Fashion Education: Learning and Teaching Fashion in Theory and Practice

Renate Stauss (Communication, Media, and Culture): Fashion Education Digital Multilogue / International Conference: ‘Fashion Education: Learning and Teaching Fashion in Theory and Practice’   

Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education provided a platform for an essential exchange about learning and teaching fashion. As a blend of short provocations, small-scale interactive workshops, a panel discussion and a student exhibition it is curated as a virtual space to connect, converse and collaborate. This event was aimed at fostering a global dialogue, collaborations and curriculum development within fashion education. Questions of digital learning and teaching methods and fashion education within a digital age are central to the event, particularly as the field of fashion has undergone significant changes in recent decades due to processes of globalisation, marketisation and digitisation. Moreover, the decolonisation and dehierarchisation of fashion education are of urgent concern, which call for cross-institutional and cross-cultural exchange and collaboration. Apart from short provocations by our conference board members and a panel discussion, 18 workshops formed the heart of the Multilogue. Facilitated by two fashion educators each, they cover a wide range of subjects. These 90-minute workshops for 10 participants each, provided a unique opportunity for fashion educators to work together on current issues in fashion education and develop curriculum and collaborations. Students from AUP joined these workshops. With this event AUP drew attention to its study programmes and created international collaborative possibilities. In the run up to the on-site, in-person conference next year, the event created an important momentum for AUP’s expanding role within fashion education. In order to develop this momentum further, a fashion education podcast was launched and the conference website was expanded throughout the year. https://www.aup.edu/fashion-education.