Mid-Atlantic Region
Events, Workshops & Symposia

"A Saturday in Historic New Castle, Delaware" Aug. 21, 2010 New Castle, DE Registration Deadline: Aug. 16 CSA Mid-Atlantic Region is sponsoring a meeting at the New Castle Historical Society in New Castle, DE on August 21st. The program will be a tour of the exhibit, Tying the Knot--New Castle Nuptials Since 1784, and a panel discussion with NCHS staff and volunteers and consultant Colleen Callahan about how this small museum produced this costume exhibit. The tour and program will be $20. To register by August 16 or for more information, contact Michael Connelly at mconnollynchs@aol.com, call 302-322-2794, or download printable registration form. Download the Registration Form Fashion In Fiction - The Dark Side The Mid-Atlantic CSA & Drexel University's Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design Philadelphia, PA. October 8 - 10, 2010 Roland Barthes proposed that fashion was not just an industry, but also a set of fictions. Barthes did not wish to ignore the economic function of fashion, but rather underline fashion's mythic dimension and suggest that fashion is a language in itself. Fashion and fiction have long existed in close proximity; writers have been driven by their experience of fashion and fashion has been developed through and by literary tropes. What makes dress and fashion such a fascinating subject for writers? How are fashion's mythologies constructed and disseminated through fictional texts? How does fashion relate to art, popular culture, business, the body, consumer studies, and those who might read it as a form of text? This interdisciplinary conference seeks to investigate the role that fashion has played in our culture. These "mini-narratives" can include fiction, non-fiction, cultural and historical studies, and other types of comparative, descriptive and/or empirical research. In particular, it will examine the dark side of fashion discourse, assessing the role, function, and purpose of clothes, fashion movements, style, and image in creating narratives within narratives. The dark side of fashion can include such obvious topics as gothic, punk, the color black, and vampires. Other topics that have traditionally been viewed as "dark" include polyester fabric, couture knock-offs, deviant fashion advertising, sweatshops, and child labor.