One problem with this segmentation is that the digital software solutions mentioned require the amalgamation of both discplines. pattern-making and garment construction) disciplines of fashion creation. Currently, learning software like Clo3D and it’s rival, Optitex, is optional for fashion design students, however it is part of the curriculum for garment technology students, and herein lies the long-term distinction between the ‘creative’ (ie. The industry is hurtling towards digital transformation and Al-Sayegh explained that he and the DLL team are helping students who elect to learn digital design and coding, the skills they need to drive new fashion industry solutions and experiences. But why isn’t this the norm in terms of teaching? In fact, through the university’s Fashion Innovation Agency, students can work in groups on elective industry projects to learn and use these software and hardware tools to create and showcase industry solutions, which may then be adopted commercially. The lab offers students support for learning and creating both products and experiences, using software and hardware, including Clo3D for digital fashion design (explored extensively in this previous article ) and augmented reality headsets, including Microsoft I spoke to Mouhannad Al-Sayegh, a Creative Technologist at the London College of Fashion, who is based in the University’s Digital Learning Lab (DLL) to hear how students are utilising new technologies. Why? And what is the consequence of this for graduates? While the tools of communication have become digital in the past decade or so, the creative process of the designer graduates remains resolutely manual.
In terms of fashion education, the world’s most renowned colleges, including Parsons School of Design in New York, and London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins, also in London, maintain an approach for fashion design teaching rooted in the core manual skills of drawing and illustration, paper pattern-making and draping fabric on mannequins.