The MFA Fashion Program
Application Deadline
We invite all creatives from diverse backgrounds to join us in shaping a new narrative for fashion. External applicants are invited to apply directly to the MFA Fashion program; current USC students are eligible to apply to the MFA Fashion program through the Progressive Degree Program (PDP), where undergraduates may begin their graduate school journey as early as their junior year. The PDP program is open to all USC undergraduate students regardless of major.
For external applicants, the priority application deadline for the MFA Fashion is January 15, and until May 31 on a space-available basis. For USC PDP applicants the deadline is April 1st.
A Transdisciplinary MFA in Fashion
This Fashion MFA program is tailored for visionary designers, theorists, and innovators who are eager to push boundaries and experiment at the intersections of fashion with gender, corporeality, biomaterials, and embodied experiences. By focusing on the future ecology of fashion design, the program aims to tackle cultural, social, environmental, and economic challenges head-on, inspiring transformative and impactful fashion solutions.
The MFA Fashion Experience
Our program seeks individuals passionate about exploring and experimenting in the dynamic fields of fashion design, marketing, and wearable technology. Together, we will delve into how fashion can serve as both a craft and a social critique: experimenting with unconventional materials and techniques, integrating cutting-edge technologies like 3D printing and smart textiles, and exploring sustainable and zero-waste design methodologies.
Why Roski?
The Roski School of Art and Design is committed to fostering creativity and innovation through its diverse range of programs. With a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and sustainability, Roski prepares students to become leaders in their fields by equipping them with the tools necessary to succeed in an ever-changing world.
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A comprehensive curriculum that merges traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technologies, paving the way for new explorations in fashion design. Students will engage in regular seminars, discussions, studio visits and field trips led by renowned visiting fashion designers.
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Collaborate with experts in art, design, business, technology, and performance to create a holistic educational experience that transcends disciplinary boundaries. Students will have extensive access to USC’s diverse professional schools, courses, and expert faculty. The transdisciplinary nature of the program recontextualizes fashion through collaboration, offering electives in areas such as fashion studies, wearable production, smart fabrics, fashion in extended reality and digital environments, costuming, dance and movement, media and culture, entrepreneurship, and marketing.
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The MFA Fashion program will emphasize sustainable practices, materials, products, processes, activities, and stakeholders (policymakers, brands, consumers) aiming to achieve a carbon-neutral fashion sector based on equality, social justice, animal welfare, and ecological integrity.
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The program includes an emphasis on courses that provide students with a comprehensive understanding of how fashion operates on a worldwide scale, including fashion markets and trends, cross-cultural consumer behavior, and comparative analysis of fashion industries in different countries. There will be travel opportunities for short-term study tours to major fashion capitals and international collaboration to comprehend fashion’s global impact.
Space for Creating
USC Roski boasts a full slate of facilities for creative work and research in 2D, 3D and 4D media, along with four exhibition spaces. The program also has formal affiliations with notable museums.
