Apparel Design provides a unique approach to graduate study through its focus on conducting independent research in aspects of apparel design such as fashion theory, functional apparel, sizing and anthropometrics, cultural and historic aspects of dress and textile design, apparel industry issues, CAD and other technologies, etc. We help you craft your graduate research program based on your interests and goals to address significant issues of apparel design within the context of aesthetics, production, function, and the meanings of dress.
The apparel design faculty has research and industry-based expertise from design conception through production and analysis. The fiber science faculty offers supporting courses in fabric structure, color, and functional characteristics for apparel students and contributes technical expertise to thesis/dissertation research. You will work with the professor with whom your research aligns and take courses with other department faculty and in other fields of study related to your thesis/dissertation research.
Unlike undergraduate studies, graduate work focuses on independent research. At the Masters level, you identify a research focus and select courses that will prepare you to conduct the research. At the PhD level you are also expected to take coursework that will give you a broad base in all aspects of the Apparel Design discipline, along with courses that will help you develop your research topic.
Your apparel design research immerses you in a problem-solving endeavor using qualitative and/or quantitative methods that link elements of apparel and textile design in the context of aesthetics, function, technique, and the meaning of dress. These research projects often have an interdisciplinary perspective that reach across the university and to private industry and government.
For more detailed information on the different areas of apparel design research conducted at Cornell visit individual faculty webpages, and contact us to discuss your interests.
Susan Ashdown
Charlotte Jirousek
Van Dyk Lewis
Suzanne Loker
Fatma Mete
For information about applying, see our admissions pages.
