Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Offered both in New York City and at Parsons Paris, the 42-credit program challenges students to explore the interdisciplinary theories and methodologies that have shaped fashion studies and to contribute to the advancement of the field. Core and elective courses open up broad perspectives on fashion and its connections with design, production, consumption, imagination, representation, embodiment, and identity. Informed by perspectives from a variety of disciplines, courses examine material from art and design history, gender studies, visual studies, film and media studies, anthropology, sociology, and material culture studies. In addition to a broader study, MA Fashion Studies offers two pathways, in fashion curation and fashion journalism, enabling students to gain a deeper knowledge of fashion curation and archival practice or fashion journalism through a series of electives offered by the program and throughout The New School. Interested students can also explore paths throughout the university by completing the Graduate Certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS), designed to promote intellectual collaboration on issues of gender and sexuality in a variety of disciplines.
At Home in New York
The program draws on New York City’s museums, exhibitions, and public events. The curriculum also calls for students to observe streets, neighborhoods, and retail environments critical to the fashion system. The program sponsors public events, panels, and symposia such as “Fashion Criticism” and “Fashion Curation.” Student-led projects, like the journal BIAS, offer students opportunities to publish work and collaborate with MA Fashion Studies peers.
Access to Fashion
Students complete internships at fashion magazines, museums, and fashion companies including Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, V Magazine, the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Diane von Furstenberg, Comme des Garçons, Ralph Lauren, Halston, and Hermès. Students have the opportunity to spend a second-year semester at Parsons Paris, where they have direct access to some of the most prominent fashion and textiles collections in France through the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Musée Galleria, and the Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.
Varied Career Paths
MA Fashion Studies graduates have gone on to pursue PhD degrees at top universities around the world; others work at top fashion media companies and publishing houses, including Rizzoli Publishing, Vogue, W, Nylon, I-D, and InStyle. Some graduates are actively involved in teaching in higher education, while others work in institutions such as the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and as archivists, consultants, researchers, merchandisers, buyers, and public relations professionals in fashion houses and at corporations such as Alexander Wang, Gucci, J.Crew, and Louis Vuitton.
Future Opportunities
Graduates pursue careers in fashion archiving and curation, museum administration, journalism, media and consulting, criticism, and academia.