Example fashion dissertation topic 8:

From cat walk to soft furnishings: The crossover of fashion trends.

Evaluating trends in the summer and winter collections from 2005 – 2012, this dissertation comments on the crossovers that may be discerned between cat walk trends and soft furnishings within the High Street. Commenting not only on design and fabric, but also the aspirations of customers, this is a dissertation that could also make a significant contribution to a number of wider studies of fashion retailing and marketing. Enabling a specific focus to be drawn upon either the industry as a whole, or just a small part of it, the use of primary interviews with designers of collections and customers, should, within the confines of this study, be augmented by a thorough review of existing literature. This study also leads itself to international comparative work.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Pryczynska, E. and Anderwald, A. (2003). ‘The design connotations of clothing and interior fabrics in the aesthetic and application aspects, based on an analysis of recent fashion guidelines’. Fibres & Textiles in Eastern Europe, vol. 11(4-43), pp. 15-19.
• Sproles, G.B. (1981). ‘Analyzing fashion life cycles: Principles and perspectives’. The Journal of Marketing, vol. 45(4), pp. 116-124.
• Stansfield, J. and Whitfield, T.W. (2005). ‘Can future colour trends be predicted on the basis of past colour trends?: An empirical investigation’. Color Research & Application, vol. 30(3), pp. 235-242.