Program Overview

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Master of Arts in Fashion

The Master of Arts in Fashion is the only graduate program of its kind in Canada. It's an interdisciplinary program, and we encourage applicants to apply from academic backgrounds in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, design, and business. This program does not require prior fashion industry knowledge.

Degree Earned

• Master of Arts

Program Format

• Full-time
• 2 years
• 5 terms

Curriculum & Courses

Our MA Fashion program takes a critically informed approach to fashion studies by examining the broader social, cultural, and economic implications of the production, promotion, and consumption of fashion. Throughout the program, students develop advanced research skills and work closely with subject matter experts to complete a written or creative Major Research Project (MRP). The MA degree is earned after the completion of coursework and the MRP.

Curriculum

Year 1

Fall Term

• FS 8000 Graduate Seminar
• FS 8001 Research Methods
• FS 8002 Theory/History Seminar I
• Choice of 1 Elective

Winter Term

• FS 8000 Graduate Seminar
• FS 8003 Theory/History Seminar II
• FS 8004 Studio Workshop I
• Choice of 1 Elective

Spring/Summer Term

• MRP proposal due in May
• Possibility of elective or internship

Year 2

Fall Term

• Choice of 2 Electives
• A total of 4 electives is required to meet program requirements.

Winter Term

• Master's Research/Creative Project (MRP)

Course List

Required Courses

• Master's Research/Creative Project | Milestone
• FS8000 | Graduate Seminar | 1
• FS8001 | Research Methods | 1
• FS8002 | Theory/History Seminar I | 1
• FS8003 | Theory/History Seminar II | 1
• FS8004 | Studio Workshop I | 1
• AND 4 elective credits | 4

Electives

• FS8006 | Internship | 1
• FS8101 | Digital Studio | 1
• FS8102 | Fashion Entrepreneurship | 1
• FS8103 | Globalization and Fashion | 1
• FS8104 | Interactive Media | 1
• FS8105 | Sustainable Fashion and Design | 1
• FS8106 | Fashion and Race | 1
• FS8107 | The Fashioned Body | 1
• FS8108 | Fashion and Popular Culture | 1
• FS8109 | Art in Fashion | 1
• FS8110 | Critical Diversity in Fashion | 1
• FS8111 | Special Topics Fashion Studies | 1
• FS8112 | Directed Studies in Fashion | 1
• FS8113 | Avant-Garde Fashion | 1
• Restricted electives - Students may select up to two of these electives
  • FS8202 | Creativity in Design | 1
  • FS8203 | Curation and Exhibition | 1
  • FS8205 | Human Centered Design | 1

Course Descriptions

Master's Research/Creative Project

Students will research and develop solutions to issues in their chosen area of specialization as identified and explored in the First Year of the program. In consultation with faculty advisors, they may choose to develop a major paper on their topic or develop a creative project with a written component. This would relate to fashion, including: design, communication, technology, presentation, curation, history and theory, management, and new venture development. This is a Milestone. Pass/Fail

FS8000 Graduate Seminar

This seminar series covers topics related to graduate study and professional practice, including: student/supervisory relationships; research plans; internships; library research strategies/citations; writing academic abstracts; research/grant proposals; ethics protocols; participating at academic conferences; creating oral presentations and posters; developing your resume/career plan; utilizing blogs, social media and personal branding to translate your academic degree into industry practice. Pass/Fail 1 Credit.

FS8001 Research Methods

Students will be introduced to the theories, methodologies, and methods that take into account creative, humanities-based, and social scientific perspectives. A second goal of the course will be to familiarize students with the research and information gathering process, with the use of library and library resources, electronic and online research, and creative and unusual research strategies. The third goal is to provide an introduction to the art of project design and the writing of proposals. 1 Credit

FS8002 Theory /History Seminar I

This course introduces students to key issues in the development of the fashion system. Emphasis will be placed on studying the histories and theories of dress from the middle ages to the present, examining specific case studies and situating debates in their historical context. Taking into account developments in the production and consumption of dress, focus will be on the signifying systems through which dress attains social meaning, considering factors such as gender, social class, and cultural relations through trade. Students will critically assess and present readings in class, as well as complete assignments to increase their understanding of the factors and historical processes at work behind the fashion system in the West. 1 Credit

FS8003 Theory /History Seminar II

This course continues the study of critical debates and classic theories concerning the fashion system. Emphasis will be placed on developing analytical approaches to contemporary fashion, media, and consumption while situating debates in their historical context. Discussions may include theories such as: production, marketing, and wearing of dress, gender, social class, sustainability as well as the visual and material cultures of clothing. Students will critically assess articles and current fashion events in the city, and will complete assignments designed to develop a solid understanding of current debates in the history and theory of fashion. 1 Credit

FS8004 Studio Workshop I

The Studio Workshop module focuses on the relationship between creative practice and academic theory and research. The course aims to challenge assumptions related to the production of knowledge and creativity. Emphasis is placed on exploration, the creative process, and questioning disciplinary boundaries. Topics related to cultural and creative industries are discussed in relation to creative work and labour. Students have the opportunity to engage with academic theory and research through various practices including, but not limited to, apparel design, communication design, video, interactive media, performance, textile design, craft, and community engagement projects. 1 Credit

FS8006 Internship

Internship possibilities include working in publishing, theatre, fashion television; medicine, space and sports garment development; new media, gaming, inter-active and virtual run-way design; museums, galleries, special collections, conservation; brand development as well as opportunities in manufacturing and branding. The Internship will include a seminar to develop and evaluate the individual internship plans. Pass/Fail. 1 Credit

FS8101 Digital Studio

In this project-based workshop, students will creatively explore various aspects of digital design. Though students will work largely independently, researching their own specific areas of interest, they will benefit from the guidance of faculty and present this work in class as it develops. Students will critique each other's work, and guest designers/researchers will focus the discussions towards theoretical, creative, and practical considerations. It is expected that this multi-disciplinary approach will allow for interesting collaborations between students from a variety of backgrounds. 1 Credit

FS8102 Fashion Entrepreneurship

This course explores a variety of theoretical perspectives of entrepreneurship such as the social and economic function of entrepreneurs, cognitive and psychological aspects of entrepreneurs, and the new venture creation process as applied to the fashion industry. Students will have the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurs in the international and Canadian fashion industry by means of case studies, articles, seminars, and presentations. Students will write a research paper based on entrepreneurship theories and interviews with fashion entrepreneurs. 1 Credit

FS8103 Globalization and Fashion

Increasingly, the fashion world is perceived to be global in scale; apparel design, production, and marketing are carried out on a transnational scale, and the language of fashion increasingly references the 'global' village, drawing on a variety of international and 'ethnic' design details and approaches. What are the implications and lived realities of this global fashion system? This course will examine theories and narratives of globalization in light of business practices, fashion communication technologies, and outlets, and the growing attention to the formation, cultivation, preservation, and at times, exploitation of community and cultural values. 1 Credit

FS8104 Interactive Media

Increasingly, designers are using new media and interactive designs to express the concepts and ideas that inform fashion. This course works towards an understanding of interactive theory and explores emerging technologies including web designs, video, sound, installation, wearable technology, and additional emerging media related to fashion. 1 Credit.

FS8105 Sustainable Fashion and Design

The ethics and sustainability of design practices are coming under increasing scrutiny. Fashion, with its rapid cycles of production and consumption, is central to these debates. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, this course considers the historical trajectory of issues including mechanization, labour practices, and human health in the textile and garment industries. With this context in mind, students then engage in debates over current and pressing problems such as the environmental impact of textiles, recycling, sustainability, and labour markets. Students will produce a research paper or other approved creative project related to a specific topic covered in the course. 1 Credit

FS8106 Fashion and Race

This course will investigate the ways in which fashioned identities emerge within a racialized context in an effort to gain access, visibility, and power–bridging key concepts in fashion studies with foundations in critical race theory, as well as methodologies from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, art history, and material culture. Discussions and exercises will address topics such as: Historicizing the Western beauty canon; cultural appropriation; and how the business of fashion grapples with race. 1 Credit

FS8107 The Fashioned Body

This course will address the historical and contemporary framing of the human form in Western culture, focusing specifically on the centrality of the body in the fashion systems of the past, present, and future. Various theoretical approaches will examine the role and function of the body in a variety of contexts - from the marketing and imaging of bodies in the fashion industry, to a consideration of dress as a material form of cultural meaning and communication that is reliant on social ideologies of the body. 1 Credit

FS8108 Fashion and Popular Culture

The study of Fashion and Popular Culture draws on a wide variety of critical theoretical frameworks and examines a multitude of forms of cultural expression. This course looks at fashion across a diverse range of analog and digital media, including: literary texts, film, television, comics, music, advertising, sport, publishing, and social media. Students will explore how these texts are produced, disseminated, interpreted, and mobilized through the lens of communications and cultural studies approaches. 1 Credit

FS8109 Art in Fashion

This course covers the complex and interrelated histories of art and fashion from the Eighteenth century to the present. Topics covered include: fashion and portraiture during the Romantic period; Pre-Raphaelite dress and nineteenth-century Aestheticism; Impressionism and the fashioning of modernity; Symbolism and the sartorial styles of the Fin de Siècle; twentieth-century avant-garde movements; and Postmodernism and contemporary clothing culture. 1 Credit

FS8110 Critical Diversity in Fashion

This seminar course explores the construction, negotiation, and subversion of identity and difference through the production and consumption of fashion. We begin by exploring interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives on identity, diversity, and inclusion. We then critically examine how people from various categories of identity—such as size, race, disability, gender, and sexuality—experience, challenge, and re-imagine fashion through fashion media and dress. 1 Credit

FS8111 Special Topics Fashion Studies

An advanced level seminar/studio course on topics to be determined. Program faculty members propose limited duration courses arising from major research projects or current issues. 1 Credit

FS8112 Directed Studies in Fashion

This course is for students who wish to gain knowledge in a specific area for which no graduate-level classes are available. Students who are approved to take the course are assigned a suitable class advisor most familiar with the proposed content. A program of supervised, advanced study related to the student's area of concentration will be negotiated on an individual basis with the supervising faculty member. 1 Credit.

FS8113 Avant-Garde Fashion

How do we free ourselves of limitations and conventions to generate emerging forms and concepts in fashion design? In the context of the rich history of Avant-Garde movements, this studio course takes on the challenge of creating design that expresses radical directions in aesthetics and intention. Through theoretical and practice-based methods, students engage with structured design problems to foster experimentation. Students explore alternative approaches to research-creation and criticality to reimagine and repurpose mundane items. 1 Credit

FS8202 Creativity in Design

This course will explore creativity in design, concentrating on research and process. Referencing material from a broad spectrum of sources while exploring various techniques to enhance creativity, such as brain-storming, intrinsic motivation, lateral thinking, and innovative forms of visualization, students will produce original work. Antirequisite: FSN 712. 1 Credit

FS8203 Curation and Exhibition

This studio course will allow students to work with the School's collection and others in order to learn sound curatorial practices. Students will have the opportunity to examine both private and public collections in order to curate small exhibitions and to develop catalogues which document, disseminate, and critique garments, materials, accessories, and designer's portfolios and other fashion-related material. Antirequisite: FSN 711. 1 Credit

FS8205 Human Centered Design

Prioritizes design solutions engineered for the specific needs of the end user by actively involving them in the needs analysis and prototype design/development processes. This course focuses on the research and design of specialized products, services, and environments for diverse target markets, specific demographics and ethnicities, health care, safety/protection, medical conditions, athletic activities, and for those individuals that are physically-challenged with an overall emphasis on design innovation. Antirequisite: FFD 510. 1 Credit

Research Support

Fashion Research Collection (FRC)

The Fashion Research Collection (FRC) contains 3000+ garments and accessories dating back to 1820. The Collection includes garments from Balenciaga, Dior, Valentino, Wayne Clarke, and more.

The Centre for Fashion & Systemic Change (CFSC)

The Centre for Fashion & Systemic Change (CFSC) supports research and knowledge exchange that cultivates inclusion, decolonization, and sustainability in the field of Fashion Studies and the fashion system more broadly.

Faculty Expertise

MA Candidates will have the opportunity to work closely with faculty members in the program. In the first year, at the start of the second semester, candidates are assigned a supervisor for their MRP based on their research and/or creative interests.

• Dr. Nigel Lezama
• Grahame Lynch
• Danielle Martin
• Dr. Alison Matthews David
• Joseph Medaglia
• Henry Navarro Delgado
• Robert Ott
• Osmud Rahman
• Colleen Schindler-Lynch
• Dr. Sandra Tullio-Pow
• Dr. Kimbery Wahl
• Dr. Tanya White