Fashion as Design.

Understanding what we wear.and why it matters.

Among all forms of design, clothing is the most universal and personal. Everyone, everywhere, wears something.whether it’s a full outfit or simply a symbolic mark like a tattoo. Like other design disciplines, fashion is driven by tensions: between function and form, automation and craft, standardization and customization, mass appeal and personal identity, pragmatism and idealism. Clothing serves others, but it also reflects ourselves. Its impact reaches far beyond the surface.touching on social, political, economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions.

The Museum of Modern Art’s first major examination of fashion took place in 1944 with Are Clothes Modern? , an exhibition by architect and curator Bernard Rudofsky that invited viewers to question the meaning and purpose of what they wear. Decades later, that same question remains relevant. Fashion as Design and the 2017 exhibition Items: Is Fashion Modern? revisit and expand that inquiry.shifting the lens from the individual to the collective, from what clothing is to what it can become.

This course focuses on a curated selection of garments from around the globe, from traditional kente cloth to blue jeans to experimental 3D-printed dresses. Through these case studies, we examine how clothing is made, worn, and understood.technically, culturally, and symbolically. Each week, course instructors will introduce key themes and questions, supported by insights from designers, makers, historians, and innovators who are reshaping fashion today.

Through studio visits, interviews, visual resources, and historical context, Fashion as Design explores how garments evolve over time and what they reveal about the world around us.and within us.