Fashion Design

Undergraduate Courses - Milan

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The course trains Fashion Designers with stylistic and creative competencies combined with the ability to define innovative products, develop stories and place a final product in the market.
The different collections and the production of prototypes are the main areas of expertise provided to students throughout the three years of study.
The course offers two specialisations: Fashion Design, aimed at training professionals able to translate their personal narration into a collection of garments and accessories, and Shoes and Accessories Design - taught exclusively in Italian language, which provides a specific training about design and production techniques that considers the peculiarity of the product.
  
Title – This BA is recognised by Italian Ministry of Education and Research (MIUR) as an Academic Diploma Level I.

  • Credits
    180
  • Start date
    October 2019
  • Duration
    3 years
  • Attendance
    full-time
  • Language
    English

Check the pages dedicated to the creative professions: Fashion Designer.

Context - The world of fashion faces continuous and rapid changes. In the past few decades, the professional once defined as Couturier has given way to a complex and flexible role covering different fields within a multifaceted process: the Fashion Designer.

Methodology and structure - The study path is structured so as to provide students with all the tools required to properly and efficiently create a fashion or accessories collection and place it within the contemporary market. The whole process focuses on the application of one Design Method - the typical Made in Italy one - which constitutes the basis of the whole process, taught to students from the first year until the Final Project. 

Regarding all the different collections studied, a particular attention is paid to the acquisition of pattern-making and sewing skills, textile, leather technology and processing, design techniques, fashion illustration, the production process of garments and accessories. 

Complementary to the technical and methodological disciplines is the particular focus on cultural studies that identify the language of fashion as a historical, artistic and social phenomenon, as a flow of trends and codes, as a creative and visual narrative and as an economic system featured by a production chain and by specific marketing and communication strategies. Students have the possibility to choose among different workshops (changing every year) such as hand embroidery, written analysis of trends, hand knitwear, fur. 

Within the specialization in Shoes and Accessories Design, in addition to designing the collections dedicated to the different types of accessories (women and men), intense workshops ensure a proper use of the tools and machines, for the acquisition of pattern making techniques and bag and shoe manufacturing. Moreover, the course offers a focus on specific technical drawings, the processes of production and use of different leathers and skins, as well as metal hardware design for accessories. 

Career opportunities - Fashion Designer, Shoes and Accessories Designer, Textile Designer, Product Manager, Knitwear Designer, Embroidery Designer.

  • I year

    • Style and History of Art and Costume

    • Design Methods

      This course provides students with the analytical tools they need to examine the nexus between a product and the processes behind its creation. This theoretical groundwork allows students to understand and manage the disciplines that contribute to designing a collection. Every design process is a confluence of functional, technological and formal aspects: the course goes from how the idea is formulated to the development of the actual object. 

    • Technical Drawing

      Familiarity with technical drawing provides students with the basic tools for communicating their work and representing the design process. Students learn the graphic idiom necessary to get the expressive independence. The course deals with all the fundamental phases involved in a correct design representation of clothing and accessories: from freehand illustration to preparatory sketches for the study of a figure’s proportions and on to technical drawing.

       

    • History of Fashion 1

      The evolution of style and fashion in the Western World from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. The course analyses the social and technical processes that featured the main changes in the fashion world by looking into case studies of Fashion Designers and their collections. 

    • Pattern Making and Tailoring 1

      Model making is the gradual acquisition of familiarity with the techniques for making a collection, both in its constituent components and as a whole. This course provides students with the theoretical and practical tools they need for building models, using the materials most suitable for the scale of the project and the various phases of study. A 3D overview enables the idea to be examined and checked on its consistency in terms of physics laws and elaboration techniques. 

    • Graphic Design 1

      Using graphic composition programs to acquire IT literacy makes it easier for students to express an idea and enables the digital tools of representation to be correlated with the notions of visual perception. Teaching the use of the leading image processing programs enables students to maximise the impact of a concept, manage 2D images and modify their contents. 

    • Textile Culture 1

    • Fashion Design 1

      The workshop activity includes an intensive session devoted to the reproduction of a historical outfit. 

       

    • Figurative Anatomy

    • Arts Semiotics 1

  • II year

    • History of Fashion 2

      The course is focused on the historical development of fashion during the second half of the twentieth century. The evolution in trends and styles is tackled from a historical, cultural, social and economic standpoint, providing students with the tools they need to understand the language of fashion, highlight its mechanisms and identify its key phenomena. 

    • Drawing Techniques and Technologies

    • Pattern Making and Tailoring 2

    • Graphic Design 2

    • Textile Culture 2

    • Fashion Design 2

    • Arts Semiotics 2

    • History of Photography

    • Business Thinking and Management 1

  • III year

    • Pattern Making and Tailoring 3

    • Fashion Design 3

    • Design Methods for Visual Communication

    • Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts

       

       

    • Business Thinking and Management 2

    • Theory and Analysis of the Film and Audiovisual Presentations

    • Fashion Design 4

       

       

Remarkable is that teacher who accomplishes himself what he teaches to others.
(Italian proverb)

IED faculty are professionals that daily face the market. Here you can read their bios.

Olivia Spinelli - Course Coordinator

Olivia Spinelli - Course Coordinator
Fashion Designer specialised in kidswear and womenswear. She designed for brands such as Ferrè, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Benetton and Romeo Gigli.

Alon Siman-Tov - Course Coordinator

Alon Siman-Tov - Course Coordinator
Fashion Designer Free-lance specialised in accessories and menswear.

Michele Guazzone

Michele Guazzone
Upon graduating in Sociology at the University of Turin, he worked in the socio-semiotic research field as a member of the observatory of trend research of the communication agency Matica. At the same time, he worked for Label, a quarterly publication dealing with contemporary art, architecture, fashion and design, focusing on both the editing and the publication of a few articles on theater and cinema. He collaborated with the graphic design and communication studio Bellissimo, supporting the organization of events related to design and contemporary art as well as Club to Club, the electronic music festival in Turin.

Marta Forghieri

Marta Forghieri
Fashion Designer. With her collections she won competitions such as Feed on Fashion and Next Generation. She has collaborated with major fashion companies, she has been in charge of the second line of Mila Schön and has recently opened a womenswear brand, Smarteez, in collaboration with the company Pleated.

Veronica Foschi

Veronica Foschi
She graduated in Industrial Design with a Final Project about the definition of new communication languages in the suburban realities. She has always been working in graphic illustration and photography. Co-Founder of her own studio with Luca Schieppati. She originally specialised in the provision of 3D visualisation and animation services, as her base interests grew she expanded to include video production and the creation and supply of full-blown, highly visual, interactive solutions.

Lia Mondina

Lia Mondina
Has a degree from Saint Martin’s School Of Art, London, Ba (Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles with Specialization in Knitwear. She has designed for Giorgio Armani and Max Mara’s knitwear collections. Lia has also developed knitwear stitches for industrial knitting machines.

Maria Delli

Maria Delli
Freelance Product Manager, she’s been working as Product Specialist in the Fashion market, both clothes and accessories, sportswear and leather goods. She collaborated with Mandarina Duck as Product Manager in charge of restyling the accessory line, with Dimensione Danza and with Fila Sport as Chief Product manager and Designer Coordinator for global activewear womenswear collection. She’s also participated to Salone del Mobile of Milan with several food design-dedicated projects.

Gianni Cinti

Gianni Cinti
Gianni Cinti nasce in Umbria nel 1979. Compie studi artistici e nel 1997 viene ammesso a frequentare il prestigioso Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA) di Urbino. Ha partecipato a mostre collettive e personali sviluppando un personale percorso espressivo e comunicativo. Con un segno elegante e a volte primitivo, dal taglio colto e ironico le sue creazioni sono state riconosciute a livello internazionale (come la Menzione d’Onore al "The Lucky Strike Designer Award" del 2009) e pubblicate su riviste di settore (Private, 2007). Ha lavorato per grandi nomi della moda italiana seguendo parallelamente progetti di natura fortemente sperimentale. Per oltre cinque anni è stato assistente di Gianfranco Ferrè. Attualmente segue diversi progetti contaminando moda, arte e design tra Milano, New York e Shanghai. Il suo studio è a Torino che considera la sua città  d’adozione.

Olivia Corio

Olivia Corio
She worked as Editor and Producer for Mtv, in London and Milan. As a professional Journalist she contributed to various magazines, among them Harper's Bazaar, Fashion, Virus Mutations, Tutto Musica, Grazia, Cosmopolitan. She has recently discovered a vocation for fiction. She published her first novel, Colpiscimi, (Alet Edizioni in 2011) followed by Mappe sulla pelle (Ed.It Press 2012), a collection of monologues from various female novelists.

Emma Holborow

Emma Holborow
Free-lance Designer specialized in knitwear from the Winchester School of Art, she works in Italy as Knitwear Specialist both menswear and womenswear. Her career began developing knitting stitches for a notorious spinning in Milan. She also provides consultancy on knitwear-related matters for companies such as PierAntonio Gaspari, Fendi, CXD, Filatura Filpucci, Prada and Studio Ferré Donna.

Irene Cinus

Irene Cinus
She learned sartorial craftsmanship in Sardinia. Since she has moved to Milano, Irene has worked with fashion brands such as Gianfranco Ferrè and Moschino, and cutting-edge Fashion Designers, such as Carol Christian Poell. While her core activity revolves around patternmaking, tailoring and dressmaking, she is devoted to textile manipulation and artisanal experimentation, like embroidery, needlecraft and beading to create samples and collections. For the last ten years, she has also been involved in higher education.

Alba Solaro

Alba Solaro
She started her career as Journalist in 1981, writing for L'Unità and indipendent publications. In 2000, she became Senior Editor of the website KwMusica, as part of Kataweb portal. She took actively part in the process of rethinking and redesigning the new Marie Claire. Other journalistic collaborations include among others Il Mattino di Napoli and Io Donna. She has also worked for television and radio as Editor and Author.

Alessandro Turci

Alessandro Turci
Fashion Designer and Art Director for important international Fashion Houses as Luciano Soprani, Allegri, Les Copains, Luciano Barbera, Solleciti Fur. Personal Website. Art Curator and president of the cultural association Risekult based in Milan, publisher and art director of Risekult Art Book publication for collectors about contemporary art.

Serena Toffetti

Serena Toffetti
Lecturer, Fashion Consultant and Trend Forecaster. Founder and Art Director of itcouldbemine.com. Member of the editorial team of HAUTE FOOD, distributed throughout Europe, Japan and U.S.A. Among her clients: Miu Miu, Stella Mccartney, Maison Margiela, Antonio Marras, Proenza Schouler, Msgm and others. She also worked and published for independent magazines as a freelance stylist and photographer.

Rachel Dobson

Rachel Dobson
Textile Designer, after graduating in Fashion & Textiles at Middlesex University in London and a BA Degree in Textile Design at Heriot Watt University in Scotland, she has worked for several British companies. In 1990 she moved to Italy and started collaborating as Designer for textile manufacturing companies, following textile collections for Italian and American big brands. Since 2003 she has been working for her own studio in innovative textile design and textile consulting.

Francesco Casolo

Francesco Casolo
He has been writing for cinema for many years, among his most successful works and collaborations: I resilienti, documentary film awarded at Lampedusa film festival and selected at the Beirut International Film Festival and Cutting the grey parts, Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival. He works as Editor and Ghost Writer for RCS-Rizzoli Media Group and magazines.

Maria Paola Gattermayer

Maria Paola Gattermayer
Founder of the studio Malvezzi Guandalini & Gattermayer Associati, which manages communication, marketing and PR projects and activities. Previously she has been Media Manager in LEGA Leonelli & Gatti, agency in Milan, where she became also General Manager and lately Partner and Sole Administrator.

Umberto Sannino

Umberto Sannino
He started his career working in the style offices of important Maisons, such as Ballantyne and Costume National. Currently, he is Head of Design at Redemption and he collaborates as Stylist for several freelance projects. He collaborates with Moda Operandi and Ermenegildo Zegna. He is Associate Creative Director for The Greatest Magazine, Consultant for Taschen and Art Director for Noplace Magazine. 

Angelo Montanini

Angelo Montanini
He is an internationally renowned Illustrator who boasts amongst his collaborations important publishing houses such as Rusconi, Mondadori, Longanesi and Editrice Nord. Since the 80s, he has been dealing with illustration-related training in the fashion becoming one of the major experts of the area.

Luca Minora

Luca Minora
Graduated with a Degree in Fashion Design, he started working as tailor for men and women’s collections for Costume National and C’N’C, both in Milan and Paris. He currently works as a Freelance tailor and patternmaker and he is periodically involved in the production and fitting of fashion show garments for various fashion designers and maisons during Milan and Paris fashion weeks.

Luciano Parisi

Luciano Parisi
Doctor of Political Science - International Relations, Cool Hunter by nature, Designer by vocation, enthusiastic teacher and mentor at IED Moda, he is specialized in Urbanwear design and since 2012 he has been Creative Director of the brand THESIGN.

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