Club to Catwalk Assignment Brief.

Club to Catwalk

The From Club to Catwalk exhibition features styles from the 80s as they originated in the fashionable clubs of the era, and as they were eventually used by fashion designers in their subsequent 80s collections.

Your task is twofold:

Firstly, you must select either one style or one garment featured in the Club section of the exhibition and write 500 words on it per pair (or 250 words if you are writing on your own). You must perform semiotic analysis on the style or garment, and explore the messages that it communicated on the club floor. In other words, what did it mean to wear this style or garment on a night out in a particular club scene? How did the style develop and how did that message evolve? What were the influences/elements of that style?

Secondly, you must write another 500 words (or 250 if you are writing alone) on how your selected style or garment was adopted by a fashion designer and adapted for the catwalk and according to the label’s or the designer’s personal style. How was the style or garment altered, if at all? How did its meaning change, if it did? Was it used in its original form, altered beyond recognition, mixed with other items or styles, or watered down to become popular with the masses? What do you think it meant to wear this style or garment now? The same as to wear the original from the club, or is it now a significantly different story? In this section, you can refer to one or more designers.