From Classroom to Design Room: Research

From Classroom To Design Room: 

The Transitional Experience of the Fashion Design Graduate

by Steven Faerm, Assistant Professor, School of Fashion

Steven Faerm, Assistant Professor, School of Fashion recently completed his M.S.Ed from Bank Street College of Education. A Parsons School of Fashion alumnus (’94), Steven began teaching in 1998 while working for designers such as Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan.  Steven was awarded The New School’s University Teaching Excellence Award in 2008 and was the first recipient of the BFA Fashion Design program’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2011.

Steven has authored two books, “Fashion Design Course: Principles Practice, and Techniques” (2010) and “Creating A Successful Fashion Collection: Everything You Need to Develop a Great Line and Portfolio” (2012), has been published in numerous academic journals, and serves as a content advisor for Quarto Publishing, Lawrence King Publishing, and AVA Publishing. A Board Member for The Arts of Fashion Foundation, he coordinates the organization’s annual “Fashion.Edu” lecture series that examines the future of fashion education.  In the upcoming year, he will co-produce an academic journal dedicated to exploring the fashion design industry with The University of Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has served on academic advisory boards for Rhode Island School of Design, Otis College of Art and Design, and Pratt Institute, and is actively engaged in researching the future of fashion design education.

Steven is currently an Assistant Professor in the Parsons BFA Fashion Design Program and served as its Program Director from 2007-2011.  During his final year of Master’s program study, he examined the fashion design graduates’ transitional period moving from academia into the professional practice. You can read the full report by clicking here.