What does a degree mean in fashion design?
Before going into the main topic, I would like to point out that the time I am writing this is only three months after graduating from undergraduate school. Before writing an article stating that fashion research is urgent, the writer himself must confess that he has no research experience that would have been possible to write a thesis. In addition, this is to leave room for revision of opinions during the master and doctoral programs. It would be more correct to say that there is no reason not to modify it. Posting new thoughts and revisions will all be done on this article, although it may be somewhat inconvenient to read later, and the timing of each revision will also be recorded.
If I look back on it to correct the writing later, I am already dizzy at how embarrassed I will be, but I plan to write it down first, covering it with the freedom that merely students can try. I can't keep up with them, but people are still doing fashion research, and I believe that their number will grow over time. I hope to give confidence and comfort to those who want to 'study' fashion design. Sadness and anger may come rushing in, but I cannot take responsibility.
I would like to be of some help. Anger and confidence will be good driving forces.
Degree(noun): a course of study at a college or university, or the qualification given to a student after he or she has completed his or her studies
Source: Cambridge Dictionary
What is the study of fashion design? How many of those who chose the 'Fashion Design Department' entered with the will to study fashion design? There is only a difference in the euphemism of expression, but if there is one thing that those who have been to school have in common, the uselessness of fashion school and the resulting scepticism are underlying them. Students can't follow a person's practical knowledge who spends the same time in 'the field'. This is because education systems and industrial systems are different. After all, can a degree alone prove anything in this industry? Does the time you spend in college, where you come to the university with the desire to do something with clothes because you like clothes too much, becomes meaningless the moment you put into the scene where the things you so longed for are happening?
Of course not.
In the 1980s, art schools worldwide started to create fashion faculties, and after that, students gained confidence by trying to break away from the existing conventions of clothing design. As this phenomenon continued, new fashion production, presentation, and promotion methods began to emerge.*
Source: Jeppe Ugelvig, 『Fashion Work 1993–2018 25 Years of Fashion Art』, Dada Service (2022), p.61
*The writer, Muyo Park retranslated arbitrarily the South Korean version published by Dada-Service Publishing; The English used in this article is different from the original text(English version by Damiani).
Clothes that only you can understand, where it is difficult to explain where to start when shown to friends who are not interested in fashion, have pioneered new designs. The experimental techniques that students have performed at school expand the realm of how far fashion design is possible. Therefore, the time between the field of industry and education is simply different, but it cannot be said that there is a difference in density hastily.
However, it is still a mystery whether these meaningful hours must be spent at school. It is because the role of educational institutions in this practical study of students is questionable beyond mere periodic feedback on the work of individual students. Also, most importantly, the question arises whether students want these roles — expanding the realm of fashion design. Regardless of their thesis or degree, even if they are smaller than dust, those who widen the limits set by the industry will be researchers. However, it is time to ask whether students stay in school because they want researchers in this industry.
In other words, a fashion school is an institution that is meaningful only when the need for its research and performance is premised, but it is challenging to be sure that it is so for those who have entered this major. It is difficult to determine whether meaningful education and research can be expected from education institutions as much as time and money have been invested. In fact, it is also true that students have doubts about the effectiveness of universities compared to the past. Such doubts about fashion schools also apply to studying abroad.
Since the fashion industry has developed centred on the West in the past, and famous fashion schools are concentrated in a few specific countries, studying abroad has taken a large part in fashion education. There was a time when it was almost essential to accept Western education from the undergraduate level (or even before that) if you had the money and time. In addition, there was a market only in the West that could satisfy the eye level of students who had that much interest in the fashion industry.
Under these circumstances, fashion schools not only functioned as educational and research institutes but also acted as a forward base for international students to safely belong to and build their skills before settling in other countries. However, as this geographical asymmetry in the fashion industry disappeared, questions began to arise about the necessity of overseas fashion schools. If that 'adequate field' exists in the country and the country's fashion industry is growing day by day, there is no reason to use an overseas school as a base camp.
Of course, studying abroad literally takes place in a new site, so we cannot deny the possibility of new opportunities and new people. And the remaining asymmetry cannot be ignored. However, it is tough to calculate the opportunity cost because the time and expense that must be put in during the balancing have not been reduced. Maybe it's time to focus on the essence. After all, you get a student visa, and you are a student. What can you expect as a student?
A student can also expect to be affiliated with an educational institution, develop their practical research for a guaranteed period, critically look at the industry from outside the field, and explore new discourses. Unfortunately, we must first examine whether contemporary discourses are being proposed throughout the industry for this to happen. The scale of the industry is getting bigger day by day, so is a critical approach to it being done enough? In the past, clothes were only a consumer staple, but they are a consumer discretionary in today's society. Even clothes as luxury goods are growing in size. This explains why people do not spend that much on clothes, and this industry does not simply run.
In other words, fashion is not just a tool that can project individual tastes but has become a large vessel that contains contemporary itself. However, it is questionable whether the academic infrastructure in this industry is well established to follow such changes. Are the 'Fashion Design Department' and 'Clothing Department' a place where you can have an academic approach to fashion? At least from my shallow direct and indirect experience, I feel like I am focusing on education related to the production of clothes, business operations, and various other practical knowledge.
Obviously, it can be seen that trying to find a balance with these elements while expanding the limits of design is also at the forefront of this industry. But can't we go any further? Can't we expect programs that can deal with the social role of fashion or social phenomena related to fashion? A new design that deviates from the conventions and practical knowledge and skill training is good. Still, processes seem that allows you to focus too much on yourself rather than looking at the times and society. Whatever the demand for the program, shouldn't there be at least some room for academic access?
Of course, it is not easy to focus on research at a university or college in an era where we live in an age where we are all sorry if we do not major in STEM. Instead, fashion research seems to be active from other majors such as film, literature, and sociology to achieve more diverse approaches. Moreover, in the case of fashion design, which exists somewhere between project planning and art and seems to have to focus on practical work.
There will undoubtedly be attempts to constantly criticize and infuse new discourses on the problems and phenomena of this industry outside of the school. However, research is necessary for the industry to move in a constructive direction, and fashion schools should take the responsibility to carry out research continuously.
Indeed, 'researching' fashion in the current system feels like wandering in the forest without a smartphone or a compass. It is true that more and more, doubts take precedence over hope for the future. Even so, the situation of the designers we admired would have been worse than now. Designers who are talked about until now are people who pushed their limits and practised fashion that did not exist.
That is why, to doubt the fashion itself, it is the path that they and we have all chosen individually. And even going to college to learn more about fashion design is our decision. Because this industry only provides an illusion and never guarantees anything. A degree in this major has never secured a stable and balanced job or a certain income level. This industry has caused so many problems as we have been blindly chasing fantasies that seem impossible to reach together. We can no longer broaden our limits. Now is the time to redefine the role of fashion schools and degrees.
