Fashion Design Curriculum

Our CCS fashion department mission is to train students for national and international success in all aspects of fashion. By combining the fundamentals of construction with the exuberance of conceptual thinking, our students will find their own pathway and methods to unlock their full potential. Through exploring the thinking, designing and making with a fundamental understanding of themselves, as well as the community they desire to address, our new era of thinkers are encouraged to excel within the fashion industry and beyond.

Our Vision is local turning global. In a world where location can be the make or break of a young creative we see the need for a haven in the most unlikely place.

Detroit with its rich history is and will be the perfect location for it. Promoting talent that sees Detroit as their home is a big part of this vision. We want to teach our students that they matter, their communities matter and that a move to a “better” location does not always equal success. The students’ success is dependent on their work attitude and their belief they can do it, no matter where they are.

We want the Fashion Department to become one of the strongest fashion programs in the country, a program that students want to be part of and create a new legacy not only for them but also for the city of Detroit.

We want to make the city competitive as well, not only on the education side but also for the commercial side. Having talent graduating from our program and making Detroit their homebase will help to rejuvenate the local industry, we promote healthy competition and collaboration. Creating a whole new industry for CCS and the city to then venture into the national and international market promoting the “Detroit Renaissance”.

Students completing the Fashion Design program at CCS will be able to:

1. Design collections by using various manual and digital drawing techniques; illustrate innovative production-ready design packages.

2. Construct designs by using professional, state-of-the-art technology, while translating two-dimensional design into three-dimensional items.

3. Apply trend research and analysis to innovative fashion design in response to the needs of the consumer and to evolving socio-cultural and global opportunities.

4. Collaborate in multidisciplinary project teams and articulate ideas and design concepts verbally and visually to any given audience.

5. Identify supply chain and fashion business elements, including Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability principles.