This course explores the concept of fashion through the lens of modernity and will employ an understanding of fashion as a cultural phenomenon that encompassed all aspects of modern life. Hence, particular significance will be placed on new attitudes towards gender and the body, the re-orientation and navigation of urban spaces and marketplaces, new experiences of everyday life and the ephemeral in art and literature, and the exposure to new technologies and industries that contribute to supposedly better qualities of living. The fashion of dress and clothing during the period can therefore be understood as part of the modern 're-fashioning' of the western world, and in particular the large urban middle-class centres of Europe and North America. Focusing on a series of contemporary case studies and theorizations of city life, this course draws attention to key research regarding consumption practices of fashion during this period along with relevant socio-cultural discourses that informed much of these practices.