Fashion Design.

Firs Year

The first year of the course is propaedeutic, prioritising the basic technical, cultural and design tools, with an emphasis on managing the creative flow and on the quest for identity. Educational activities focus on imparting the fundamental technical tools, a correct basic design method and a solid cultural grounding.

The teaching concentrates on designing a clothing collection, starting out by observing the world and interpreting signs, then developing an initial idea and translating it into a product.

This requires that students learn certain technical skills, methodological basics and cultural foundations .

The essential aim is to stimulate students’ ability to elaborate new forms, to analyse and synthesise reality and their own ideas and to translate creativity into objects and products.

Second Year

The second year is devoted to developing on what students have learned and conducting tangible experiments with the method, the tools and the cultural issues involved.

Students tackle the research, development and communication phases of their projects, which constitute the main structure of the curriculum. Each subject is considered as a function of the project: technical and expressive media, cultural codes and the approach to fashion marketing are treated as tools for moving the project forward. From the search for an inspiring theme to the product and its communication, every phase is monitored and studied in detail. The basic aim is to achieve a conscious approach to managing creativity, time and the mechanisms of design, so as to throw light on a first terrain of personal tastes and skills with the potential to describe a style.

Third Year

The third year is devoted to specialisation and focuses on the critical development of students’ design knowledge and skills in a specific field, on communicating identity and on managing design independence. The year is dedicated to advanced design work in a context of professional simulation and of complex cultural benchmarks. When drawing up their final projects, students are allowed space for personal intuitions and critical thinking. In addition to developing their own personal style and an original, coherent product, students are expected to use the thesis project to demonstrate the ability to position their work effectively in the fashion market, describing its technical and quality aspects and the costs related to its production. In the course of the three years, students also have the option to take part in design workshops, cultural seminars, competitions, lecture cycles, special projects and visits to firms and production facilities. Participation in these activities is complementary to the structured curriculum of which such participation is an integral part, just as both individual and workshop activities in the school’s own facilities are a fundamental and integral part of the curriculum.