The Evolution of Fashion (LS-TR-107)
Fashion is timeless
Fashion is a timeless preoccupation for everyone, adult and teenager alike, becoming more and more important for the latter these days. Therefore this learning scenario explores the evolution of fashion and makes pupils think about new design ideas.
The learning scenario has specific aims related to a History lesson: students are able to identify and compare the styles of dresses people wore in the past and now. Moreover, they can create new designs for next centuries’ fashion.
Create the design of the new century
With these activities, students are able to use Europeana collections and some of the exhibitions featured on the website to search for information related to fashion; understand the importance of working collaboratively; develop English language skills; understand and apply the basic principles of copyrights; develop their ICT skills regarding the development of digital products; realize how important cultural heritage is in order to create a better future.
Specifically, students learn about Past Simple tense, irregular verbs and their uses. They implement the Past Simple tense knowledge while they are writing their final work.
Evolution of fashion in 8 steps
| STEP 1: We first start by showing a youtube video that shows the evolution of fashion throughout history, and ask what students already knew and what they did not know. |
| STEP 2: We present the main goal of this learning activity: to be able to identify and compare the styles of dress people wore in the past and now; to be able to create new designs for the next century’s fashion. We then present the Europeana website, the aim of it and how to use it for searching for resources and information. |
| STEP 3: Following a brief search on the platform, we discuss how past lifestyles had an effect on clothing style. In the meantime, students took notes. |
| STEP 4: Students created teams of four and searched on the net about the centuries’ (21st-18th) lifestyles to understand how they altered fashion. |
| STEP 5: Based on their findings on Europeana and what they planned initially, students collected and selected all the relevant data needed to design new clothes for the 22nd century. They decided which material to use, what colours they will apply, and the patterns for their new design. |
| STEP 6: They began to design their new clothing style by using coloured papers and glue sticks. Finally, each team prepared a five-minute speech to describe their design. |
| STEP 7: The teams presented the 22nd-century fashion from their point of view. Their peers evaluated their works. |
| LAST STEP: The students prepare a questionnaire about the evolution of fashion to ask some questions to their schoolmates. Based on the answers they collect, they prepare a pie chart. |
History, design thinking and research skills combined
In my experience, once we have implemented these activities, the aims of the lesson have been fulfilled, because students have learned how to use Europeana, how to locate specific collections and exhibitions and how to find information. Furthermore, they have improved their teamwork and collaboration skills, critical thinking, online research abilities and language competences. Finally, students enjoyed the lesson and they could give their feedback.
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