part of a five-unit interdisciplinary cluster hire in Digital Environments, designed to help our students develop the interpretive, discriminatory skills required to navigate the multiple digital environments that now surround them.
Applicants must identify the position and their primary area of interest as one of the two listed above or another area of specialization. All applicants must send a vita, evidence of teaching excellence, a writing sample, a statement of teaching philosophy and experience and a statement of current and future research plans.
All application materials, except for letters of recommendation, must be submitted electronically to cs-position@umich.edu. Junior applicants should send three letters of recommendation; senior applicants should send names of suggested reviewers.
For full consideration, complete applications must be submitted by September 25, 2009. Some positions are pending authorization.
Apply to:
Search Committee, Department of Communication Studies,
The University of Michigan, Room 103
1225 South University Avenue
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-2523
2.) History of the Arts faculty, University of Oregon
The Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor of History with expertise in the History of the Arts to teach in an interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum. Period and region are open. Fields of possible interest include history of the natural and environmental sciences, technology, and medicine; visual arts, architecture, and performing arts.
A strong theoretical and interdisciplinary background is essential as well as a capacity to teach in a broad geographical and chronological framework.
For more information, please see the full job announcement here.
To assure full consideration, application files must be completed by October 15, 2009. (designs pictured by Hussein Chalayan, highly conceptual fashion)
Harper Collins generously gave me 5 copies of Nina Garcia’s The Style Strategy to give away to Worn Through readers. It has lovely illustrations by Ruben Toledo. You probably read in my previous posts that Garcia featured WT as a go-to blog as a style resource, and so I received an advance copy and did a review.
I’ve decided the best way to give away the books is through a trivia contest. Below are five relatively quick questions related to things we’ve written about on Worn Through. I’m looking for people who can hopefully answer all five, or at least most. You will find the answers by searching WT. (Yeah maybe it’s a cheap ploy to get you to read our posts….but I swear they are fun ones to check back on).
QUESTIONS:
1. What are Lauren‘s are three main forces that go into her fashion instructor wardrobe?
2.Heather wrote about what shoe designer who did innovative work on the platform and is usually credited with inventing the Stiletto heel?
3. When I (Monica) went to London to research punk dress, what was the name of the collection I visited and displayed images from?
4. I recently saw in the windows of cosmetic retail giant Sephora that they are advertising what retro eye make-up style that Lucy discussed as being very “in” when she spent time in France?
5.Tove wrote about what type of gown that was invented by the English and has been featured in numerous women’s portraits?
Answer between now and midnight 9/15/2009.
The five people with the most correct answers to all five questions wins.
In the case of multiple people with the same number of correct answers to all five questions, there will be a lottery.
Email me your answers and make sure to include your name and address so I can send you the book if you are a winner.
Only one book per winer.
NOTE-I CAN ONLY AFFORD TO SEND THEM MEDIA MAIL THROUGHOUT THE U.S., SO IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS, YOU’D HAVE TO PAY YOUR OWN SHIPPING VIA PAYPAL IN ADVANCE. IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS AND DON’T WANT TO PAY YOUR OWN SHIPPING, PLEASE DO NOT PLAY. SORRY!
