Fashion is an expression of our identity and identities and is in dialogue with culture and community. As a curious maker, you will engage in radical care-filled practices and develop the skills to be an advocate for change in the expansive industry called fashion.
Claire Kovchegov & Nandini Kunalkumar, Peillin Chen and Shine Liu. MFA Fashion Design + Communication 2026.
Join a community of curious makers in a program that redefines advanced fashion design education, combining craft and social critique. The design studio is at the center of your experience, with core making studios complemented by non-studio courses in research practices, critical theory, and the study of global fashion systems and their social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
Develop a critically aware, craft-based practice that prepares you to make meaningful change in the world. Examine the concept of the fashion collection and explore how fashion communicates ideas and drives the cultural narrative. Emphasizing experimentation, creativity, and theoretical analysis, our program encourages you to both question and challenge conventional systems and explore global responses that engage the following:
circular systems, reparative and regenerative practices, and fair and dignified labor conditions
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
social and environmental justice
intersections of identity, race, gender, sexuality, class, and culture
Eliza Corderman. MFA Fashion Design + Communication 2026. Photo Credit: Eliza Corderman.
Linhan (Angelina) Xu. Between Restraint and Flow. The Body as a Site of Chinese Calligraphy, Tai Chi, and Knots. MFA Fashion Design + Communication 2026. Credit: Linhan (Angelina) Xu
A Vibrant, Collaborative Community in NYC
Our inclusive community encourages creativity, critical inquiry, and innovation. We ensure students feel supported as they take radical positions on sustainability, justice, and cultural relevance. Students collaborate, discovering complementary skills and expanding their communities from the classroom outward. Through their work with local makers and artisans in NYC, students learn how to build sustainable networks for creating fashion—lessons that can be adapted to cultivating communities around the world.
“It’s time to rethink the materials we wear on our skin. Using tones of absurdity and satire, Eliza Corderman recontextualizes how we think about what we wear on our bodies in the name of health. As part of her broader campaign to draw attention to the materiality of our clothing, this piece reflects on the relationship between fabric and skin, transforming the synthetic and potentially harmful composition of athletic apparel into the key ingredients of a body lotion.”
Eliza Corderman MFA Fashion Design + Communication ’26 Read More
A Bespoke and Interdisciplinary Experience
Create your own path and cultivate your creative voice through transdisciplinary learning. Our program is flexible, allowing you to explore a variety of dynamic electives and tailor your education to your areas of focus through research, studio-based work, and self-directed study.
Care-Filled and Contemplative Practices
Contemplative practices allow you to consider the interconnectedness of humans, living organisms, and the environment in the fashion cycle. Students reflect on and acknowledge the significant impact of human activity on their surroundings and the environment and move beyond a purely human-centric view of fashion as a system.
State-of-the-Art Facilities
Our world-class studios and labs provide a variety of resources, including advanced tools such as Shima Seiki 3-D knitting machines, 3-D printers, laser cutters, and Framis NOSO technology. In addition, Pratt students have access to the Material Lab, Textile Research Library, and our transportive Textile Dye Garden right on campus. Explore facilities.
Students at work in the knit lab at Pratt. George Etheredge for The New York Times
Our Faculty
Pratt’s faculty of outstanding creative professionals and scholars share a common desire to fully develop each student’s individual potential. The faculty come from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, including Susan Cianciolo, Jennifer Minniti, Dean Sidaway, Isa Rodrigues, and Jane B. Nord Professor of Fashion Design Byron Lars. See all Fashion Design faculty and administrators.
The Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Collection + Communication offers a dynamic trans-disciplinary pedagogical approach that spans design, theoretical analysis, and critical examination. The MFA provides a holistic redefining of advanced fashion design education with the core making studios buttressed by non-studio courses in research practices, critical theory, and the study of global fashion systems and their impacts and implications.
MISSION/PURPOSE
The MFA Fashion Collection + Communication program shapes fashion as an impactful means of communicating with and about the world. The pedagogy strengthens and fortifies students’ creative visions and design languages, highlighting both traditional methods of making and emerging design techniques. The MFA inspires students to form a conceptually rigorous practice that is in meaningful dialogue with critical inquiry in fashion and through fitrans-disciplinary engagement across Pratt Institute. Graduates of the program will redefine fashion practice as both craft and social critique.
Upon completion of their studies students will:
Shape, define and communicate visionary frameworks and forms of messaging that will have a positive and influential impact on fashion practice and promote a diverse and inclusive creative industry.
Establish expertise in fashion thinking through an expression of personal creative vision by applying interdisciplinary research methods and an engagement with global perspectives.
Generate work that challenges the complex impacts of the systems of production and function of fashion from manufacturing and labor practices to economic systems.
Cultivate a holistic approach to material choices and ethically incorporate sustainable practices that address environmental issues and circularity.
Through research and studio-based practice develop and apply a methodology for creating a significant body of work that includes a diverse representation of identities and aesthetics.
Select Courses
This seminar will run concurrently with thesis development and culminate in the production of a compilation of the cohort’s MFA work. Through the building of The Book, the course will offer opportunities to explore styling and editorial storytelling, curation, examination of fashion theory through research and writing, among other 2D and 3D expressions. The Book will serve as a platform for the collective voice of the MFA student body, a place to contextualize and document individual perspectives while defining the community ethos of the program. All components of The Book are student-led, directed and produced by the class with faculty and cross-disciplinary support, offering an opportunity for collaboration through a dynamic multi-media presentation.
This course is the first of a three-part series designed to engage students in critical and reflective thinking on the practice of fashion design and the workings of the global fashion industry. In part one, students explore a range of contemporary issues and their effects on fashion as a cultural, social and artistic practice.
This course invites students to explore the intricate relationship between craft, design, sustainability, and labor through an interrogation of local fashion practice as a microcosm of the global fashion system. Through firsthand experiences in and around New York City, students will engage with local artisans, designers, and sustainability advocates, gaining insights into traditional techniques and contemporary innovations. Participants will examine the ethical implications of fashion production, focusing on sustainable materials and fair labor standards, while fostering a deeper appreciation for the cultural narratives that inform the ways in which craftsmanship is defined today.
Intern in NYC’s Fashion Industry
Gain direct exposure to and hands-on, professional studio experience in the New York fashion design industry through internships at top design companies, including Thom Browne, Alexander Wang, Luar, Monse, Three As Four, Kallmeyer, Tibi, Christian Siriano, Alicia Olive, and Oscar de la Renta. Fashion students are required to complete three credits of internship during their course of study. A Pratt faculty adviser guides each student throughout the experience.
Internships in Sustainable and Ethical Design
We encourage our students to collaborate with brands committed to ethical and ecologically conscious practices, empowering them to create garments that honor both the environment and the artistry of fashion. Brands include:
Founded by Sara Sakanaka, Considered Objects is a sustainable design label rooted in heritage, memory, and artisanal craft. Each one-of-a-kind piece is hand-sewn using reclaimed textiles, vintage kimono, and antique materials, honoring both tradition and personal history. With an intuitive, mindful process, the brand creates emotionally resonant garments that foster lasting connections between wearer and object
Loup Charmant pioneered responsible luxury by partnering with family-run organic cotton farms in India at a time when such materials were nearly impossible to source. Their commitment to sustainability began with a pledge to support heirloom-quality cotton production and continues today through airy, timeless pieces designed for ease and warmth. Rooted in thoughtful sourcing and enduring relationships, each garment reflects a deep dedication to ethical, effortless living.
Kowtow is a New Zealand–based label committed to slow fashion, radical transparency, and environmental responsibility. Every garment is plastic-free and made from Fairtrade organic cotton within a fully traceable supply chain. Certified by Fairtrade, GOTS, and B Corp, Kowtow offers timeless, modular pieces designed for longevity and ethical living
Global Context, Local Craft
Our situated learning courses take your education beyond the studio to challenge globalized fashion systems. You’ll engage directly with communities, from exploring bioregionalism and local production in NYC to learning traditional textile processes from artisan communities in Oaxaca. These hands-on experiences and our partnerships with leading institutions will deepen your understanding of cultural context and help you develop a critically responsive design practice.
After Graduation
Fashion is a dynamic and expansive industry that offers a wide range of career opportunities beyond the traditional role of a fashion designer.
Career paths include:
Fashion design: specializing in menswear, womenswear, kidswear, wovens, knitwear, cut and sew, textiles, accessories, and footwear.
Industry and production: roles in research, concept design, design and development, production, technical design, patternmaking, garment technology, sustainability, and quality control.
Fashion business: roles such as buyer, sales manager, and retail buyer.
Fashion communications: careers in styling, merchandising, marketing, social media, public relations, and brand communication.
Costume design: for theater, opera, ballet, and other performance arts.
Textile design and art: including textile designers for interiors and accessories and independent textile artists.
Entrepreneurship: launching and growing independent fashion brands.
Our curriculum is designed to prepare students to engage critically and creatively across this wide spectrum, empowering them to find their unique voice and professional direction in the global fashion landscape.
Career Support for Life
Students and alumni can schedule one-on-one appointments with career strategists in Pratt’s Center for Career and Professional Development. A career strategist can work with you to develop your job/internship search strategies and life and business plans, as well as review résumés, cover letters, websites, and other marketing materials.
Textile and Social Activism — All-Institute Elective
Explore how fashion, textiles, and fiber arts become powerful tools for activism. In this course, you’ll dive into the global history of craftivism, its key cultural and political tensions, and hands-on fabrication techniques using textiles and soft materials.
Students will create soft objects that challenge viewers to question the world as it is, and imagine the changes they want to see. 🌍🧵
Don’t miss your chance to join!
A few spots are still open — register now!
@prattinstitute @prattfashion @pratt_sod
Join Lisa Z Morgan, Chair of Fashion, and Tessa Maffucci, Assistant Chair of Fashion, for a virtual coffee and conversation on December 17, 2025, from 9:00–10:00 AM (EDT)!
Come learn more about the MFA in Fashion Collection + Communication program and get answers to any last-minute application questions.
Register via the QR code on our MFA Fashion Collection + Communication website.
We look forward to meeting you!
@prattinstitute @pratt_sod @prattfashion
Image: Professor Dean Sidaway
Join us for the first sophomore exhibition, led by Prof. Susan Cianciolo, on Wednesday, December 3rd, from 4:00–7:00 PM at the Student Union.
Our sophomore students will be presenting their work across a range of formats, come explore their projects for the course Contextualizing Fashion I.
*Poster design by Elena Scherer & Shweta Rajesh in the Fashion Illustration course.
All Pratt Community is welcome. We can’t wait to see you there!
The @prattmendingcircle is more than a sewing meet-up, it's a space to pause, connect, and care for both garments and community. Students gather with fabric, thread, buttons, and tea to repair their clothing, learn new techniques, and rethink their relationship to material waste.
What began as a small bi-monthly gathering has grown into a registered student-led club, founded by @giannagracedesign (BFA Fashion Design ’27) and guided by Professor Brooke Garner. For Gianna, mending isn’t just about fixing what’s broken, it’s about visible mending, a practice that celebrates each stitch as part of a garment’s ongoing story.
Through sustainable repair methods, upcycling workshops, and hands-on skill-building, the Mending Circle encourages students to slow down, reuse what they have, and transform wear-and-tear into intentional, expressive design.
The club continues to expand its programming with mending workshops, clothing swaps, guest talks, and future gallery exhibitions, inviting more students to rethink fashion through care, creativity, and sustainability.
@prattinstitute @pratt_sod @prattfashion
#MendingCircle #SustainableFashion #PrattInstitute #VisibleMending #EcoFashion #CommunityCare #SlowFashion
A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hosting an online session with multidisciplinary artist @citlalli.parra, joining us from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, as part of the course Artisans, Textiles, and Designers, a course that is partially taught in Oaxaca, Mexico, by professor @jamesmendolia.nyc
Citlalli’s practice is grounded in traditional ecological knowledge, weaving together contemporary aesthetics, nature-inspired materials, and ancestral techniques. Her work challenges dominant fashion practices by opening conversations about social justice, labor, and globalization, and by honoring the depth of pre-Hispanic knowledge.
She shared her deep interest in natural dyeing and weaving with maguey, pita, and jute, materials deeply rooted in Mexico’s long-standing traditions, especially agave, an emblematic fiber of the country. Working with agave or maguey fiber has led her to develop a profound appreciation for its many uses, its mystical associations, and its cultural and pre-Hispanic significance.
Citlalli has also extended her knowledge of natural and pre-Hispanic pigments with the guidance of chemist and pigment specialist Sara Pineda, through a specialty in her group Malinalcalli, further deepening her commitment to artistic innovation and to preserving Mexico’s cultural heritage. Their work includes pigments extracted from Zacatlaxcalli (Cuscuta tinctoria), maíz morado, and grana cochinilla.
An essential part of her practice is collaborating with artisans. As Citlalli shared, this collaboration has strengthened her purpose: to honor the remarkable skill and ancestral knowledge of master artisans—and of her own ancestors—with deep respect and humility, valuing process, time, and making.
💫We are grateful for her generosity, her knowledge, and the powerful connection she brings between land, craft, and contemporary artistic practice.
We were thrilled to welcome Solstiss, the leading and oldest French Leavers lace manufacturer based in Caudry, France, along with lace expert François Damide.
François shared with our students the fascinating history of lace and introduced the Solstiss Academy, inspiring the next generation of designers with his deep knowledge and passion for craftsmanship.
Renowned for its exceptional artistry, diverse lace designs, and extensive color palette, Solstiss continues to push the boundaries of textile innovation and tradition.
Their exquisite lace has graced the collections of designers such as Chanel, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, and Michael Kors, among many others.
The creativity and quality of Solstiss’ work make it one of the most sought-after lace houses in the world.
@solstissusa @prattinstitute @prattfashion
Our junior students presented their first looks from the Shape and Form I class!
After completing their first cut-and-sew project, where they learned to work with elastics and apply different trims, students took on their second challenge: creating a full look using repurposed knits. 🧶♻️
Here are some of their wonderful creations!
We’re thrilled and honored to share that our talented student @mariam.shengelia has been named one of the winners of Caftan: Style as Liberation and Cultural Exchange, a design competition celebrating creativity, heritage, and expression.
Her remarkable piece was exhibited at the Park Avenue Armory, as part of Making Space at The Armory — a series curated by professor and Guggenheim Fellow Tavia Nyong’o, honoring the legacy of André Leon Talley.
The event was hosted by @feek____, Joyce F. Brown, @amyfinecollinsibdl, @evanmock, @yoadriennekatz, Ariel Osterweis, @jordan_roth, @sirsargent, @moses, @projectkendall, and @emilwilbekin.
The celebration continued with a vibrant salon day and a powerful panel discussion led by cultural and fashion visionaries Monica Miller, @dario.studio, Tanisha C. Ford, and Emil Wilbekin.
We’re so proud to see our community represented among such inspiring voices in fashion and culture. 💫
#FashionDesign #CulturalExchange #AndréLeonTalley #ParkAvenueArmory #MakingSpace #StudentSpotlight #DesignCompetition #EmergingDesigner
Students from the course Fabric SilkScreen of the Textile Minor visited @efsdesigns at the Brooklyn Army Terminal
They got an inside look at how handprinted yardage is still being produced in NYC, using traditional screen printing methods and serious craftsmanship.
Huge thanks to the EFS Designs team for welcoming us and showing how slow fashion and artisanal techniques remain alive and thriving in the city.
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