Hazel Clark

profile

Dr. Hazel Clark teaches at the School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons The New School for Design. Dr. Clark has had a substantial career as a teacher, administrator, and scholar in art and design education. She was one of the first graduates in Britain to be awarded a PhD in the history of design, and has since published and taught internationally on the history and theory of design, with a particular interest in design and cultural identity and a focus on fashion and textiles. Before coming to Parsons, Dr. Clark was head of the Swire School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic (now the Hong Kong Polytechnic University).

Her publications include The Cheongsam (Oxford University Press, 2000), an edited issue of Design Issues on design in Hong Kong (MIT Press, Spring 2003), and “Design in a Global Context,” co-edited with Karen Fiss, in Design Issues (MIT Press, Summer 2009). Other publications include Old Clothes, New Looks: Second Hand Fashion (Berg, 2005), co-edited with Alexandra Palmer; The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Identity and Globalization (Routledge, 2009), co-edited with Eugenia Paulicelli; and Design Studies: A Reader (Berg, 2009) co-edited with David Brody.

Dr. Clark considers the study of history and theory critical for those who intend to become design and art practitioners as well as for individuals pursuing focused interdisciplinary scholarship in those fields. She initiated the MA Fashion Studies program, which Parsons began offering in fall 2010, and worked with colleagues on the MA Design Studies program. These programs will complement the MA in the History of Decorative Arts and Design, which the school offers with Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (Smithsonian Institution).