The North American Cowboy Boot is an iconic symbol of cultural individualism and strength of character that bridges design, making, function, and fashion. The boot itself is at heart a functional object, a work tool, whose construction techniques have remained unchanged since the late 1800s. This complex and sophisticated traditional art is kept current largely by artisanal apprenticeships and a patterning template system that circumvents the highly technical footwear pattern making more typical in industry footwear production.

In this course students will measure their own feet, adapt boot lasts to their measurements – the forms around which we build boots - draft/cut/sew uppers, and then join all the components together and sole the boots. This is a complex, labor-intensive hands-on process requiring dedicated attendance and out-of-class work. The result will be a pair of bespoke, one-of-a-kind leather boots individualized to the students’ size and design.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $85.00

Elective

This studio-elective course will follow a series of twelve lectures given at the South Kensington Museum as published in P.L. Simmonds, Animal Products. This seminal work served as a compilation of the trade exhibition collections from the 1851 Crystal Palace exposition that eventually served as the seed for the collections of the South Kensington Museum and finally the Branch Museum of the Department at Bethnal Green. These collections laid the foundation for much of the Victoria and Albert Museum collections (V&A) that in turn influenced the creation of RISD and the RISD Museum in 1877. This course will examine design and fashion, naturalist journals, and literature as a means to develop the students design vocabulary and materials palate. Students will compare the tastes and techniques of the Victorian era to contemporary design practices, with case studies of designers utilizing the natural world as a resource and source for design. Weekly lectures will introduce students to artists and designers of the 19th century and compare them to contemporary artists and designers. These introductory lectures will be paired each week with a specific material examination and hand-on exploration via materials demonstrations and a sample notebook. We will engage in readings, group discussions, critique of student Naturalist Journals, materials demonstrations, and examine historic and contemporary Museum objects within each theme material. Field trips to the RISD Museum will be augmented by visits to the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab, RISD Materials library, The Providence Athenaeum, The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University, The New Bedford Whaling Museum, and The Museum of Natural History, Roger Williams Park.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $20.00

Elective

Who Wears the Pants? This course is about trousers - their function, fit, design and development. You will learn how to design and execute custom made trousers by recording and calculating key body measurements to draft, construct and fit a basic pants sloper. Students will acquire skills to manipulate the basic sloper into a variety of styles through pattern drafting exercises integrating trouser shapes and silhouettes, pockets, waistbands, openings, and design details. Classes and individual tutorials cover the development of bespoke trousers from concept to execution. You will gain a better understanding of the apparel design and creative problem solving processes, pattern drafting techniques using metric and imperial measurements, laying out and cutting fabric, constructing a basic trouser, fitting diverse body types, constructing a fly front opening and pockets; including tutorials focused on resolving individual trouser designs. Experience in garment construction recommended. Advanced sewing skills are necessary to take this course.

Elective

NASA's Artemis 2025 Lunar mission aims to return U.S. astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972 - when the Apollo 17 mission first landed there. This time, it will not be only men making the journey, as NASA has promised a lunar moondust walk for the first woman and the first person of color. As part of this historic endeavor, NASA is redesigning the spacesuit for the first time in 40 years to accommodate Women and meet the challenges of lunar exploration.

Spacesuits, essential for survival in the harsh environment of outer space, are meticulously engineered to shield astronauts from dangers such as radiation, micrometeoroids, extreme temperatures, and dust. An EVA Suit, or Extra-Vehicular Activity suit, is a marvel of engineering and design, essentially a miniature spaceship tailored to fit the human form, providing life support and mobility in the vacuum of space.

In this interdisciplinary course, students will delve into the intricacies of spacesuit design and technology. Leveraging CLO3D, a cutting-edge fashion design software specializing in 'true-to-life' 3D garment simulation, students will reimagine and redesign NASA's next-generation EVA Suit. Through collaborative projects, teams will conceptualize, pattern, and 3D model innovative spacesuit designs, addressing the unique needs of future lunar explorers.

 Students will venture into the metaverse, exploring space in virtual reality using Oculus Quest headsets. Immersed in simulated environments such as the International Space Station, taking Space Walks, and viewing images taken by the Hubble Telescope, students will gain firsthand experience of space exploration. Gravity Sketch, a collaborative VR design tool, will facilitate the creation of the Hard Upper Torso (HUT) in a collaborative VR space, integrating soft designs crafted in CLO.

Drawing from critical design methodologies and informed by research, students will negotiate the complexities of spacesuit design, balancing functionality, mobility, and aesthetics. At the culmination of the course, students will present their finalized spacesuit designs to NASA, contributing to the ongoing evolution of spacesuit technology.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $40.00

Elective

Dressed bodies, is a course conceived to expose students from external departments across RISD campus to a variety of making practices stemming from traditional apparel design practices. Students are expected to bring their current skill set and their apparel related curiosity with the aims of developing a personal project or enhancing apparel related skills. Clothing development, brand, soft-goods development, principles for creating 3 dimensional works around the body from 2 dimensional sketches and patterns as well as basic sewing skills will be covered throughout the body of this course. Principles learned here may be applied to a variety of fine arts processes as well as product design. Students will be encouraged to develop a better understanding of materials and construction techniques while exploring deeper relationships between 2D shape and 3D form. This dynamic, technical and creative class; supports students further understanding of sewing construction and how it directly relates to- and impacts any creative or technical project, ultimately broadening the students understanding of both material properties and essential technical components of fabric construction.

*Components of this class are seminar and self-directed.

Elective

Dressed bodies, is a course conceived to expose students from external departments across RISD campus to a variety of making practices stemming from traditional apparel design practices. Students are expected to bring their current skill set and their apparel related curiosity with the aims of developing a personal project or enhancing apparel related skills. Clothing development, brand, soft-goods development, principles for creating 3 dimensional works around the body from 2 dimensional sketches and patterns as well as basic sewing skills will be covered throughout the body of this course. Principles learned here may be applied to a variety of fine arts processes as well as product design. Students will be encouraged to develop a better understanding of materials and construction techniques while exploring deeper relationships between 2D shape and 3D form. This dynamic, technical and creative class; supports students further understanding of sewing construction and how it directly relates to- and impacts any creative or technical project, ultimately broadening the students understanding of both material properties and essential technical components of fabric construction.

*Components of this class are seminar and self-directed.

Elective

This introductory course lays the foundation for the design process through draping, pattern drafting and construction. Students make basic patterns and proceed with variations to develop pattern making skills and design concepts. Weekly textile seminars introduce students to fibers and yarns, fabric types, properties and uses.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

Building on basic techniques taught first semester, students proceed to more complex cuts for bodices, sleeves, skirts and pants through techniques of draping, drafting and construction. One finished garment is required.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $125.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

This course introduces technical and conceptual grounding in the aesthetics of identity projection through apparel and personal ornamentation. In addition to offering an intersectional lens through which to investigate both individual and social identity, students will learn foundational and interdisciplinary skills for design and construction: from presentation plates to effectively communicate the visual language of their design intentions to digital embroidery, laser cutting, UV printing, etc. to explore novel material and construction strategies. Research, discussions, and collaborative activities investigate how clothing might assume responses for both the wearer and the audience in the context of identity informed by gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, religion, and more; both classic and experimental production techniques empower students to more fully realize their concepts of identity representation and projection.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Majors are pre-registered by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

The design course builds on design process skills from the first semester through assignments that focus on research and its application, conceptual development, and team dynamics. Varied facets of apparel design are explored through lectures, museum research, classroom discussion, and creative exploration.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

This course is an introduction to the creative and technical possibilities of the knitting machine. Through the development of knit swatches, the course will cover the following essentials of sweater knit design including graphing, calculating gauge and tension, shaping of a knit body, exploration of a diverse range of knit stitches, professional finishing of a knit garment, and how to select the best yarn to execute your final garment. Students will also develop unique trims and finishes to enhance their designs.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

In Design/Draw II, Junior students focus on designing for knitwear, experimenting three-dimensionally as they explore the unique properties of knit fabrics. Color, texture, yard, and stitch variations are examined as students also design using the diverse properties of machine knitwear. Students build on self-expression and visual communication to place their creative voices firmly at the center of their design.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Apparel Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

Students concentrate on designing with 'cut and sew' knit fabric. Through draping with knit fabrics on the form, students learn to utilize the inherent properties of knits. Instruction in 'cut and sew' construction is combined with pattern making techniques, enabling students to execute their concepts as finished garments.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

Students focus on tailoring techniques and the design of tailored apparel. Drafting and classic tailoring techniques are taught and students explore shape and structure through experimentation on the form and creative pattern making. During this process, students use these technical skills to design and execute a jacket and companion piece.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $400.00
 

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

The class explores fashion and gender representations and aims to emphasize content and context in students' design work. Students focus on silhouette, form and proportion as they explore the structural possibilities inherent in the art of tailoring. They will sculpt the torso with original shapes, by inventing either a bolero, a caraco, a coat, a jacket, a manteau, a suit, a tuxedo, or an hybridation, an extrapolation, or a re-invention of these classic tailored garments, thereby creating a piece that defies sartorial codes or costume classification.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

During three integrated studios, students learn professional collections from concept to presentation. Portfolio assignments are aimed at strengthening students' established styles and experimentation in new areas. Studios build on their draping, drafting and construction skills through individual instruction as they complete a collection for final presentation to the visiting critics. During studio, students explore varied means of presentation and capturing of their process.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $1,000.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

During three integrated studios, students learn professional collections from concept to presentation. Portfolio assignments are aimed at strengthening students' established styles and experimentation in new areas. Studios build on their draping, drafting and construction skills through individual instruction as they complete a collection for final presentation to the visiting critics. During studio, students explore varied means of presentation and capturing of their process.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $1,000.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

This senior level course focuses on the design of unique interpretation of apparel design. The senior collections are a culmination of their skills and an exploration of their design vision. Originality, problem solving, and an organized design process are defined as essential elements of a successful degree project collection. Seniors refine and build their portfolios. Projects are aimed at enabling students to express a diverse but cohesive design vision.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $1,000.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

This senior level course focuses on the design of unique interpretation of apparel design. The senior collections are a culmination of their skills and an exploration of their design vision. Originality, problem solving, and an organized design process are defined as essential elements of a successful degree project collection. Seniors refine and build their portfolios. Projects are aimed at enabling students to express a diverse but cohesive design vision.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $1,000.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design

This class builds over two semesters, and works in concert with Senior Collection Development. As students begin to develop their thesis Collection, they will uncover what motivates them, what they aspire to in the context of their work and creative practice, as well as what they stand for in the world. The class fosters research, invests in the emotional experience of clothing: how it makes the wearer feel, where it comes from, who it serves. Communication is at the heart of the process, and moves between the visual, written, and the spoken word. Writing prompts are used to bridge thinking and making and students learn to articulate their creative process while developing a distinctive design language and identity. As students explore approaches to fashion/clothing as an embodied discipline, they investigate the sense orientated potential for their designs. Classes are navigated through group work, tutorial-based sessions, cross-disciplinary prompts and critiques.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Apparel Design Students. 

Major Requirement | BFA Apparel Design