I was ill the last week of term so my history teacher hasn't approved any of my proposed questions for the coursework, which I need to research over the summer. I'm planning to do a fashion/textiles based essay, which he has agreed I can do, but none of the example questions I've seen are social history based, they all seem to revolve around tracking changes based on specific precipitating events, which just isn't how fashion works. I'm also a bit confused about what types of academic sources are permissable, as my teacher is only recommending full books that cover the entire period but most textile history research tends to be shorter journal articles and the occasional PHD, mostly depth studies over shorter periods. I could probably find 2 breadth study books but it would likely limit my arguments a lot.
Essentially my questions are thus:
- Can I just write an essay tracking the changes in the structure/function of a specific garment (e.g. corsets) over a 100 year period, not based around 1 precipitating event but rather gradual socioeconomic changes?
- Do my academic sources need to cover the whole 100 year period or can I use multiple less broad sources that cumulatively cover the whole period?