The Festival of New

This course introduces students to the analysis of the current ‘fashion system’ and explores strategic interventions within existing models to imagine future systemic change. Fashion systems often dictate time through the seasonal structures of Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter, and midseason structures of Cruise & Resort. This course involves the in-depth analysis of these seasonal structures while also critically exploring conventional systems such as Prêt-à-Porter, Couture, Diffusion Line, Slow and Fast Fashion, Fragrance and Accessory from a theoretical perspective. Since fashion is a constantly moving dialogue that seasonally changes the visual landscape of a public sphere, this course aims to understand how these ideas are introduced – in text and image - to audiences, who become the carriers and prolific disseminators of these ideas/ideals. Students are introduced to practical hands-on approaches in the development of future fashion systems that subvert from more rigid, existing ones. This includes establishing a new business opportunity, planning a target and sales strategy and setting up and coordinating, arranging and executing on-site promotional events - such as a pop-up shop at a store or other venue. The course focuses on research, the development and execution of new ideas, developing a deep understanding of the processes, challenges and requirements and introduces students to new editorial approaches through publication, printed matter, digital imagery, and experiential differentiators. Through the study of strategic game-changers, students will create a plan with tactics to imagine and represent a new future fashion system.