Under Graduate Diploma Programme - Fashion Design

Foundation - First Year Studies

"ISDI’s first-year course of study immerses students in an exploration of design and innovation concepts, skills and critical practices, training them to become flexible thinkers and lifelong learners." 

The curriculum offers a series of approaches to design and enables them to envision paths beyond the confines of a single discipline. Whether a student is interested in a traditional disciplinary area, a combination of creative and academic fields, or an exploratory approach to design, the first-year curriculum is designed to accommodate a variety of study paths. 

The curriculum constitutes a common experience for all incoming ISDI students, with the same set of first-year course requirements for students in all undergraduate programmes. Students shape their path of study within those requirements, selecting from the options available. The curriculum balances breadth and depth, integrates studio and liberal arts learning, and gives students flexibility in choosing how to reach their educational goals.

Classes focusing on broadly relevant design concepts, tools, and methods (including studios exploring 2D and 3D processes, drawing, and digital design as well as liberal arts seminars) bring together students who are passionate about all kinds of art and design and who will one day forge new paths in an array of disciplines. This interaction is a central aspect of the first-year experience. Today's classmates are tomorrow's colleagues. 

ISDI’s Foundation Year prepares students for life as skilled and socially responsible designers.

ISDI’s foundation year will include the following subject areas: 

• Drawing and Imaging

• Design Writing and Reading

• Art and Design Methodologies

• Design Research

• History of Objects

• Space and Materiality

• Societal Energy Sources and Sustainable Systems

Future Opportunities
On completion of the Foundation Year, students at ISDI will be able to pursue 3-year globally benchmarked specialization in Communication Design, Fashion Design, Interior Design or Product Design.

Foundation Year - Sem 1

Integrative Studio and Seminar 1 - 6 credits

This course pairing brings together writing, reading, and making through projects that draw on creative and critical skills in a liberal arts and studio context.

• In Integrative Studio, students create projects that involve collaboration, cross-disciplinary activity, research, and prototyping.

• In Integrative Seminar, they develop essential reading and writing skills that help them connect text and visual elements, a practice central to art and design.  

A History of the World Told through Objects - 3 credits

This lecture-and-discussion seminar traces world history through the social, cultural, technological, and religious functions of objects found in collections throughout the world and Mumbai. Readings, lectures, and field trips to museums introduce students to objects representing a span of time from prehistory up to the Industrial Revolution. Students conduct research on objects used by a society and report their findings in written form and presentations.

First-Year Studio: Space and Materiality - 3 credits

In this studio, students become familiar with the methods and tools used to investigate and manipulate space and materials. In ISDI's modelling facilities, studio classrooms, and shops, they explore form, connections between making and thinking, and properties of space and materials such as weight, texture, colour, durability, life cycle, and ecological impact.

First-Year Studio: Drawing and Imaging - 3 credits

In this studio, students explore human interaction with the visual world and create two-dimensional works using digital tools such as adobe illustrator and photoshop, drawing, photography, and mixed media. They investigate perception, representation, and culture as they record and then translate observations into visual form, organizing content, analyzing relationships, and communicating ideas.

Foundation Year - Sem 2

Semester 2 - 4 Courses - 15 Credits

Intergrative Studio and Seminar 2 - 6 credits

Building on methods introduced in the first semester, this course pairs a reading and writing seminar with a studio exploring the impact of research on art and design practice. Students learn to use design tools employed by professionals in the field and undertake individual and collaborative projects that investigate how cultural values can be transmitted through art and design. Coursework emphasizes research, formal writing, systems thinking, and information navigation skills and introduces distributed learning techniques.

First-Year Studio: Time - 3 credits

In this studio, students focus on evolving concepts of time in art and design and the way those concepts shape human experience and our understanding of the world. They develop and structure narratives and shape user experiences in projects ranging from bookmaking to performance art to audiovisual pieces. media including adobe indesign and video editing software are used.

Sustainable Energy Systems - 3 credits

This course surveys, from multiple perspectives, the sources of energy that designers make use of when designing better futures. Through a combination of lectures and seminars, and fieldwork and experiments, students will be introduced to the physics, chemistry and biology of energy, and how these principles translate to the everyday experiences people have of their food, devices, clothes, rooms, buildings, transport and cities, etc. Students will learn about the issues surrounding societal energy sources, such as the pollution associated with their production and use, risks of climate change, or the challenges associated with infrastructural dependence on dwindling supplies. From a common foundation, students will be able to focus on the energy systems associated with particular kinds of designing.

Studio Elective - 3 credits

Students are provided with elective options and projects allowing them to explore  specialisations they would like to take on Year 2 onwards.

Fashion Design - The Business of Fashion

"From the study of silhouettes to production and distribution systems, innovation infuses all aspects of the Fashion Design Programme”

ISDI’s diploma in Fashion Design (FD) is a three-year specialisation pursued by students who have completed their Foundation Year.

Students will hone their skills in design development and construction and explore fashion contexts through understanding fashion trends, digital technologies and material processes. 

Design education is interwoven with social and environmental imperatives, inspiring students to create beautiful, sustainable, responsible, and relevant fashion.

A unique element will be the synthesis of the business of fashion and sustainable systems thinking, and the role of the enterprise and entrepreneurship in fashion. General education courses will support the development of students as designers, critical thinkers, confident communicators and responsible citizens of the world. 

Students will be poised to enter the fashion and creative industries as knowledgeable, technologically sound and business-smart designers.

Throughout the course curriculum students can focus on the following subject areas:

• Socio-Cultural Fashion Contexts

• Historical Fashion Contexts

• Fashion Digital Design 

• Surface Textile Processes

• Design Concepts & Construction

• Fashion Industry Sustainability 

• Fashion Textile Design 

• Patternmaking/Draping/Drafting

• Fashion Business (Systems Thinking)

• Fashion Entrepreneurship / Professional Practice

Future Opportunities

As a Fashion Designer from ISDI, you are ready to enter the world of fashion in areas like costume design, accessory design, marketing, merchandising, styling, curatorial work, forcasting and interior design.

Year 2 FD Curriculum - Sem1

Semester 1 - 5 Courses - 15 Credits

Integrated Design Studio 1 - 3 Credits

The aim of this course is to give the student an introductory learning experience of the fundamental creative processes of fashion design development as related to 2D and 3D skills and practices within the context of the discipline. As the first in a six?course core sequence, students will begin to identify and understand the importance of primary research and balancing the technical with the aesthetic.

Visual Communication 1 - 3 Credits

This course aims to give the student an exploratory introduction to 2D vocabularies: via digital and traditional drawing methods. As the first in a two?course core sequence, students will begin to identify and understand proportion, scale, silhouette and surface manipulation, and use appropriate tools and media.

Creative Technical Lab 1 - 3 Credits

Creative Technical Lab 1 is supportive of Integrated Design Studio 1 and gives the student additional skills/techniques within 3D execution. As the first in a four?course core sequence, students will begin to identify and understand the systems and processes associated with 2D to 3D development and resolution. This will allow students to become immersed in the key elements of process, material, and technical investigation as an underpinning to 3D design realization. Technique inquiry and process:

• Technical Draping

• Draft Drape

• Flat Pattern Making

• Knit

• Footwear

• Accessories

• Men's Wear Tailoring

• Couture

History of Fashion - 3 Credits

This course examines fashion and its capacity as both a reflection of, and an influence on, the cultural conditions of its respective time period. In its entirety, students should gain a greater perspective on the historical, social, economic, and industrial precursors and contexts to contemporary fashion's design, consumption, production, image, tastes, and trends. This seminar course is supplemented by field trips and guest speakers. Coursework will be comprised of group and independent research, written papers, and oral presentations.

Studio Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Year 2 FD Curriculum - Sem2

Semester 2 - 5 Courses - 15 Credits

Integrated Design Studio 2 - 3 Credits
This course allows the students to further develop 2D and 3D skills and practices within the context of the discipline and will build on the Integrated Design Studio 1. As the second in a six?course core sequence, students will be moving towards a competency in the application of technical processes as appropriate to 3D tasks, whilst seeking appropriate technical solutions. Students will the continue refine their approaches in regard to primary research and balancing the technical with the aesthetic.

Visual Communication 2 - 3 Credits

This course aims to give the student the opportunity to build on Visual Communication 1 in regard to establishing a personal approach and fluency in 2D vocabularies via digital and traditional drawing methods. As the second in a four?course core sequence, students will expand on their ability to manipulate and apply appropriate solutions in the development of their individual style and design identity.

Creative Technical Lab - 3 Credits

Creative Technical Lab 2 is supportive of Integrated Design Studio 2 and gives the student the opportunity to build on additional skills/techniques within 3D execution (make). As the second in a four?course core sequence, students will continue to identify and understand the systems and processes associated with competently translating 2D concepts into 3D solutions, through problem solving, design development, and analysis.

Liberal Arts Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Studio Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Year 3 FD Curriculum - Sem1

Semester 1 - 5 Courses - 15 Credits

Integrated Design Studio 3 - 3 Credits

This course gives the student an opportunity to continue to explore 2D/3D processes, and to further develop and refine their approach. Students will begin to examine deeper and more complex design inspirations/concepts and demonstrate breadth and understanding of a variety of design prompts and contexts set by external partners within the industry. As the third in a six?course core sequence, students will continue to identify and understand the importance of applying personal design aesthetics to external industry project, internships and field experiences.

Specialised Studio 1 - 3 Credits

Specialized Studio 1 is supportive of the Integrated Design Studio core courses and gives the student an opportunity to build additional skills/techniques within a range of specialized 2D/3D execution. As part of this core sequence, students will have the opportunity to select options to begin a more focused exploration of make/execution/resolution with a view to specialization, while demonstrating ability to self-select appropriate aesthetic solutions, competently underpinned by technical and/or theoretical understanding.

Lecture Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Liberal Arts Elective - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Studio Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Year 3 FD Curriculum - Sem2

Semester 2 - 5 Courses - 15 Credits

Integrated Design Studio 4 - 3 Credits

This course provides the student with an opportunity to develop a personal design philosophy. Students will be encouraged to define themselves within a market category. As the fourth in a six?course core sequence, students will begin to theorize and contextualize their own work in readiness for senior capstone experience/final major project.

Specialised Studio 2 - 3 Credits

Specialized Studio 2 is supportive of the Integrated Design Studio courses and Specialized Studio 1 and gives the student the opportunity to build on additional skills/techniques within 2D/3D execution. Students will have the opportunity to continue this pathway and further articulate their vision through 2D/3D processes with emphasis on innovation and personalization of technique.

Introsuction to Design Studio - 3 Credits

This class examines different aspects of design and visuality by looking at larger questions of production, consumption, and use and how these issues become part of a larger discourse about design and visual culture. The design process is intricately tied to visuality, or how things appear and look; thus, the course uses images to provide students with a better understanding of their chosen field of study at Parsons. In this class, students will assess the relationship between design and the visual by investigating questions about gender, spatial control, ethics, race, status, and class; and will look at a variety of theoretical, historical, social, and political writings to explore this complicated topic.

Liberal Arts Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Studio Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Year 4 FD Curriculum - Sem1

Semester 1 - 4 Courses - 15 Credits

Portfolio Strategies: Personal Design Research - 6 Credits

The senior major project/collection/thesis defines the student within the context of the Creative Technical Lab or Visual Communication pathways. Students will embark on their senior year within their selected pathway having already defined their thesis project via written proposal. As the fifth in a six?course core sequence, students will research and demonstrate their interpretations of personal problem solving within the context of their own design philosophy.

Pre-Capstone - 3 Credits

Students will choose from of a range of courses designed to prepare them for their capstone experience. These will stress a reciprocal relationship between independent work and class time, practice and theory, which will enable them to reflect critically on art, design and visual practices as they relate to issues of sustainability, politics, and social justice. This is an upper-level methodology, research, and writing class that continues to refine the skills and thought processes students have acquired as they progress through Parsons: presentation skills, writing skills, self and peer reflection and assessment skills, executive skills, research skills and systems thinking.

Liberal Arts Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Studio Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Year 4 FD Curriculum - Sem2

Semester 2 - 4 Courses - 15 Credits

Portfolio Strategies: Resolution - 6 Credits

This course is the vehicle for students to execute their own visions for both 2D and 3D solutions/outcomes. Students will negotiate through a series of options that will culminate in fully supported and contextualized design solution as a body of work, which could take the form of a fully realized 3D collection within the context of the Creative Technical Lab pathway or a balance of 2D and 3D solutions supported by a more extensive portfolio within the context of the Visual Communication pathway. Students will present their resolved concepts in a format that best conveys their personal design identity.

Lecture Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Liberal Arts Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Studio Electives - 3 Credits

Students should explore their elective options with their advisors to create a coherent study plan.

Entrance Exam