The contents of the Master's course integrate different disciplinary fields representing the areas of knowledge and expertise that enable the understanding and management of fashion accessory development processes, with a particular focus on the design phase.
The Master’s includes 720 hours of classroom training and a concluding internship of at least 480 hours. It is structured into 5 training units: Tools & Warm-up, Fashion Pillars, Fashion Processes, Fashion Practices, and Curiosity. The objective is to accompany the student in the progressive knowledge of the sector and the key processes that characterize the professional profiles.
The training activities are organized in modules with lecturers from different subject areas able to provide a complete picture of the structure and functioning of the sector. They include a theoretical training part and a large space dedicated to practical and applicative activities with the aim of transferring methods, techniques, and concrete working tools.
Warm-up & Tools: acquiring a basic vocabulary
The training unit includes 400 hours dedicated to creating, in the participants, the homogeneity of knowledge necessary for the subsequent learning phases. The lessons envisaged allow students, according to their backgrounds, to fill in some basic gaps in the areas of the use of design software, as well as to deepen their knowledge of the introduction to the Fashion System from a sociological and research point of view.
Modelling Tools
The module includes 42 hours dedicated to the teaching of modeling and rendering
tools. The teaching aims to foster knowledge of the main modeling software in the fashion field with particular attention to aesthetics and the rules of photo-realistic representation.
3D for Fashion and Immersive Reality Tools
The teaching plan is spread over 20 hours and is aimed at introducing to the main software’s for 3D and immersive reality, filling the gap between physical & digital creation through a contemporary narrative, acquiring its potential through lectures and exercise.
Fashion Graphics Tools
The teaching plan is spread over 20 hours and is oriented towards the use of visual languages, tools and techniques for the representation of the design in the RTW and accessory field. The module will be divided into lessons dedicated to graphics, through the use of software such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Indesign, and lessons on video-making.
Fashion Pillars: getting to know the structure of the fashion sector and working tools
The training unit provides 140 hours dedicated to getting to know the structure of the fashion sector, the companies that characterise it, the different organisational models, business strategies and types of materials and products. It also aims to transfer techniques and operational tools for planning and organising activities and for investigating and processing qualitative and quantitative market data.
In the 140 hours planned in Fashion Pillars we will talk about:
Project Management
The aim of the Project Management for Fashion course is to provide students with the basic methodologies of Activity and Process Management (Planning, Timing, Objectives, Resources, Responsibilities, Output, Cost/Benefit Ratio) applicable to the different types of projects characteristic of the Fashion sector (Brand and Product Area, Retail and Commercial Area, Research and Communication Area). The contents on methodologies and tools will be flanked by organisational contents (characteristics of the project manager, team motivation, project marketing) that allow them to be correctly contextualised in the company.
Fashion Business Models
The course aims to present an overview of the different Business Models within the Fashion and Luxury industries, from a strategic perspective on Luxury Brands, Design Brands, Industrial and Commercial Brands, to the management of positioning in the fashion industry and the different approaches to creativity management, from stylistic identity to different product strategies. The course will focus on the levers that companies can implement differently in terms of communication, image and commercial identity.
Research Methods & Trends
The course aims to offer a broad view of the different research methods and tools useful for investigating fashion markets and consumers. Metaproject research and trend research: the processes, tools and artefacts that characterise fashion design research (blue sky research, visual research, product research). Tools and phases of research: from brainstorming to collection concept. Socio-cultural and scenario research through coolhunting: the methods of socio-cultural investigation (social research, desk research, coolhunting). Tools and phases of the investigation: from brief to report. Actors in trend analysis: fashion companies, research agencies, freelancers. Qualitative and Quantitative Marketing Research: desk and field analysis (focus groups, surveys, customer insights from online communities). Difference between using primary and secondary data. Difference between exploratory and confirmatory marketing research. Then an overview and explanation of the main trends, their dissemination processes, contents and forecasts will be introduced, focusing on both fashion and non-fashion related industries.
Italian Fashion System
The course aims to provide an initial general overview of the fashion sector (fashion supply chain, key players in the fashion system, seasonal cycles) and of the model-types of behaviour of fashion companies (product, market, production, communication strategies), with particular emphasis on the relationships between creative and managerial processes. In addition, the main operating models of the sector will be examined in depth, also in relation to the different market positioning of the product: the planned model, the ready-to-wear fashion model, the continuous product model, hybrid models. Particular attention will be devoted to the acquisition of an initial vocabulary specific to the sector, characterised by its own terminologies and languages, the mastery of which is fundamental for beginning to acquire knowledge and understanding.
Fashion Marketing & Brand Management
The Fashion Marketing & Brand Management course aims to introduce students to the main marketing techniques in the fashion field and to the framing of the process of formulating, implementing and monitoring brand identity and positioning. This process identifies two different but connected areas of application: the first aims at the knowledge of the structure and guidelines from which 'brand sensitive' operational marketing processes are derived; the second aims at the direct management of brands as intangible strategic resources, which are connected to specific management processes. The course has been formulated within three different but related areas of application: brand management and design as an intangible resource; the structure and guidelines for operational processes; and the sociological perspective of the brand.
Fashion History
From modernism, celebrating art and fashion, to the third millennium, the course aims to provide a historical overview through the main transformations of fashion. Specifically: the "roaring twenties"; art Deco and the aesthetics of the machine; the emergence of "couturier" women: Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel; cinema and Hollywood fashion in the 1930s; 1950 and Existentialism; 1960: Optimism, 'pop' art and London street fashion; the 1970s: punk and anti-fashion on the streets of London; the 1980s and fashion pluralism; 1990s; postmodernism, and globalisation in the third millennium.
Digital Fashion
The module is oriented toward the content and strategic design of the most innovative communication and distribution web channels, aimed at business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and consumer-to-consumer relations (social networks, e-commerce, social shopping). It also provides knowledge and skills for the use of web 2.0 and 3.0 resources, which make it possible to reorient fashion communication, traditionally operating according to a top-down model, towards the use of bottom-up and peer-to-peer models. Particular emphasis will be placed on innovative tools for the management of online-offline integration.
Fashion Processes: knowing how to design & manage RTW collections & the creation processes
The training unit provides 25 hours dedicated to the main processes of collection design and fashion
product creation, from trends & scenarios to collection line building and brand identity promotion & styling, up to the product design: RTW, athleisure, conscious design, accessory design & leather goods, streetwear, and tailoring.
Fashion Processes will be articulated into 2 dimensions:
Fashion Collection
Here you will learn how to design a collection, as a Specialist Designer, across all the different phases of the design process, through these courses.
Collection Design: Trends, Scenarios And Cmf Design, to master the research & scenarios development phases, the starting point of every collection, across the different variables of innovation: color, materials and finishing for developing an integrated system.
Collection Design: Fibers, Materials, And Technology, an overview of materials and their uses. Technological developments and innovation have made available a range of fabrics commonly used for clothing: from fibres to yarn, leather, and accessory materials. Students become aware of the various stages of textile processing and preparation of fabrics.
Collection Design: Line Building, Mainline, Capsules & Specials, to understand the collection development process and how to build and present product lines for identified target markets with specific market goals. You will learn how to translate brand codes into a coherent system, according to several variables: styling, assortments, timing, and integrating real case studies from fashion & luxury brands.
Collection Design: Styling & Presentation, to master the art & science of how to properly present a collection to your audience and visually impactful presentations, coherently with your brand.
Fashion Design
The breeding ground for creativity, whereby the development work will result in real products. Following the principles of project methodology, the courses will be organized in the form of short sequential design workshops, each of which is dedicated to a different product, starting from Italian Fashion and RTW brands. Here, you will discover the different phases for each of them: the brief launch, research, concept development, design, prototyping, and presentation.
Fashion Design: Rtw Design, to introduce into the world of Italian fashion, starting from the most important and innovative segment: ready-to-wear and its specificities (materials, finishing, timing and the relation product-creative concept-market).
Fahion Design: Athleisure Design, to introduce the hybridization between function, leisure, and luxury, and conceive concepts that combine fashion and functionality, technical and high-end materials for contemporary design.
Fashion Conscious Design, discovering how to develop a sustainable product, starting from a holistic view of processes, materials, and accessories, up to the lifecycle of the product.
Fashion Design: Accessory Design & Leathergoods. Accessory is Essential. Exploring the main product categories, between ornament and functionality, from materials, to research to a creative vision, in a consistent way with RTW collection.
Fashion Design: Streetwear Design, to introduce into the design process, from conception to production, understanding streetwear and luxury cues, and re-segmentation of traditional boundaries, combining conceptual, creative, and strategic thinking.
Fashion Design: Tailoring & Made In Italy, the in-depth specialized seminar for understanding the uniqueness of the ‘Made in Italy’ design process: from specification to application techniques and the ‘Italian touch of attention to detail.
Curiosity
The module will be divided into a series of seminars with the aim of providing a broad view of the socio-cultural evolution of fashion, with some important interdisciplinary insights on the main Italian brands. Particular attention will also be devoted to some significant contemporary phenomena such as the spread of global trends, the hybridisation of styles, the emergence of new forms of production and sustainable consumption styles, and the success of new communication methods linked to new media.
Field Projects
The meta-project will connect all the dots. In partnership with the most important Fashion & Luxury brands, it will last four weeks full-time, coordinated by a multidisciplinary team of lecturers. It will consist of the preparation of a project on a real case study provided by leading companies directly involved by the faculty in the teaching experimentation. Starting from the project brief provided by the brand, teams will work on the realization of a proposal that provides feasible answers to the objectives defined by the company. The projects will be discussed by a committee of experts and representatives of the companies involved.
Empowerment & Career Management: Portfolio & Exhib Design
To know and master the most effective techniques to communicate your creative vision, your projects and your expertise, and to portray your skills into your future. The module aims to provide the technical skills for the creation of professional portfolios and ways of self-branding. From self-assessing and presenting your works, you will enhance your soft skills too. . The final output will be a collection of the work realized during the Master, supported with lectures, exercises, and revisions, editing and presentations.
Entrepreneurship & Start-Up Planning
This course is aimed at introducing Students to the issues related to the process of starting a new venture, and to the understanding of the main “building blocks” that are needed in order to create a startup and a realistic business planning process: from the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities, to the analysis tools, strategy and positioning formulation, business model definition, financing definition and economic projections, up to the final “elevator’s pitch”. Overall, the course is focused on the “lean” principles, and its outcomes in terms of maximizing value creation.
Courses include lectures, exercise sessions and final exams.
Empowerment & Career Management: Professional Development
The module is aimed at providing the necessary skills to deal with company selection processes, both in internship and job market placement contexts. During the module, students will be put in contact both with Head Hunters specialised in the fashion and design sectors, and with the selection managers of the most important and significant companies operating in the fashion sector, in order both to understand the dynamics of selection and to enhance their professional profile.
Internship
The internship is one of the most qualifying experiences of the Master's course; coordinated by the Director of the Master's course, it consists in experimenting, in a corporate context, the skills learnt during the Master's course, on the basis of a training project collegially agreed upon by Milano Fashion Institute and the host company.
Italian Language
The module is aimed at introducing the Italian language to international students. The teaching objective is the understanding of the most common ways of interaction and communication, both in everyday life and in the professional context. The students will be divided into two parallel courses, after having taken a preliminary assessment test to identify their starting level of knowledge of the language:
Intermediate level Italian B1, designed to provide students with the necessary skills to sustain a job interview in Italian, to introduce the basic vocabulary of the fashion industry and to be able to work correctly in an Italian work environment.
