This course offers a holistic view on the history of how humans have been adorning themselves for the last 50,000 or so years. We will be exploring how and why people have decorated their bodies, and how that has evolved due to technology and social change. This class offers an in-depth study of each historical period and culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. We will examine how body adornment constructs identity, class, race and gender all over the world and throughout time. We will study how hairstyling, makeup, body modification and hygiene are inextricably linked and essential to expressing “humanness.”

History of Makeup (Spring 2025)

This course offers a holistic view on the history of how humans have been adorning themselves for the last 50,000 or so years. We will be exploring how and why people have decorated their bodies, and how that has evolved due to technology and social change. This class offers an in-depth study of each historical period and culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. We will examine how body adornment constructs identity, class, race and gender all over the world and throughout time. We will study how hairstyling, makeup, body modification and hygiene are inextricably linked and essential to expressing “humanness.”

History of Makeup (Fall 2025)

This course offers a holistic view on the history of how humans have been adorning themselves for the last 50,000 or so years. We will be exploring how and why people have decorated their bodies, and how that has evolved due to technology and social change. This class offers an in-depth study of each historical period and culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. We will examine how body adornment constructs identity, class, race and gender all over the world and throughout time. We will study how hairstyling, makeup, body modification and hygiene are inextricably linked and essential to expressing “humanness.”