What will the fashion school of the future look like?

The world has gone
through massive changes in the last decade. Ten years ago the iPhone had
been released just two years prior. Today, no less than 77 percent of
Americans own a smartphone, according to data from Pew Research Center, and
smartphones are getting ubiquitous even in developing nations: smartphone
penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa was estimated in 33 percent in 2018, up
from 15 percent in 2014, according to GSMA’s Mobile Economy report for
Africa. But that’s just one on a long list of significant changes which
also includes increased social media use and the fall of traditional media;
social movements pushing for sustainability and inclusivity; the rise of
freelance work and co-working spaces; and, of course, technologies such as
artificial intelligence, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality.

All these transformations inevitably affect the fashion industry,
pushing fashion professionals to keep up. While self-taught talents such as
Virgil Abloh demonstrate one does not need a degree in fashion to succeed
in the industry, universities still play a major role in preparing the next
generation of professionals for the future. For this reason, FashionUnited
has asked prominent names in fashion education to share what they think the
fashion school of the future will look like. Which skills will students be
required to learn? In what ways will schools differ from the learning
spaces we’re used to today? Here’s what they said:

Sustainability will become a mindset

“The next generation of creative leaders and thinkers will need to work
in responsible, analytical and ingenious ways. They will need to tackle
issues of over production and mass consumption, dwindling resources and the
pressure of climate change”, said Farah Ahmad, Career Manager at London
College of Fashion. For this reason, sustainability should become a
mindset, something that pervades all aspects of design, from the materials
used to the way clothes are built, as they will have to be made to last.
“Schools must accustom students to think sustainably by default, as a
turning point can only come from a change in mentality”, argues Danilo
Venturi, Director of Italian fashion institute Polimoda.

Jason Kass, Associate Dean at the School of Fashion at Parsons School of
Design, adds that fashion design should be more and more human-centered:
students must be encouraged to approach design as a way of improving lives
and the world in which they live. “The kinds of skills that fashion
students should be acquiring now and into the near future have more to do
with how they are thinking about and using design, rather than skills
specific to a certain technique or process”, he says. For Kass, students
should view technologies such as virtual garment simulation and 3D printing
as a means for them to rethink the supply chain and lessen the
environmental and human impact of fashion.

Obviously, the same goes for students following a management track.
“Fashion businesses are changing right before our eyes and often need to
adapt quickly to social, cultural, political, economic and environmental
factors as they unfold”, says Kass. That’s why the Parsons School of Design
is launching a new Masters in Fashion Management to prepare students for
this new business landscape. “Our objective is for our students to
challenge existing paradigms in order to come up with new models and
approaches to fashion business. Ultimately and at this point in time,
fashion businesses should bring value to the consumer while also making a
positive contribution to society”. Additionally, the school has partnered
up with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in a project that
invited students to think of wearable solutions for underserved
populations.

But Parsons isn’t the only school already taking measures to
future-proof its curriculum. London College of Fashion is currently
formulating a compulsory module for undergraduates called Better
Lives, in which “some of the world’s most pressing issues” will be
tackled, according to Ahmad. At TMO Fashion Business School, in the
Netherlands, sustainability modules are also part of the mandatory
curriculum. “Our curriculum includes a Fashion Awareness Project,
in which students are invited to debate on social and environmental
sustainability and visit sustainable production ateliers. At the end of the
module, they are required to make a digital magazine about sustainable
fashion”, explains the school’s Manager of Marketing & Communications,
Arianne Goris.

What’s more, students themselves seem to be increasingly aware of their
role in shaping a more responsible industry. “When asked to come up with a
new business concept, most students turn up with projects to increase
sustainability in the industry. They’re already doing that without us even
asking”, celebrates Arianne. “I think those students will simply not want
to work for companies which are not sustainable”.

Technology is crucial but will not replace craft

For Catherine Cole, Executive Director of Motif, an e-learning platform
offering courses to fill skill gaps in the fashion industry, many fashion
degrees offered by universities focus too much on the design and marketing
aspects of fashion, failing to teach students technical skills which are
just as useful. “Fashion schools have moved away from the technical design
and engineering of products. Pattern markers are like architects, they’re
like engineers”, she says. For her, it is crucial for universities to
inspire the next generation to follow technical career paths.

Farah, from the London College of Fashion, agrees technical skills will
become increasingly important. “We are seeing a rising demand for
specialist knowledge in digital technologies, which is why LCF has set up
the Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA), which has delivered award-winning
projects in wearable technology, AR/VR and Blockchain, and are currently
working on major developments within Nanotechnology, Internet of Things and
Robotics. All of these areas will be absolutely essential for graduates who
want to stay at the forefront of the industry”.

“It is a reality that current and future fashion students will need to
have basic awareness of the value and use of data as well as its
limitations”, adds Kass. “Rather than being number-oriented however, they
will need to understand how data can be used to generate meaning and
insights that can then be used to support business and creative decisions”.
A point of view shared by Venturi, from Polimoda: “Technology changes with
our evolution and is obsolescent. So the primary skill is knowing that you
must be skilled. We can teach the latest technology – which we do, given
Polimoda’s connection to major fashion brands and their production systems
– but what really matters is that students are aware that technology is at
the service of humanity and not its substitute”.

However, as important as digital technologies become, at the same time
there is a growing interest in traditional craftsmanship. Many consumers
are going for local, crafted products instead of generic, mass-produced
options. Venturi predicts this trend to intensify, with craftsmanship
rising as a distinctive sign, “even in its defects”. Kass agrees: “while
there are platforms that allow students to construct patterns, drape and
fit virtually, these will not entirely replace the need for hands-on
training in the studio as we know it today. If anything, we may see the
more traditional studio techniques being used in tandem with newer digital
technologies and more hybrid learning models where students study through a
combination of on-site and online education”.

Venturi mentions the Gucci Art Lab as an example of company bridging
craftsmanship and technology the right way. “They rapidly produce luxury
fashion, optimizing resources and controlling both quality and
sustainability in what they are responsible for, maintaining a good balance
between craftsmen’s skills and high technology. It’s worth visiting”.

Fashion schools to work more closely with companies and each other

The experts were unanimous: only by teaming up can the fashion industry
face the aforementioned challenges and establish a sustainable mindset.
Therefore, one can expect fashion schools to collaborate more with fashion
businesses and other schools. “I think we’ll see more and more
academic-corporate partnerships. Companies will help universities to create
curriculums and course materials, and universities will equip companies
with learning tools so employees can be continuously trained and remain
relevant”, says Cole.

“London College of Fashion has always had strong ties with industry – in
the future these relationships will remain central to the ethos of the
college”, says Farah. “We recently launched an open access course in
collaboration with Kering titled Fashion and Sustainability:
Understanding Luxury Fashion in a Changing World which has received
over 18,000 sign ups worldwide. This is a good example of how industry and
education will increasingly work together in the future”.

We’ll be students forever

“A university degree used to set you for life. Not anymore. Technology
changes so fast now that continuous learning has become more important
today than it’s ever been”, says Cole. Long story shirt: the university
diploma will not be the end, but rather just the beginning of a lifelong
learning journey. “Therefore, it’s imperative to think of education outside
the traditional campus. Not only should graduates change their mindset but
employers should also get more involved by offering employees opportunities
to update their skills or learn new ones”, concludes Cole, stressing the
importance of such trainings for talent retention. “Studies show Millennial
workers are most happy on the job when they can develop themselves. To many
of them, that’s even more important than the salary”. We’ll be students
forever, and we’ll like it.

To Venturi, regardless of their chosen career path, all fashion
professionals will be facing the same challenge: how to entice consumers
amidst an ever-growing flow of information and distractions. “The advice I
can give to students is to learn how to make fashion that provokes
emotions, create images that deeply touch, and talk to people to make sense
of things, without being bewildered by four cross movements of their
thumbs”.