The School of Art and Design History and Theory

Undergrad Experience
- - First Year
    - Students entering Parsons share a common first-year experience. The same course sequence constitutes the first year of every BFA and BBA program, providing a foundational experience that familiarizes students with the tools, methods, and skills of art and design. First-year courses prepare students for life as skilled and socially aware artists and designers. Classes focusing on broadly relevant design concepts, tools, and methods—including studios exploring 2D and 3D processes, drawing, and digital design as well as liberal arts seminars—bring together students who are passionate about all kinds of art and design and who will one day forge new paths in an array of disciplines.
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Design Studies MA
- Drawing on the breadth and depth of expertise in design theory and practice at Parsons, this new Master of Arts program offers students the opportunity to explore design as both a field of scholarly research and an agent of social change.
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Fashion Studies MA
- Launched in fall 2010, this Master of Arts program allows students to engage in the evolving field of fashion studies. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students explore fashion as object, image, text, practice, theory, and concept and develop a critical understanding of fashion and its complex global intersections with identities, histories, and cultures in the contemporary world.
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History of Design and Curatorial Studies MA
- Offered jointly with the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the History of Design and Curatorial Studies program leads to a Master of Arts degree. Graduates go on to careers as historians, curators, and scholars in museums, universities, historic houses, auction houses, and galleries.
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About ADHT

Designing in Dark Times: an Arendtian Lexicon

To celebrate the release of Designing in Dark Times: an Arendtian Lexicon, we are organizing a series of dialogues to further explore what “dark times”...

Working in Fashion / Studies: MAFS Alumni and Career Panel

Working in Fashion / Studies MA Fashion Studies Alumni & Career Panel In recognition of the launch of our MA Fashion Studies program...

The New Literary Review and Theory of Fashion present: Francesca Granata, Experimental Fashion

Credit: Garment designed by Nina Veresova for her “-ology” collection (2017). Photographer: Nadezhda Belova The Russian edition of Prof. Francesca Granata’s book Experimental Fashion: Performance Art,...

Legacy with Sebastian Grant - November 19th, 2020

Scholarship in the history of jewelry making in the 20th Century has often focused on a very narrow discourse based on primarily white European and...

Francesca Granata on the Grotesque Body in Fashion

Fashion Studies Professor Francesca Granata was interviewed about her book Experimental Fashion and the concept of the grotesque body in fashion for Thrive Global. Read the full...

Parsons Highlight Archives: Fashion Studies MA Highlights

MAFS ’21 Alum, Iesha Coppin-Forde has been featured in the FIDM Museum Newsletter

By Danielle | Published: September 3, 2021

MAFS ’21 Alum, Iesha Coppin-Forde has been featured in the FIDM Museum Newsletter: “Iesha Coppin-Forde’s internship nightlights the Afro-Caribbean experience” “Iesha Coppin-Forde, our Lori and…

Working in Fashion / Studies: MAFS Alumni and Career Panel

By Danielle | Published: December 16, 2020

Working in Fashion / Studies MA Fashion Studies Alumni & Career Panel In recognition of the launch of our MA Fashion Studies program…

The New Literary Review and Theory of Fashion present: Francesca Granata, Experimental Fashion

By Danielle | Published: December 15, 2020

Francesca Granata on the Grotesque Body in Fashion

By Danielle | Published: October 19, 2020

Fashion Studies Professor Francesca Granata was interviewed about her book Experimental Fashion and the concept of the grotesque body in fashion for Thrive Global. Read the full…

Professor Hazel Clark Comments on Senator Kamala Harris’ Style Choices

By Danielle | Published: October 9, 2020

Attribution: Gage Skidmore Professor Hazel Clark comments on Senator Kamala Harris’ style choices in a Huffpost article titled “What Kamala Harris’ Style Choices Say about her…

MAFS Faculty, Christina Moon, on JCPenny filing for Bankruptcy

By Danielle | Published: May 20, 2020

Listen to the conversation HERE Transcript Below SCOTT SIMON, HOST: J.C. Penney, a mainstay of the suburban mall, has filed for bankruptcy. The retailer began…

An Inside Look at BIAS Issue 7: Fashion + Death

By Danielle | Published: May 19, 2020

BIAS Issue 7: Fashion + Death Preview MA Fashion Studies Students and BIAS Co-Managing Editors, Nate Hoe and Maegan Stracy, give us an inside look…

VIDEO VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS by MAFS Students in Fashion Curation

By Danielle | Published: April 14, 2020

As a final project for the MA Fashion Studies program’s Fashion Curation course, led by Jessica Glasscock, students were asked to build a video virtual exhibition using widely…

The American Everyday: Resistance, Revolution & Transformation symposium

By Danielle | Published: February 18, 2020

The American Everyday: Resistance, Revolution & Transformation symposium, hosted by the Columbia College Chicago Fashion Studies Department, was held on Saturday February 15, 2020. American…

Curators’ Talk: Narcissister

By Danielle | Published: December 6, 2019

Exhibition Opening November 15th – Otherworldly: Performance, Costume and Difference

By Danielle | Published: November 12, 2019

Come support your fellow faculty at the Otherworldly: Performance, Costume and Difference exhibition at Parsons’s Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries at 66 Fifth Avenue. This exhibition…

Guy Debord’s Game of War: A Conversation With Emmanuel Guy

By Danielle | Published: November 6, 2019

Thursday, November 14 6:00 pm Kellen Auditorium 66 5th Avenue We know Guy Debord (1931-1994) as a poet, filmmaker, artist, revolutionary theorist, editor and founder…

The School of Art and Design History and Theory

About ADHT

The School of Art and Design History and Theory offers courses to students in all schools at Parsons. Its curriculum helps student develop the intellectual rigor necessary to become the next generation of art and design leaders.

Insights

The School of Art and Design History and Theory

Designing in Dark Times: an Arendtian Lexicon

Working in Fashion / Studies: MAFS Alumni and Career Panel

The New Literary Review and Theory of Fashion present: Francesca Granata, Experimental Fashion

Legacy with Sebastian Grant - November 19th, 2020

Francesca Granata on the Grotesque Body in Fashion

Parsons Highlight Archives: Fashion Studies MA Highlights

MAFS ’21 Alum, Iesha Coppin-Forde has been featured in the FIDM Museum Newsletter

Working in Fashion / Studies: MAFS Alumni and Career Panel

The New Literary Review and Theory of Fashion present: Francesca Granata, Experimental Fashion

Francesca Granata on the Grotesque Body in Fashion

Professor Hazel Clark Comments on Senator Kamala Harris’ Style Choices

MAFS Faculty, Christina Moon, on JCPenny filing for Bankruptcy

An Inside Look at BIAS Issue 7: Fashion + Death

VIDEO VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS by MAFS Students in Fashion Curation

The American Everyday: Resistance, Revolution & Transformation symposium

Curators’ Talk: Narcissister

Exhibition Opening November 15th – Otherworldly: Performance, Costume and Difference

Guy Debord’s Game of War: A Conversation With Emmanuel Guy

The School of Art and Design History and Theory

About ADHT

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