PGFS
5130
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Fall 2011
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Faculty:
David Brody
This class assesses luxury design from multiple perspectives. Issues pertaining to consumerism, economics, and labor will be addressed. Specifically, we will look at examples of luxury design and examine these spaces and products in relation to a variety of authors, including, but not limited to, Walter Benjamin, Henri Lebevre, Karl Marx, and Rachel Sherman. Additionally, we will take field trips to sites that our contemporary culture constructs as luxurious. These tours will investigate both the overt presentation of luxury and the labor necessary to create these deluxe experiences. For instance, a possible visit to the Four Seasons Hotel on 57th Street in Manhattan will include a careful exploration of the hotel lobby, guest rooms, and back-of-the-house operations. By the end of the semester, students will be expected to formulate their own critique of luxury in a research project that will utilize both primary sources and the theoretical perspectives we have explored. Pathway: Fashion StudiesOpen to: Graduate students, with preference given to FST majors
