Fashion is an expression of our identity. Be a part of the only program aimed at shaping culture while developing fashion industry leaders and agents of positive change.
Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Collection + Communication
If you are interested in learning more about this program, please contact the Fashion Department at fashiondesign@pratt.edu.
The Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Collection + Communication offers a dynamic trans-disciplinary pedagogical approach that spans design, theoretical analysis, and critical examination. The program provides a holistic redefining of advanced fashion design education with the core making studios buttressed by non-studio courses in research practices, critical theory, and the study of global fashion systems and their impacts and implications.
The Fashion Department’s mission and learning outcomes speak to current global fashion inquiries, emphasizing experimentation and exploration as well as theoretical analyses framed by issues such as materiality, sustainability, social justice, gender, race, and others. With that in mind, a strong emphasis on conceptual development and making creates continuity between the BFA in Fashion Design and the MFA in Fashion Collection + Communication; this confluence is the hallmark of both undergraduate and graduate study programs in Pratt Fashion.
For application questions and information, please visit Graduate Admissions.
Mission/Purpose
The MFA Fashion Collection + Communication program shapes fashion as an impactful means of communicating with and about the world. The pedagogy strengthens and fortifies students’ creative visions and design languages, highlighting both traditional methods of making and emerging design techniques. The MFA inspires students to form a conceptually purposeful practice that is in meaningful dialogue with critical inquiry in fashion and through trans-disciplinary engagement across Pratt Institute. Graduates of the program will redefine fashion practice as both craft and social critique.
Dress rehearsal for 2023 Pratt Fashion Show “ASSEMBLAGE” held at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Culture & Community
The design studio is at the core of your educational experience at Pratt. We consider the design studio a mindful and creative space where we form a collaborative learning community. The two-year, 60-credit MFA program will critically examine the concept of the fashion collection and explore how fashion communicates ideas and drives the cultural narrative. This trans-disciplinary program is built around dynamic elective opportunities, an innovative new model that will empower participants to tailor their graduate education to their own areas of focus, through research, studio-based work, and self-directed study.
Dapper Dan presents the annual Pratt Fashion Visionary Award at the 2019 Pratt Fashion Show.
The Studios + Labs
Sustainability and material exploration drive our passion for making. To prepare students to become leaders within the creative community, Pratt Fashion offers a wide variety of resources including access to Shima Seiki 3D knitting machines and Framis NOSO technology, as well as a dedicated Textile Research Library within the department and a Textile Dye Garden on campus. Explore facilities.
Black Dress exhibit at Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York City in February, 2014.
The Faculty
Pratt’s distinguished faculty of outstanding creative professionals and scholars share a common desire to fully develop each student’s individual potential and creativity. The faculty come from diverse educational and professional backgrounds representing the breadth of Fashion Design’s complexity, including Adrienne Jones (Black Dress), Byron Lars, Susan Cianciolo, Shane Gabier. Faculty connections have fostered partnerships with Downtown Brooklyn Alliance and Navy Yard/Research Yard. See all Fashion Design faculty and administrators.
This seminar will run concurrently with thesis development and culminate in the production of a compilation of the cohort’s MFA work. Through the building of The Book, the course will offer opportunities to explore styling and editorial storytelling, curation, examination of fashion theory through research and writing, among other 2D and 3D expressions. The Book will serve as a platform for the collective voice of the MFA student body, a place to contextualize and document individual perspectives while defining the community ethos of the program. All components of The Book are student-led, directed and produced by the class with faculty and cross-disciplinary support, offering an opportunity for collaboration through a dynamic multi-media presentation.
This course is the third of a three-part series designed to engage students in critical and reflective thinking on the practice of fashion design and the workings of the global fashion industry. Unlike parts one and two of the series, part three is underpinned by a student-written syllabus. Here, each student directs one week of class discussion, choosing a class topic based on their own research interests and focuses. This course connects to students’ thesis work, as it serves as the critical and contextual foundation for their year-long, design-based thesis project.
Engaging the World investigates global fashion systems to understand diverse cultures and communities in an effort to support social enterprise and responsible design practices. The course encourages students to learn beyond the boundaries of a physical classroom environment through community engagement, collaborative practice and exploration of international possibilities. The experience enables graduate students the chance to research political, social and economic factors needed to develop long-term relationships, and possibly reimagine fashion to generate change within local and global fashion systems. This course is offered in both a travel and local format
Check out the 🌟Work in Progress Exhibit🌟 by School of Design students in the Stueben Hall Lounge.
1 & 2: Honey on Tap by Alessandra Latino, Fashion Design Senior - muslin, cotton thread, hook & eye
3 & 4: Biomaterial Samples by Wren Walker, Fashion Design Junior - dead stock wool, bio plastics
5 & 6: Felted Bustier Shirt Dress, Hourglass Ombre Felted Blazer Dress by Griselda Pena, Interior Design major and Textiles minor Sophomore - pima broadcloth cotton, silk babotai, merino wool roving, wool, non-fusible horsehair canvas, cyccled polyester, China silk
We love seeing our students progress as they work towards final projects!
#Pratt #Fashion #StudentWork #LifeCycleAnalysis #Wool #Muslin #DeadStock
ICYMI: A clip from Pratt Fashion Design Visiting Professor Mallorie Dunn’s lecture on the importance of size inclusion.
🧡 Treatment of Models 🧡
“Clothes are for people. We cannot erase the people who wear clothes, and that includes models. Models are people, they are not clothes hangers. When we, as designers, are showing our vision, we need to consider the model’s needs and feelings.”
Edit: A recording of the entire talk can be found at YouTube.com/smartglamour.
#FashionDesign #Pratt #FashionForChange #Fashion #FashionEducation
ICYMI: A clip from Pratt Fashion Design Visiting Professor Mallorie Dunn’s lecture on the importance of size inclusion.
⏳🤝 Before Designing, Gain Customers’ Trust 🤝
“So much of the design process—before the clothing gets to the customer—is research, planning, advertising, marketing. And when we leave plus-sized customers out of that process, why should we (as designers) expect them to buy into what we’re selling?”
Edit: A recording of the entire talk can be found at YouTube.com/smartglamour.
#FashionDesign #Pratt #FashionForChange #Fashion #FashionEducation
ICYMI: A clip from Pratt Fashion Design Visiting Professor Mallorie Dunn’s lecture on the importance of size inclusion.
“Myth: Plus-size customers don’t want interesting or fun or stylish clothing.
Question: Do designers think all “straight-sized” people like the same clothes?
Research shows that the word most often used was comfortable when asked what type of clothing they prefer, regardless of size.”
Edit: A recording of the entire talk can be found at YouTube.com/smartglamour.
#FashionDesign #Pratt #FashionForChange #Fashion #FashionEducation
ICYMI: A clip from Pratt Fashion Design Prof. Mallorie Dunn’s lecture on the importance of size inclusion.
📏 Straight vs Plus Sizing 📏
“Myth: Plus-size folks are harder to dress.
Fact: The majority of people are between sizes.
Fact: 71% of people are plus-size.
Human beings were not created based on size charts.
It’s not about who’s easy to dress, and who’s not. It’s about humans not being simple and not being easy to dress when we expect $5 off-the-rack clothes to fit like couture.”
Edit: A recording of the entire talk can be found at YouTube.com/smartglamour.
#FashionDesign #Pratt #FashionForChange #Fashion #FashionEducation
🌟 Getting ready! 🌟
A peek at the work graduating BFA Fashion Design students submitted for a forthcoming lookbook. We can't wait for you to see their collections later this semester! 🤩
#Fashion #FashionDesign #Pratt #StudentWork #FashionStudents
🎉 We are excited to announce that Bel Davies, a Fashion Design student, has been named to the 2025 Student Advisory Council for the School of Design.
As an advisory council member, Bel will work with the Dean’s office to support student participation in school life.
Bel is a senior majoring in fashion and minoring in textiles and art history. Her goal in participating in the council is to help connect her “peers with communities and like-minded individuals to get the most out of their Pratt experience and beyond.” Bel loves “learning new textile skills, natural dyes, and playing video games.”
🌟 Congratulations, Bel, on this well-deserved recognition! We wish you a very successful and productive term on the Student Advisory Council!
#Fashion #FashionDesign #Pratt #StudentWork #CommunityEngagement
Twenty Fashion Design students recently participated in an Illustration Workshop organized by Professor Byron Lars (@byronlarsbm) and supported by the Jane B. Nord Endowment. The workshop allowed students to enhance their fashion drawing and illustration skills under the guidance of three professional analog artists:
• Renaldo Barnette (@renaldo_barnette) explained the difference between fashion design drawing and fashion illustration. Using a live model, he led students through analyzing fashion model proportions and warm-up poses to loosen their hands before developing a fresh set of croquis.
• Jarno Kettunen (jarnosees), a master in expressive gestural exercises, guided students in fashion illustration. His emphasis on movement and fluidity inspired students to bring their designs to life.
• Yoon Chang (@yoonchangnyc) guided students through dynamic flat rendering, demonstrating how to imbue flat sketches with the "soul" of the students' design intent while accurately conveying construction details and other essential information.
Thank you, Renaldo, Jarno, and Yoon, for sharing your expertise and images from the workshop. Your contributions were invaluable! Also, a special thank you to Bryron for organizing the event and sharing videos and photos.
#Fashion #FashionIllustration #FashionDesignDrawing #FashionDesign #Pratt #StudentWork
💜 Mallorie Dunn, a Visiting Faculty member in Fashion Design, and the owner/designer of SmartGlamour (@smart_glamour) to discuss the importance of size inclusion in design. 💜
“Size Inclusion: a Design Imperative
A Look at the Reality of Consumer Sizing and How our Biases Shape Our Views and Practices”
Friday, March 7, 2025, 1:00 - 3:00 PM
ARC Building, ARC E-02, TEC Lecture Hall
This event is part of the Critical Conversations: creating space for and educating one another about our multiple cultural contexts, activism, civil discourse, and academic engagement.
#Fashion #Pratt #FashionForChange #FashionDesign #CriticalFashion #SizeInclusion
