Course summary

An innovative, cross-disciplinary Masters programme that explores sustainability in fashion and its systems. Students with varied relevant backgrounds such as fashion design, textiles, business or marketing can learn to work collaboratively. This course develops critical thinking, problem solving and a strategic mindset to innovate responsible fashion systems that radically reimagine luxury fashion. New kinds of fashion practitioners are needed, who are able to think critically, creatively and collaboratively, with a holistic understanding, vision and skills that will enable the fashion industry to transition to a responsible and regenerative future. Through a series of collaborative and individual projects, students will develop and apply a strong theoretical understanding that includes ecological design principles, systems thinking, alternative economics, regenerative systems, future sourcing, indigenous knowledge systems, the local, the politics of luxury, and values-led communication to the development of new fashion systems and products that reflect their disciplines and goals. Within a framework of lectures, seminars, workshops, practical sessions and field trips, they will develop dynamic, cross-disciplinary collaborations to research, explore and conceptualize and create responsible fashion systems and processes that are not just less harmful but aim to be pro-actively positive to people and planet. Assessed work from collaborative projects will largely be ‘portfolio’-based, comprising a range of potential outcomes – such as annotated research book/s, samples, experiments, maquettes, designs, design models, speculative pieces, artefacts or new system plans, proposals, essays, reports, campaign plans and reflective writing, allowing for fluid but rigorous interdisciplinary outcomes that represent the specific and varied contributions of individuals to a variety of team projects.