#CareersInArt, Fashion Design

Fashion Design was such a fun unit! I wanted to make sure when I was introducing this career in Art, that I was representing more than our local culture. I wanted to give students a bigger view of what fashion can mean. To help me with this, I visited the Northwest Suburban Integration School District.

NWSISD is a Multicultural Resource Center that provides educators with resources for creating culturally responsive learning environments. Our district belongs to the group of districts that benefit from this service.  I simply sent an email with my request and soon a tote of multicultural resources showed up at my front office. These include dolls, books, story quilts and other artworks to display, as well as clothing for my students to try on. 

This unit of study was two class sessions (an hour each).  I played the video below to give some prompts as to what options were available. 

I did take pictures of all the homeroom teachers to let the students design new outfits. However, that portion of this lesson bombed.  I don't even have a sample to share with you. I would offer that differently in the future... maybe with collage. 

The paper rubbings, on the other hand, were a great option for students who wanted to make a physical artwork that they could take home.  Some students used the resources in the room for their inspiration. Click here to see the rubbing plates that were created for this option. 

The number one option both weeks was 'dressing up'. Students love the clothes that were offered from NWSISD.  I also provided sheets, belts, jewelry, and paper for students to create their own styles with.

I was totally amazed by my students when one class put together a fashion show.  The first class was very impromptu. They rolled out some paper for a catwalk and they had an announcer. They also demanded music to 'walk the walk' too.  I recorded the fashion show and showed the next class the video. They loved the idea and repeated the activity, but this time added a fashion show director (seen below with his "clipboard").  I recorded again and showed a third class. They too loved the idea, recreated it for their group and added judges who rated the outfits. You can see where this is going.  Students continued to develop upon the learning of the class before.

Below is the inspiration fashion show. The first one created... 

This was a later fashion show.  You can see how the students create a more organized event by learning from the class before them.

The class that did the fashion show on the first day of this unit didn't want to recreate that again, so they instead set up a fashion shoot. These kids blew my mind.  This whole activity was impromptu and student driven. They asked for a backdrop.  I used one of the sheets I had in the room and wrapped a door with it. They asked for an iPad.  I set it up for them on an iPad stand. They did the rest.. creating costumes, advising poses, taking the pictures, editing, and cropping.

These are some of the amazing images that the class took! We have everything from high fashion to Starwars inspired.  The image below, the students even chose to make black and white.  I was in awe of these images.  The creativity and talent that these 9 year-olds are showing me this year with this #CareersInArt series, is amazing!!