Development of an apparel design graduate programme emphasising creative scholarship

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to propose methods that could be employed to educate apparel design graduate students as creative scholars. Universities have been increasingly receptive to broadening the definition of scholarship beyond that of traditional research. In the field of textiles and apparel, many schools allow faculty to conduct creative scholarship as all or part of their performance portfolio. However, graduate education in the apparel field remains focused on traditional research requirements. This article describes an apparel design graduate programme to prepare students as creative design scholars. The programme is described in relationship to the four elements identified by Edström (Edström, A.M., 2008, International Journal of Education and the Arts, 9 (3), 1–24) as common to Master of Fine Arts programmes in Sweden: artistic development, analysis and evaluation, theoretical awareness and independent process development.