After the RCA’s Fashion MA is named the best in the world, we revisit the most insightful quotes from course leader Zowie Broach’s Dazed Fashion Forum talk
Yesterday, The Business of Fashion launched the BoF Global Fashion School Rankings, a new university guide for wannabe students seeking to enter the industry. Central Saint Martins came out on top for their BA course (one that counts Riccardo Tisci, Gareth Pugh and Pheobe Philo as alumni) but it was the Royal College of Art that nabbed the top spot for Masters degrees. Since October last year, the course has been led by Zowie Broach, who has previously held positions at Parsons and LCF. Last month, Broach joined Independent fashion editor Alexander Fury on stage at the Dazed Fashion Forum – a day of talks and workshops geared towards inspiring the next generation of creative rulebreakers – to discuss fashion today, what she looks for in students, and how designers need to find their voice. Here is the best of Broach’s advice.
FIND YOUR TRIBE (AND YOUR VOICE)
“For me (fashion) is about people, and it’s about sexuality and eroticism and politics and feeling cool or feeling crap and how things fit and where the line of your jeans sits and all those cultural and subcultural references... I think to be a good designer, in its essence you have to understand how your clothes relate to that person, that tribe, and who your tribe is, and what you want to do and what you want to say.”
BE DISRUPTIVE – AND DON’T JUST DESIGN PRODUCTS
“I think what’s really important is to remember that fashion is not just about wealthy people, of course it’s not!... Some (students are) going to want to be part of that world and that system but for other people I think it’s going to be really important to find new ways, how they create a new industry... If we just create product designers then the world remains the same, so if you don’t have people coming in and disrupting everything and saying no, it’s not like that, it’s like this – nothing changes.”
REMEMBER THAT FASHION IS ABOUT CULTURE, NOT CELEBRITY
“If you’re in fashion then it doesn’t really matter what you do. You’re in it because you love change, you’re in it because you’re curious, you’re in it because you’re looking at things to be different. That’s the thing that’s always so frustrating, to see fashion (presented) as that kind of celebrity thin throwaway thing, when actually that’s the very core of so much importance in culture and it’s really powerful and accessible to everybody and it shouldn’t be something that’s so undermined.”
“That’s the thing that’s always so frustrating, to see fashion (presented) as that kind of celebrity thin throwaway thing, when actually that’s the very core of so much importance in culture” – Zowie Broach
USE YOUR DEGREE AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR EXPLORATION
“The moment you leave (university) you’re in an industry, whereas when you’re there you can think – do I want to try maybe being very digital? Or do I want to be very craft? Or do I want to just make a pair of trousers consistently for six weeks, and look at all the variations and movements, that means go and record it, make a dress or a pair of pants and travel round the world and try it on a million people? I’m making it up as I go along but I think that’s what you can explore, otherwise... (students) would end up doing exactly what we already know, and that’s not good enough for me and it wouldn’t be good enough for you.”
GO AT YOUR YOUR OWN PACE
“Is it alright that (designers) do 12 collections a year? Is that possible? It’s possible if you’re Karl, but if you’re not Karl and you’re starting off, is that daunting, and then maybe you don’t do 12 collections, you do 12 items.”
DON’T THINK YOU HAVE TO BE A DESIGNER
“I think when people come to the Royal at this point they come to learn more about how their design language is to be established... I think (going forward) it’s allowing people to feel the freedom of their strength, of their own conviction, so if you think fashion design and may have just come off a BA it’s ok if you change your mind and you just want to be a creative director. I think then great, let’s do that – you still need to understand your craft, you still need to understand the history of dress, there’s so much out there that’s phenomenal to learn.”
See last year’s graduates below:
