Under the new Creative direction of Prof. Priska Morger the Institute for Fashion Design has been breaking new ground. The talent pool has started to shake the common concept of fashion. This will be demonstrated with the show 2012 as well as with the DOING FASHION PAPER NO.1. Both platforms will document the new era of the Institute for Fashion Design.

How can a personal statement be translated into fashion?

How can answers to our constantly changing society be manifested in design and product?

How can a new and independent path – far away from the established and the well-known – be struck?

Today fashion declares itself in a new way. The Institue for Fashion Design (Prof. Kurt Zihlmann/Head of the Institute & Prof. Priska Morger /Creative Direction) is representing this ongoing process which is demanding new features and receives them through the experiment of Doing Fashion.             Students in Basel learn on the basis of their own experience with fabrics and processing materials to discover their talents and interests in order to develop their very own approach. Beside expertise and analytical skills, the course Doing Fashion offers a scientific laboratory where professional handcraft can be learned in a playful way. The direction as well as the team of lecturers attaches great importance to intuitive intelligence that students gain by the constant doing, observing and reflecting of their own work during the seven semesters including an internship. «It is our goal that students know the fabrics and tools from working with their own hands. After a short time, they should be able to design and realise their ideas in a tactile way, » Priska Morger explains the new approach of the Institute for Fashion Design.

The programme Doing Fashion imparts knowledge about fashion history, communication of processes and products, material comprehension, and staging as well as about production and distribution processes by a critical exchange with international guest lecturers from all fields of fashion, arts and culture. This dense network helps the designers-to-be to strengthen their own position within their subject.

Next Graduate Show  on March 17th  2012.

The objectives and requirements of the Academy of Art and Design HGK, Institute for Fashion Design IMD, of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland are illustrated every year at the public show of the degree collections at the Kaserne in Basel. With their approach to Doing Fashion, 17 talents are competing internationally on 17.3.2012. All designers have summed up demanding and independent experiments into their collections. Their designs show committed and tangent fashion statements. Their future as professional designers is only seconds away.  

Comments on last year’s Graduate Show

«The most impressive thing about this university is how extremely individual the work of every student is. What happens in universities sometimes is that people go into a certain direction and they have a certain way of doing things which means that it all becomes fairly similar. This university is completely different. » Lutz Huelle, Designer, Paris

«Much is asked from the students. Many subjects are meshing and it is obvious that there is a lot of hard work in theory and praxis behind it. The quality and diversity of the fashion presentations impressed me the most as they showed an immense density, presence and strength in performance. » Prof. Elke Gaugele, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna

« I’m not one to write love letters. But I have to admit, I was very impressed with the professionalism and enthusiasm the students showed their collections. You could see these students love what they do, and I love that...»  Daniela Retana, Bloggerin, East L.A., Lausanne