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
💥Inside the Studio with the Design Duo Behind SC103💥
We are proud to spotlight Pratt Fashion Design BFA alumni '15, Claire McKinney and Sophie Andes-Gascon, the innovative founders of SC103. Since launching their fashion label in 2019, they have distinguished themselves by resisting dominant trends and maintaining a fresh perspective in the industry.
In 2021, Claire and Sophie dedicated themselves to SC103 full-time, leading to remarkable recognition in publications such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. They have hosted successful pop-up shops from their studio in Manhattan and have recently transitioned to a new space in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where they continue to produce and design all of their garments.
To learn more about their journey and experiences at Pratt, please read the full interview linked in our bio 🔎.
#SC103 #PrattAlumni #FashionDesign #BrooklynFashion
🌍✨ Last week, Pratt had the honor of ringing the @Nasdaq opening bell alongside Laurene Powell Jobs of Emerson Collective, Tom Steyer of Galvanize Climate Solutions, and other innovators to kick off New York Climate Week 2024! We were recognized for our leadership in art, design, and climate resiliency at the Building the Future Summit.
🌟 Featured were our talented students @wrenwallker and recent alumna @a.g.schmale.designs from the BFA in Fashion Design programs.
📸 Wren's Shoes symbolize the belief that the ground is sacred and alive, reminding us that we are integral parts of the Earth and emphasizing the importance of sustainability.
📸 Aimee's Collection "That Was In Tents" explores summer camp and Girl Scouts as a microcosm of society, focusing on sustainability through quilted garments made from upcycled sleeping bags. She creatively reinterprets historical Girl Scout uniforms using modern design elements.
#Pratt #Nasdaq #ClimateWeek2024 #FashionDesign #Sustainability #Innovation
🌍✨ Last week, our Fashion MFA and undergraduates had the incredible opportunity to engage with Liz Ricketts from @theorispresent! We’re inspired by their justice-led circular textiles economy that uplifts communities and promotes sustainability, and their commitment to transforming the fashion industry for the better! 💚✨ #FashionForChange #SustainableFashion #TheOrFoundation #CircularEconomy #EnvironmentalJustice. We dove into a thought-provoking discussion about the intersection of education, environmental justice, and fashion innovation!
Pictures:
1. Clothing Zombie @jeremyhutchison @danipujalte
2-3. The Or Foundation Beach Monitoring Team has counted and measured thousands of textile tentacles
across a seven kilometer strip of Accra, Ghana’s coastline. @theorispresent
Tonight Black Dress Talks: Journalists 6-8pm at Higgins Hall register online or livestream via the link in profile. Speakers Harriette Cole, Teri Agins, Walter Greene and Lindsay Peoples moderated by Professor Adrienne Jones.
Free and open to the public with registration.
This event is made possible by the generous support of the Jane B. Nord endowment, Black Alumni of Pratt, Diversity Equity and Inclusion Office at Pratt and the Academic Senate
We are thrilled to honor Francesco Risso, Creative Director of Marni, with the 2024 Pratt Fashion Visionary Award, Risso’s perspective on fashion has made a remarkable impact on the field and the minds of the next generation of fashion designers.
Last week Risso came to campus to share his expertise with our graduating fashion students and critique their in-process thesis collections. The accomplishments of Pratt Fashion’s graduating seniors will take center stage at “The Show,” the 123rd annual runway event, scheduled for Friday, May 3rd. Read more from WWD at the link in our profile.
@asliceofbambi @Marni @PrattFashion @Pratt_SoD
#PrattInstitute #PrattFashion #FrancescoRisso #Marni
Reception tonight The New Village: Ten Years of New York Fashion from 6-8pm at Pratt Manhattan Gallery
On view from January 22 - March 16
Curated by Jennifer Minniti, Chair, Fashion Design and Matthew Linde, Ph.D.
ALL-IN
Bernadette Corporation x SUPREME
Camilla Carper
CDLM
CFGNY
Susan Cianciolo
Eckhaus Latta
Gauntlett Cheng
Giovanna Flores
Lou Dallas
Luar
Jessi Reaves
SC103
Section 8
Beverly Semmes + CarWash Collective
Martine Syms
Telfar
Vaquera
Elena Velez
Women’s History Museum
Image: Courtesy of Eckhaus Latta / Photo Andre Herrero
Student nominations are underway for Pratt Institute's 2024 Distinguished Teacher Award via emails with a unique link for each student, voting closes on Friday, February 9, 2024. Check your email to find your link and support your fashion faculty!
The New Village: Ten Years of New York Fashion
Opening Reception
Thursday, February 8, 6–8 PM, Pratt Manhattan Gallery
Curated by Jennifer Minniti, Chair, Fashion; and Matthew Linde, Ph.D., The New Village: Ten Years of New York Fashion focuses on a scene of artists and fashion designers from the past ten years who have, in niche ways, re-established New York as a site for experimental fashion. By understanding the commercialism that has traditionally defined New York’s fashion industry, this exhibition points to an alternative history and suggests how an amorphous group of practitioners reshaped the fashion capital from the fringes.
Image courtesy of Giovanna Flores
