Bachelor of Fine Arts - Fashion + Sustainability Course Outline

The Whitecliffe Fashion + Sustainability pathway focuses on sustainable and ethical practices and encourages students to challenge the traditional boundaries of fashion, elevating the craft of making and fostering creativity to develop high levels of experimentation and technical skills and an understanding of fashion's environmental and social impact.

The Fashion + Sustainability pathway embeds sustainable and ethical practices within a strong focus on research informing innovative design development. Industry-targeted workshops include Pattern Drafting and Garment Construction, Design and Concept Development, Fabric Manipulation, Tailoring, and Entrepreneurship. Studio Practice is complemented by courses in Fashion and Sustainability, Fashion History and Theory, Fashion Illustration, Illustrator for Fashion, and Natural Dyeing. Classes are small and provide a nurturing environment with a strong focus on individual students and fostering their unique vision.

Students design and develop conceptually-based collections that reflect a personal design aesthetic and produce a professional Lookbook for their graduation portfolio.

Fashion + Sustainability students who continue into a postgraduate BFA Honours year specialising in Fashion + Sustainability, work independently on a conceptually-based sustainable fashion project that reflects original thinking, rigorous research, design innovation, design, and sustainable fashion theory, and executed to a high professional standard.

Industry professionals provide invaluable feedback during individual student critique sessions and are regularly invited to lecture on industry topics. BFA graduates with a Fashion + Sustainability pathway gain employment nationally as well as internationally as design assistants, patternmakers, sustainability consultants, workroom assistants, buyers and merchandisers, stylists, costumiers, and design educators as well as establishing their own brands.

 

Why choose Fashion + Sustainability at Whitecliffe?

• The Whitecliffe Fashion + Sustainability department has a strong focus on sustainability within the New Zealand and international fashion industry and students are encouraged to embrace innovative and sustainable fashion practices throughout their studies.

• Sustainability is part of an expanding branch within the fashion industry that focuses on social responsibility and environmental impact, the use of sustainable and organic materials, the disuse of harmful chemicals and dyes, and a reduction of textile waste. Whitecliffe students are given the opportunity to employ sustainable practices to address contemporary concerns within the industry and enhance their own design practice and become innovators within their field.

• Students and graduates win national and international awards and are supported and encouraged to enter competitions.

• We foster original thinking and individual design aesthetics. The educators at Whitecliffe are all practising designers and artists who provide an inspirational and professional learning environment.

• Students learn design research, concept development, fashion history and theory, illustration, and contemporary sustainable fashion practices to create innovative collections that reflect re-thinking and re-evaluating of fashion for a sustainable future.

• High professional standards of industry methodology are taught including patternmaking and garment construction, tailoring, and fabric manipulation.

• Whitecliffe offers modern and industrial equipment in a spacious studio with individual study spaces in Year Three and BFA Honours.

• Whitecliffe provides access to WGSN, a leading global fashion trend forecasting website, and EcoTextile, the environmental magazine for the global textile supply chain.

• Students intern at New Zealand Fashion Week, alongside designers and international buyers, and participate in internships within New Zealand and overseas.

• Industry specialists and business studies classes prepare students for the fashion industry. Visting designer critique sessions enrich their personal practice.

• Years Two, Three, and BFA Honours students showcase their collections in exhibitions, and at the prestigious annual Whitecliffe Fashion Show. BFA Honours students participate in a retail store Window Display Project, contextualising their decisions through visual merchandising methodology.