College & Adult Summer Intensive Studies: Parsons Paris

Half-Day Course - Summer 1

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

This course is an immersive introduction to the fashion industries and strategies for managing them. Students explore the relationships between innovation, design, production, and marketing. The course also provides an overview of the Parisian high-end fashion market and its key actors, from designers to retailers. Through visits to Paris luxury stores and showrooms, students gain an overall understanding of today’s fashion business.

Half-Day Course - Summer 1

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

Collaborations in the Creative Industries is a course investigating how things work in the creative business world. Students are guided through the visual and performing arts, architecture, cinema, music, literature, and fashion, considering the history of strategies and today’s synergistic influences and investigating key players as they maneuver through our fast-paced global culture. We study the creative industries that form the essential bridge between art and commerce while addressing sustainability in the broadest sense of the word: environmentally and historically.

Our objective will be to travel along the various roads linking the locked door of the design studio and the top secret boardroom, winning over the critics, fans, highest-bidding collectors, endorsers, adoring followers, and money-spending consumers. And as we raise questions about creativity and collaborative strategies required for success, students will develop a solid understanding of what makes these complex and highly creative fields tick.

Full-Day Studio Course - Summer 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

This course introduces students to drawing as both a fundamental part of the design process and an essential tool for media arts of all kinds. Students approach drawing as a way of thinking, a critical tool, and a means of observation, storytelling, and representation. Traditional and nontraditional methods, media, and theories of drawing are all explored.

Full-Day Studio Course - Summer 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

This course introduces students to painting as both a fundamental part of the design process and an essential tool for media arts of all kinds. Students learn basic concepts of painting, such as color theory, composition, and techniques for using water-based paints. Drawing is also taught as a means of observation and representation. Traditional and nontraditional methods, media, and theories of painting are all explored. Time is set aside for students to develop a personal project.

Half-Day Course - Summer 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

This course is an immersive introduction to communication strategies in fashion and luxury companies. Students learn how to create and foster dialogue between a fashion brand and consumers. The seminars and workshops cover a range of topics such as semiotic resources for brand identity, advertising and event management, experiential marketing, digital and interactive marketing, fashion journalism, and fashion public relations in the digital age. In addition, the course offers a Parisian perspective of luxury company strategies and investigates heritage management strategies from a communications perspective.

Full-Day Studio Course - Summer 1 and 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

This course introduces students to various approaches and techniques involved in the design process for fashion products. Students are encouraged to experiment as they research and find inspiration for a fashion collection and devise innovative 2D and 3D production methods for their fashion pieces. Working on projects individually and in groups, students develop fashion concepts for which they draw on the unique resources of Paris and explore how fabrication methods and color affect collections. 

Full-Day Course - Summer 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

Through short narratives and experiments, this course introduces students to digital animation as a way of bringing stories and inner worlds to life. 

Students master fundamentals of 2D animation, such as digital drawing techniques, timing, transitions, and sound effects. They learn how to work with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Premiere Pro. The focus of the class is on fresh narratives and perspectives, with an emphasis on process, concept, and experimentation. 

No drawing, writing, animating, or digital experience is necessary. 

As a final project, each student will make a film of 30 seconds to one minute. 

Full-Day Course - Summer 1 and 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

Students learn to approach management as a strategic process that combines design innovation and business knowledge. In collaborative projects, they develop problem-solving skills and familiarity with design strategies through the application of research methods, prototyping, and quantitative analysis. Emphasis is placed on developing an understanding of the European setting and perspective and the way entrepreneurs, business innovators, and designers operate at the intersection of design and management. Students engage in design thinking and business strategy exercises, applying these approaches in a broad range of enterprises and real-world business contexts.

Full-Day Course 
Tuition: $9,475
6 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

4 weeks:

• Paris, France: July 3–13 (please note that July 14, 2023, is a French national holiday)
• Florence, Italy: July 17–28

Luxury Design and Management is a specialized summer course on the essence, the heritage, and the organization of high-end industries. Through a combination of lectures, interactions with industry professionals, atelier visits, experiential workshops, and teamwork, students learn about the French and Italian leading luxury sectors and benefit from an interdisciplinary introduction to their processes and characteristics at the crossroads of design innovation, business, and culture. 

The course is run by resident professors, guest lecturers, and practitioners from the industry in Paris and Florence, two historic capitals of luxury. During the Parsons Paris portion of the program, special focus is placed on haute couture and the relationship between French fashion heritage, local crafts, creativity, marketing, and strategic management; on what makes the luxury sector so special and desirable, on how it builds memorable moments and bridges between the past and the future, between heritage and innovation. These topics are examined more closely in the Italian part of the program through the exploration of the tradition of Florentine craftsmanship, the production of high-end leather accessories, and the Made in Italy brand.

Full-Day Course - Summer 2

3 U.S. credits recommended
Language of instruction: English

Students master photographic techniques and learn about the aesthetics and theory of the photographic image. Course field trips to various Parisian neighborhoods provide points of departure for creative exploration of documentary, urban landscape, portraiture, and reportage. A variety of assignments, readings, field trips, and lectures encourage students to experiment with different modes of photography and inform a final project based on individual interests.

Full-Day Studio Course - Summer 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (non-liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

This summer course provides an insider view of the design industry in Paris. Each week students visit locations in the city that specialize in different areas of design, ranging from creative entrepreneurship to design technology, from gastronomy design to human services. By interviewing practitioners at design firms, creative studios, artistic ateliers, showrooms, retail locations, co-working spaces, companies, non-profits, among others, students gain insight into the state of the field in Paris and Europe. From these interactions students will collectively create editorials, interviews, images, and video as documentation of their Safari exploration, as they craft the questions, interview designers, edit content and produce the daily posts.

Full-Day Course - Summer 2

3 U.S. credits recommended (liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

Today the discourse about cultural heritage and local patrimony is at the center of a variety of public and private activities involving design and fashion. Although fashion houses and ateliers have long participated in organizing events such as the Journées européenne du patrimoine, the concept of heritage has recently been employed in a new and sometimes controversial manner by private and public institutions. This course explores the field, looking at the intersections between the current discourses on heritage, patrimony, and memory—with particular attention to their relationship to design and fashion. Through visits to major Parisian fashion archives and talks by experts from private and public museums, the class will interrogate what fashion heritage in Paris is and the multiple forms it takes. Starting with UNESCO’s definition of and activities on cultural heritage, students investigate the tensions between the idea of heritage and patrimony; hierarchies and power in the identification of heritage; and the use of national, regional, and city identity in the construction of personal and collective memory. 

NEW! In July 2023, Parsons Paris and ESRA* are launching a unique collaboration on the French Riviera, offering college and adult students several courses on fashion and film.

Full-Day Course - July 10–28
Tuition: $7,895 
3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

In this course, students are introduced to fashion film and its many facets. Guided by the faculty, they watch, analyze, and discuss various fashion films, from commercials and campaigns to independent artistic projects, multimedia art, and documentaries. This serves as the research basis for the collaborative realization of various cinematic ideas. After creating visual concepts and short storylines and receiving a brief introduction to filming and editing, students develop several moving images on a sketch-based level. Serving as subjects for the students' own filmic material are (for fashion students) their own previous projects or collections; brought, bought, or borrowed ready-to-wear or vintage clothing; or even simple pieces or sketches of clothing of their own creation (limited workshop availability).

*ESRA is the leading film school in France, with campuses in Paris, Nice/Cannes, Rennes, Brussels, and New York. It offers state-approved bachelor's and master's degrees. Since 1972, the school has trained more than 10,000 people, who have gone on to work in all fields of the audiovisual industry: cinema, television, live recording, advertising, sound, music, visual effects, video gaming, and social media. 

NEW! In July 2023, Parsons Paris and ESRA* are launching a unique collaboration on the French Riviera, offering college and adult students several courses on fashion and film.

Full-Day Course - July 10–28
Tuition: $7,895 
3 U.S. credits recommended (non–liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

In this course, students work in teams to produce a short movie. They master the fundamental steps of audiovisual production through theoretical lectures and practical workshops. They learn the basic principles of film analysis and screenwriting for fiction, essential for understanding the essence of storytelling. Working in groups, they write a short movie script, prepare and organize the shooting, shoot scenes, complete each step of the post-production process, and deliver the master. They engage in hands-on workshops on screenwriting, learning to direct the actors, use the camera, adjust lighting, make sound recordings, and edit the film. Lectures and workshops as well as productions are presented by industry professionals.

*ESRA is the leading film school in France, with campuses in Paris, Nice/Cannes, Rennes, Brussels, and New York. It offers state-approved bachelor's and master's degrees. Since 1972, the school has trained more than 10,000 people, who have gone on to work in all fields of the audiovisual industry: cinema, television, live recording, advertising, sound, music, visual effects, video gaming, and social media. 

NEW! In July 2023. Parsons Paris and ESRA* are launching a unique collaboration on the French Riviera, offering college and adult students several courses on fashion and film.

Half-Day Course - July 10–28
Tuition: $7,895 
3 U.S. credits recommended (liberal arts)
Language of instruction: English

The fashion and film industries have played a major role in disseminating normative and subversive discourses about gender. Since their inception in the late 19th century, these cultural industries have conveyed multiple ideologies about identities and bodies. In this course, students explore the role played by fashion and cinema in disseminating ideals of beauty and in normalizing but also subverting gender norms. Exploring the relationship between the fashion and the film industries, they study the ways gender has been constructed. They investigate the pivotal role played by iconic figures in the history of fashion and cinema, celebrity culture, and representations of gender norms in film. Particular attention is paid to the ways fashion and film influence contemporary issues such as identity politics, inclusivity, and social justice. This course is based on lectures, discussions, and field trips.

*ESRA is the leading film school in France, with campuses in Paris, Nice/Cannes, Rennes, Brussels, and New York. It offers state-approved bachelor's and master's degrees. Since 1972, the school has trained more than 10,000 people, who have gone on to work in all fields of the audiovisual industry: cinema, television, live recording, advertising, sound, music, visual effects, video gaming, and social media.