Fashion design is about looking to the future to innovate for today, but it is important to understand the foundation of the design process. In this course, you will learn about technological developments in fashion design, 3D and digital printing, and artisanal design and craftsmanship. You’ll explore building your brand through design aesthetics, materials, silhouettes and fit. You’ll discover the importance of collaboration with other designers and how new modes of thinking and inspiration are integral to the design process.

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Finally, you’ll examine the future of fashion forecasting, and how the observation of trends, social movements, politics, environmentalism, and pop culture are crucial to building your brand strategy.

In this course, you'll be learning from the following Parsons faculty and industry experts:

- Gabi Asfour, Parsons Faculty, Founder & Creative Director, threeASFOUR

- Keanan Duffty, Parsons Faculty

- Susanna Moyer, Parsons Faculty

- Joshua Williams, Parsons Faculty

What You Will Learn

- Innovative new design process techniques based on original research

- How to apply environmentally friendly initiatives to product development

- Ways to demonstrate partnership with other brands

- Ability to assess the sociocultural relationship between society and fashion

Course 2 of 3 in the Transforming the Fashion Business Specialization

Syllabus

WEEK 1

The Fashion Design Process

In this module you will learn the design process, from it's historical underpinnings, through innovative strategies involving collaboration, new materials and technologies. You will also learn about defining shape and silhouette, and how to experiment with assembling, deconstructing, and draping.

WEEK 2

Fashion Design - A Sustainable Approach

In this module, we will discuss the integration of artisanal and local ‘made-by-hand’ design and craftsmanship into the design process. Through the lens of 20th Century pop culture, we’ll find out how surface pattern design has reverberated through the fashion of the last Century and into this millennium. We will also discuss provenance and heritage and ask who owns an idea, and where homage crosses over into appropriation.

WEEK 3

Collaborative Design

In this module, we will discuss how learning to collaborate with other designers and brands is essential to the design process. We will discuss how to integrate new modes of thinking into the design process, including short films and documentaries, storytelling, and performance. We'll also learn how to conceive and create products for multiple end uses.

WEEK 4

Fashion Trends: Interpretation, Observation and Intuition

In this module we will discuss how to integrate observation and Intuition into the design process by interpreting trends and fashion forecasting. We will see how trend analysis can be conducted on a micro and macro level. You will learn how methods used to predict, interpret and forecast fashion can be viewed through the lens of social movements, political and pop cultural events.