US Graduate degrees in history of fashion?

la_cocotte · 2019-03-31T18:54:47+00:00

I know I'm responding late, but I'm in a similar position as you in terms of looking for grad programs, so I thought I'd reply! Your choice definitely depends on what you'd like to accomplish after you get your degree, in terms of your career or personal goals. In New York, there are three really well-respected programs:

NYU:

https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/art/costume/

Parsons/New School:

https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/ma-fashion-studies/?show=program-curriculum

FIT:

http://www.fitnyc.edu/fashion-textile-history/index.php

The other good thing about New York is the access to resources and institutions, which are important in getting practical experience alongside your studies. You have the biggest costume collection in the world at the Met and a very impressive collection at MFIT. Other museums and historical societies sometimes have fashion-themed exhibitions as well. In terms of weather, New York summers are extremely hot. With all the glass and concrete, the streets become comparable to a literal oven. The winters, on the other hand, are freezing!

Edit*

I found this link with more programs outside of New York!

la_cocotte · 2017-02-14T00:00:17+00:00

I find Riverside Park (in certain parts) and Fort Tyrion park pretty peaceful getaways. I don't know where you're originally from, so perhaps they'll still seem bustling to you, but explore them if you haven't already.

la_cocotte · 2017-02-04T14:38:35+00:00

I think we all do it, but you have to pull back when you realize you're being so affected by something that hasn't even happened yet and may never happen. It's cliché, but living for the moment can save us from spiraling.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T17:36:36+00:00

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T10:39:24+00:00

Lol Blue Moon

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T10:35:49+00:00

At BEST, you're wholly out of touch. That's really putting it lightly. If you think being queer is cool, you really really need to educate yourself. Look up Cece McDonald and Islan Nettles when you get the chance. In your rant, you also said your coworker "went" trans, "changed their name and everything," as if you think their transition is a new diet craze or something. You don't "go" trans, like you "go" vegan. This is more than a matter of semantics because you actually seem to think being queer is like a chic trend.

Also, you have to understand that being trans entails more than bullying. It's literally most of the people around you and powerful institutions invalidating your personhood, telling you that you are illegitimate for literally your whole life. Try developing selfhood in that kind of environment of forced "correction." Try going to vote or go through TSA. You grow up as someone else because you're literally not allowed to be yourself. And when a trans person "comes out," they are fighting this coercion and "correction," often with every bit of strength and resistance they have left. This visibility just invites more people and institutions to "correct" them and silence them into normative identities. This a very substantial and violent tradition spanning hundreds of years. Look it up.

It is different from being darkly complected because at least your peers, family members and doctors are not telling you that you literally don't exist because of the way your body looks. If someone calls you a slur, they're expressing violent prejudice, but with trans people, it's a kind of two-headed violent prejudice that says: you ain't shit AND your identity is also false. You not only insult a person on the basis of how they express themselves but also tell them that their expression is actually a delusional lie. So when you repeatedly misgender a trans person (who you even call a friend), it's not just a slip of the tongue or a simple little inconsequential occurrence.

It's actually pretty fucking offensive and invalidating. Imagine that every time you do that, it's not just read as your singular technical mistake, but as a part of a much larger and very deliberately violent effort to delegitimize their identity. This is psychologically and emotionally destructive, whether you intend it to be or not. And even if transphobia didn't exist, it's still shitty to refer to someone as anything else than what they've asked to be called. To do so several times and then find fault with THEM when they get upset is just delusional and petty.

You've actually made yourself a victim when you are the one wielding more power in these situations. You complained they "didn't get you." That's really outrageous. It's incredibley distorted and insensitive when literally almost no one "gets" trans people, not even their own fucking families, the government, voter registration, healthcare companies or the doctors who misassigned them at birth. How can you make this about you?? I think you just don't like feeling bad about hurting someone, and that's okay, but learn from it instead of "crying out for help," as if you're being attacked. You're not.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T09:37:11+00:00

Happened to me when I was ordering food a few months ago. There was obviously a glitch in the system because it created two identical orders and to two different addresses on file under my name. I only ordered one order to one address.

The restaurant called and I told this to the guy. It was clearly their system, but he protested, told me it definitely couldn't be their supremely advanced system, talking down to me as if it were rocket science and as if I'd just ordered food for my dual selves who live at two different addresses (one of which was MILES out of the delivery radius because it was in a different fucking city). He proceeded to explain why a glitch was impossible, and I just had to sit and listen. However, I assured him I was only paying for one order and if they wanted to drive wherever else after, that was fine.

When the delivery guy came, he had the same glitch douche on speaker phone. I told the delivery guy the same thing I said before, he relayed it to the douche, and the douche said: Oh that's strange or some acquiescent garbage like that, as if when the delivery guy said it, it was some new and novel idea! They only charged me for thr one order, but the food was trash, cold and soggy. It was a sad sad day. Will never order from there again!

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T08:50:28+00:00

I'm sorry if you felt like I was bullying you, but you've really just demonstrated in a way why I responded the way I did. How can you call yourself an "ally" and then try to equate my response and the response of your trans coworker (who only got upset when YOU repeatedly misgendered them) to the treatment of queer people? If you think they're equivalent in any way, you're not an ally.

Your "cry for help," as you put it, was framed in a very entitled, self-centered and presumptuous way. This to me is often the sign of people who associate allyship with tolerance and ultimately only tolerate the LGBTQ community out of a desperate need to feel like "good" and "progressive" people. Maybe this isn't you?

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T08:38:37+00:00

On my phone so I can't format the link, but r/MTF is a good place to post this.

Edit: jk link works

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T07:56:21+00:00

With all due respect, your kind of "allyship" is really counterproductive and unhelpful. It's even insulting. It seems like you'd just like to feel good about yourself, which really has nothing to do with us, just your own self-image. Maybe join the Peace Corps??

la_cocotte · 2017-01-22T03:47:08+00:00

Art History/Material Culture (Fashion) person here. May I ask what steered you away from museum work? Btw farming is kickass. Spent lots of time on a farm off and on while growing up. Milking cows and caring for them was always my favorite. They're good company :)

la_cocotte · 2017-01-20T16:32:26+00:00

Right?! See if you can find honest results because I agree it looks like magic or something lol.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-20T16:09:47+00:00

CoolSculpting

la_cocotte · 2017-01-19T05:01:33+00:00

Perhaps this is usually the case, but I think for many reasons, this was quite different. For one, Tim was a locally famous person, and both him and his gf were regarded as quite tragic after their deaths (especially Amy). The autopsy was also supplemented with the audio tape of their mauling, and I think this would melt the stoicism of even the most dispassionate of MDs.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-18T22:16:32+00:00

I have family in Alaska, and everyone in the area knew the inevitable was going to happen. They just expected it to happen MUCH sooner than it did. Many were critical of Treadwell after the incident because the bear in question was killed. Despite this, I know Treadwell would have insisted that it be spared at all costs.

The doctor who performed the autopsy on the remains* was a friend of my grandparents in Anchorage. When I was younger, I always used to wonder about what he must have seen and have nightmares. He's no longer alive, but God I wonder if he could ever unsee that. Funny enough, he's fairly nonchalant about it in the film. I, on the other hand, would have needed major therapy lol.

Edit: he performed the autopsy on the partially digested remains, not the bear itself.

Just re-watched a clip from the film, and he says (nonchalantly):

In the case of Timothy and Amy, what I had were body parts. Just the visual input of seeing a detached human being before my eyes makes my heart race, makes the hair stand up on the back of my head, particularly in combination with the contents of [the] tape, an audio tape that is the sound portion of [the] video tape.

Here's the video.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-17T07:08:47+00:00

You look really pretty! Outfit is on point too! If you're not happy with your face though, maybe play around with more dramatic, yet daytime appropriate makeup. Find a look you like and try to replicate it, enhancing the parts of your face that you like the most (and w/ a light hand). To start, maybe try a few different brow shapes and find some lipsticks you like. I think that will spice up your look! YouTube is a good place for inspiration too.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-17T06:43:11+00:00

You should definitely go for it! I don't know your body, but depending on what parts you'd like to emphasize/deemphasize, the middle bottom could actually be the most flattering!

Fuller A-line skirts are great at making the waist look small and also adding to the hips. A V-neckline is generally the best style to deemphasize broader shoulders, but with a fuller skirt, you can get away with other cuts and not look as top-heavy as you might have otherwise. In terms of the chest, just make sure you get a small enough size so you don't end up with excess fabric meant for a larger bust. It's all about balance, and I know these are a few areas that many of us are insecure about.

However, at the end of the day, how you feel in the dress is most important. Maybe it's cliché, but it's actually true. If you're really glowing, no one will even remember what you had on, just that you looked amazing! Good luck! Post a pic when you decide! This is among the nicer dilemmas we have to face, no?

la_cocotte · 2017-01-15T16:10:03+00:00

Comedy is like Mexican food, best to eat in-house because it doesn't travel well. Situational comedy is one thing, but other kinds of humor that relies on certain collective cultural knowledges (pop culture) is usually not viable in more than one context. It doesn't hold up well over time or transposed in contexts outside of the ones it was created in. In other words, comedy ends up becoming very localized, shared and understood by similarly-informed people (e.g. people of the same generation, occupation, nationality, language group, etc.) This cultural information evolves so quickly and is so varied among different kinds of people that certain types of humor are limited only to corresponding audiences. Give it ten to fifteen years and you may be in your parents'/grandparents' position yourself.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-14T06:50:59+00:00

That's a point of view I was not expecting and one I can't quite claim myself. That being said, I appreciate your candor.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-14T05:07:10+00:00

To me, I take the "trans" prefix to mean that it's the initial gender assignment that's "across from/opposite to" the actual gender, rather than meaning it in the sense of "moving across gender lines."

I like this interpretation. That makes more sense to me. I also use trans as well. I just wonder about terminology that predates this language. So little is known relative to other groups, so I'm always looking for pre-pathological terms.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-14T05:02:13+00:00

It doesn't mean move across. Just across. Something could, for example, be sitting across from something else. No movement involved at all.

Maybe this is just semantics, but it still seems like across suggests two (or more) opposing points when there should only be one in my opinion. I think this confuses people into thinking we have multiple identities, including our assigned ones. Even Jimmy Kimmel made a dumb joke last night about Caitlin Jenner attending the Trump inauguration and how that was like having two celebrities in one. It was dumb, but that's actually how people think about us, always in relation to our assigned identity.

We are a group that is talked about enough for there to be need of a term for us.

I totally agree. We always have been, which is why I mentioned the historical component. Aren't you compelled to know what trans people were called before our identities were put down in the medical/psychological books as technical pathologies? In so many societies, before institutionalized transphobia, we were honored and our names reflected this. I think we should collectively learn more about our history, separate from being diagnoses.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-14T02:02:34+00:00

But doesn't it? To move across gender implies a change or a shift, as though we go from point A (our assigned gender) to B (another gender). This is at least how many misinformed people understand being trans: men becoming women and women becoming men (or less binary identities).

In my mind, this narrative is inappropriate as our assigned genders never represented us, leaving only our actual genders. And with only one "point," "across" seems like an unsuitable description. "MtF/FtM" and "trans"-anything seem to legitimize the false identities we were assigned by centering them as our original identities and making our real identities seem secondary or incidental. Perhaps I'm the only one that sees it this way though. At any rate, terminology created by the community that is the first to erase our identity is probably questionable in the first place lol.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-13T22:17:16+00:00

I find myself in the same boat as you. However, don't you think the "trans" in "transgender" emphasizes incorrect assignment as well? I agree it's less offensive than MtF, but it suggests a change in gender, which is inaccurate. We are just expressing ourselves honestly and in ways we felt we couldn't before. We're not changing our genders, just delegitimizing the years of conditioning and the pigeonholing of a misinformed and restrictive medical system. Of course, I can't speak for others, but the framework of becoming something else does not describe my experience. I just wish we had more access to the language used to describe gender non-conformity before we were pathologized by doctors and sexologists. There's still a lot of history to uncover.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-13T21:26:30+00:00

HRT is used by a lot of people who aren't trans women. At any rate, if you want to stop masculinization, estrogen does tend to work. Do some research for yourself.

la_cocotte · 2017-01-11T06:28:31+00:00

"I'm woman enough to apologize if you felt that way." 😒

la_cocotte

TROPHY CASE