What our students, alumni, and faculty are doing in NYC and worldwide
thinkparsons@newschool.edu
212.229.5150
Program Contacts
Anna Lerner-Zwick, Director
Laura Lanteri, Associate Director
Deshon Varnado, Associate Director
The innovative Fashion Design BFA program has trained six generations of designers who have shaped the global industry. Employing design thinking and creative problem-solving strategies, you explore form, silhouette, material, and process—including social and environmental imperatives—to create beautiful, sustainable, responsibly produced fashion for a complex and evolving field. You are encouraged to explore the broadest contexts and applications of fashion.
Your BFA begins with Parsons’ first-year curriculum, which serves as the academic foundation for all undergraduate programs at Parsons. From your second year on, you dive into courses in your major field of study. You choose one of four pathways: Collection,
Materiality, Fashion Product, or Systems and Society. Art and design history and theory courses develop your research, writing, and critical reasoning skills, and university electives broaden your perspectives.
Lucia Cuba (Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, Parsons School of Design) discusses her belief in developing a curriculum that not only promotes awareness of social issues but inspires action.
New York City’s thriving creative industry and cultural institutions are part of your Parsons education. Our Career Services Office is deeply connected to the art and design industries and can help you advance your career with industry-oriented internships.
Enjoy access to extensive resources including New School libraries, computer labs, archives, and studios, along with Parsons’ state-of-the-art Making Center, facilities offering a broad array of tools to support your creative and academic growth.
Connect to the organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs driving global creativity and commerce. In classes, internships, and extracurricular projects, you gain marketable problem-solving skills in sectors ranging from government and nonprofits to tech and creative industries.
Enrich your learning and prepare for work in global contexts with study abroad that exposes you to new perspectives and settings in which to apply your creativity. Our study abroad destinations include, Paris, London, Florence, and more.
Explore sample opportunities to create an interdisciplinary path of study around this major:
Full-time or part-time program (two years, 60 credits); best suited to students who have previous college experience in an unrelated field and want to change careers.
The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
