Virtual Exhibitions for Final Capstone Fashion Design Project : A Case of Chinhoyi University of Technology Final Year Students

Abstract

Virtual fashion is becoming the latest trend being adopted by most fashion designers and apparel manufactures. The purpose of this study was to explore methods that can be adopted by fashion design students to have digital or virtual fashion exhibitions instead of having physical exhibitions that would imply physical attendance in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this study in- depth interviews and questionnaires were used for gathering data from the purposively sampled participants. Lecturing staff in the faculty offering the fashion design degree programme were interviewed and students were given an online questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions. The study revealed that virtual fashion exhibitions can be successfully integrated into the fashion design degree programme as students exhibit a high level of digital literacy and competency. The study highlights the need for more support in terms of ICT infrastructure at institution level so that students can develop their digital literacy skills. The findings reveal that virtual or digital exhibitions are feasible, though there are cost implications as there are prerequisites in software and hardware requirements. The study recommends institutions offering fashion design degree programme to embrace and invest in the new fashion technologies.