A fascination for the human body and the many facets of the medium of fashion, and an urge for radical innovation are essential traits for a fashion designer. Fashion does not operate inside a vacuum, and is no longer limited to clothing alone. It is an ever current and socially relevant phenomenon, a dynamic and multi-faceted artistic discipline that has for the last couple of decades increasingly been operating at the intersection with an international art scene. Since the era of the great couturiers, fashion designers are increasingly seen as visionary and pivotal figures in society. He or she is an artisan, a designer and a multidisciplinary artist all at once, and the interaction between these three poles makes up the unique quality of a fashion programme in the context of the visual arts. A student of fashion falls back on rich historical and cultural traditions, but is as eagerly focused on the latest developments as on this past. The study of fashion in different spatial and temporal contexts takes up an important place in the programme. This comparative perspective is crucial in the development of a personal innovative style. As a student of fashion at KASK, your ultimate goal is to present innovative avant-garde fashion that is a striking expression of its time.
The programme is organized around five basic clusters: three-dimensional design (with the human body as wearer as the central focus), craftsmanship, study of materials, (re)presentation, and theory and reflection. Each of these topics occasion research and experiment. The curriculum and assignments are devised to make you confront your own conceptions and frames of reference so that you can question, renew and expand these and develop your own personal and recognizable style.
The design studios are the core of the programme. Here you acquire experience as a fashion designer, always in an intensive dialogue and interaction with different instructors who guide and coach you, each falling back on their specific outlook and experience. The programme deliberately chooses to approach fashion as a creative art, offering you the opportunity to test the medium’s boundaries. We consider the formative processes of a design equally important as the finished product. The ethnic or historical references from art, architecture and culture in general are gradually replaced by sources of inspiration and methods of your own choice. This enables you to build an enduring foundation for your future work as a visual artist and designer.
The actual design practice is supported and enriched by theoretical courses of a general and fashion-related nature, and by a balanced cluster of courses that focus on the metier of design. All of these courses offer tools that are indispensable for a fashion designer. Study and experience yield insight in materials, pattern drawing, assembly and knitting techniques, and silkscreen and digital printing. Some unique features of our fashion programme are the integration of the fashion accessories course in the curriculum, and the presence of a professional shoe design studio. The studio introduces new disciplines in which technology, art and science come together, and you are offered the opportunity to participate in various projects in cooperation with leading companies, research centres and museums. If you opt for the master programme after attaining your bachelor’s degree, you also do an internship where you acquire knowledge and skills you can then apply in designing and professionally realizing a graduation collection.
Since fashion is a highly mediatized artistic discipline, the (re)presentation of your work is an essential part of your identity as a designer. Styling, design and anatomical drawing are key elements in this, as are photography and graphic design. By way of your own work you take up a deliberate position in the prevailing visual culture. The annual fashion event, Movement, is of course the apotheosis of your training.
