The Future of Fashion Education

Book excerpt: Fashion education is changing. Not only is it preparing students for induction into the ethos and business practices of a wide variety of design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, retailing, and promotional activities, it is also offering understanding and empowerment for meeting the challenges of sustainability, decolonisation, and new business models. This book presents 20 essays by cosmopolitan thinkers, activists, and designers to explore new challenges and potentials for fashion education. The chapters comprise case studies, manifestos, and detailed analyses of the realpolitik of collaborating across continents and more sustained overviews of the imminent crises and prospective challenges that face practitioners. Recurring themes include the geopolitics of globalisation, the imbalances between North and South, decolonisation, intersectionality, exploitation, cultural appropriation, and social justice. The thought-provoking contributions show that, although we confront a common challenge in shaping the future of education, we have varied approaches and opportunities to address a transforming industry. This edited collection addresses the issues of greatest concern to students, designers, lecturers and researchers in fashion and allied fields of creative design and as such will find a varied audience.