Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Globally, Fashion Communication remains a relatively new major in higher education institutions. At Stephens College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Communication (FCO) is an interdisciplinary degree, which combines the disciplines of fashion, media, business, and graphic design. Knowledge gained from these areas can be used to help lifestyle brands to build and relay their messages across multiple communication channels (print, broadcast, internet.) The FCO major contains numerous courses that allow an instructor to infuse concepts that heighten awareness about international affairs and engage communicators in responsibly interpreting and disseminating information regarding such to audiences. The author provides of an overview of specific courses and assignments that assist students with being connected to significant issues in the world. Courses to be discussed will be Fashion Journalism, where students learn to report and interview women who practice Islam and wear the hijab; Current Issues in the Global Fashion Industry, where students work on a simulated consulting project that requires them to advise a major brand about business expansion into a chosen country; and Fashion Communication Capstone Research and Project, where students work on a senior capstone that captures skills and knowledge gained into a professional-level project, evaluated by industry critics. Several students look to themes currently in the global sphere and synthesize findings into their independent and group assignments. The author will illustrate this by focusing on the assignment in Fashion Journalism, where students interview wearers of the hijab. Highlights and challenges of teaching the assignment in the current political climate from a multicultural perspective will be discussed. The paper and visual display will discuss how courses in a major can build cultural competency among college-age women, particularly, at Stephens College. The college — which is the second oldest women’s college — has been ranked internationally for its Fashion Program by the London-based publication, Business of Fashion.