ArtEZ Fashion Masters | Master Fashion Strategy

Contents

FUTURISING

Within the Master Fashion Strategy the student may decide to focus on futurising. Futurising refers to creating innovative concepts and researching the projective dimension of fashion. Students learn how to identify future trends and detect newly emerging developments. These new trends will be analysed through visual research, branding and visual communication, while students may also explore and anticipate on the potential effects of these developments on consumer behaviour. This curriculum also addresses the ways in which new developments are communicated within the field. The graduation project is based on theoretical and visual research within the broad field of futurising.

BRANDED DESIGN

Another focus of the Master Fashion Strategy is branded design. Branded design emphasises the conceptual, communicative, creative and commercial context of fashion design. Studies on current developments in fashion and its industry form the basis for innovative fashion brand concepts. The philosophy and strategy behind concepts are important elements because they eventually serve as a basis of particular fashion brands. Students are encouraged to experiment with new ideas against a background of innovative, technological developments in the field of fashion and textile design. The graduation project centres on analysis and visual research that is geared to creating a concept for a new or existing brand.

FASHION JOURNALISM

Fashion journalism projects will combine cultural theory with writing skills, cultivating both a practical and theoretical understanding of fashion and lifestyle journalism. This programme aims to train highly articulate and knowledgeable fashion commentators who have excellent research and writing skills. In addition they have a clear point of view on the visual communicative dimension of fashion, including the changing trends in contemporary fashion and lifestyle media. There is an emphasis on thorough research and a deep analytical understanding of fashion as both a cultural phenomenon and a commercial business that caters to consumers. Students produce essays, reports and reviews for newspapers, magazines and so on. As a final project, students write an original, elaborate and intellectually refined paper that illustrates their skills in different kinds of fashion journalism.

FASHION CURATION

Projects within the field of fashion curation are based on studies of fashion theory and cultural phenomena. Students are trained to develop a conceptual way of thinking, while they are also introduced to the field of fashion and textile museums and the ways in which they operate. Students are stimulated to investigate new ways of (re) presentation. They will develop a highly articulate fashion awareness, elaborate research abilities and sound skills in written and visual communication. In the end they have the competency to transform fashion concepts into visual presentations and have appropriated all the skills a fashion curator needs. In their graduation project students explore an innovative exhibition concept based on theoretical and visual research. Their work on this project will result in a visual presentation and the marketing of a specific exhibition concept

STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAMME

The course is divided into four semesters, which concentrate on, respectively, orientation, reflection, creation and presentation. In the first semester students will be provided with a broad orientation to the international fashion industry, which will offer them insight into personal capacities and skills. In the second semester the emphasis will be on reflection; this implies the development of a critical view about oneself as a professional and towards the fashion industry in general. During the third and fourth semester students complete their graduation project; this is the phase where all the knowledge they acquired comes together. In the final semester the research process is completed and the project results are presented to the outside world.

Apart from this division into four semesters, the course can be said to cover three domains: artistic, theoretical and professional. These three domains will serve as focal points during the four semesters of the course.

The artistic domain is aimed at further developing a personal signature and undertaking research in order to enhance the student’s artistic abilities. The theoretical domain explores the impact of fashion as an important cultural phenomenon in our visual culture and society. In addition, students focus on the development and application of a distinctive and effective language, in order to communicate ideas and concepts within the proper professional context. Finally, the professional domain is geared to finding cooperation and acquiring a greater understanding of the fashion industry. In this domain active participation is essential; it provides students a routine for researching, collecting and organising informational aspects that will form the basis for continuity and innovation in the fashion industry. Furthermore, this domain stimulates awareness of individual responsibility when working either in a professional team or as an individual designer, when operating in a company-like structure.