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Minor
Fashion Studies

Fashion Studies

Minor in Fashion Studies

Explore a diverse range of perspectives on the critical interpretation and practice of fashion through this cross-school undergraduate minor. Courses support a wide range of students: from those with an enthusiasm for fashion to those seeking careers in the fashion industry and further studies through programs like NYU Steinhardt’s Costume Studies MA.

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Degree Details

Official Degree Title

Minor, Fashion Studies

Format
Full-time or Part-time
Credits
16

What You'll Learn

The 16-credit, 4-course Fashion Studies minor provides a versatile pathway into the field of fashion. You’ll become fluent in the terminology, history, and theoretical frameworks necessary to understand fashion as a cultural force. After completing two core courses, you can tailor the minor to your educational and professional goals through electives in curation, fashion politics, brand development, and more. 

Spanning five of NYU’s global campuses and study away sites, this interdisciplinary minor situates fashion in an international context. Whether you are curious about fashion, want to work in design and marketing, or hope to pursue graduate research in fashion or textile studies, Fashion Studies provides a strong analytical and practical foundation for your next steps

For further information on the Fashion Studies minor, please contact artadvising@nyu.edu.

Core Courses

Core courses for the minor are typically offered in both fall and spring. ARCS-UE 1088 is additionally offered as a summer course.

ARCS-UE 1088 Fashion in Context, 4 credits
Why do fashion designers and brands exert such influence in contemporary society? What explains the trajectory from The House of Worth to Chanel to this season’s hottest label? This course investigates the interlocking forces shaping fashion: the designer system, celebrities, technology, politics, the arts and media. Through lectures and film viewings, readings, discussions, and individual research, students explore fashion as a crucial aspect of culture with an emphasis on how the contemporary fashion system evolved from its roots in Parisian couture to become a global phenomenon.

ARCS-UE 1098 How to (analyze) Fashion, 4 credits
This course is a how-to manual for students who are interested in fashion, but don’t know how to explore it. It offers a toolbox of theoretical concepts, interdisciplinary scholarship, and historical and contemporary case studies. Students learn to ask questions like: How is taste mapped onto bodies in social space? Who works in fashion, and how is this work classified? How do images and clothes (both new and old) circulate around the globe? What does the science of sustainability look like? And, where is the body in fashion’s new digital imaginaries?

Electives

Steinhardt 
ARCS-UE 1099 Paris to New York: 19th Century Fashion
ART-UE 1421 Design Studio for Non-Majors: Wearable Design (Prerequisites: ART-UE 401 Drawing I for Non-Majors and ART-UE 402 Drawing II for Non-Majors) 
MCC-UE 1345 Fashion and Power 
ARCS-GE 2078 History of Textiles: The Modern Era (juniors and seniors only; by faculty permission) 

Gallatin 
ARTS-UG-1437 Fashion as Art: Contemporary Collaborations 
IDSEM-UG 1563 Women’s Text(iles) 
IDSEM-UG 1956 Fashion and Socialism: The Politics of Dress in the Cold War Era 
IDSEM-UG 1618 Media and Fashion 
IDSEM-UG 2282 Fashion and Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (new course, offered Fall 2025) 
PRACT-UG 1301 Practicum in Fashion Business (enrollment by application only; preference is given to Gallatin students) 
PRACT-UG 1350 Advanced Practicum in Fashion Business (enrollment by application only; preference is given to Gallatin students)

Global Programs on behalf of Gallatin, Steinhardt, and TSOA 
IDSEM-UG 9051 West African Fashion: Concepts, History, and Utility (Gallatin, Accra)* 
IDSEM-UG 9200 History of Italian Fashion (Gallatin, Florence)* 
IDSEM-UG 9252 History of British Fashion (Gallatin, London)* 
IDSEM-UG 9254 Fashion, Culture & The Body (Gallatin, London)* 
PRACT-UG 9200 Global Fashion Industry: Italy (Gallatin, Florence)* 
PRACT-UG 9250 Global Fashion Industry: Britain (Gallatin, London)* 
REMU-UT 1189 The Sound of Fashion: Music's Influence on Iconic Fashion Brands (TSOA Recorded Music, Berlin) 
MCC-UE 9345 Fashion and Power (Steinhardt, Paris) 
IPHTI-UT 1133 Introduction to Fashion Photography (TSOA, Florence; Spring only) 
IFMP 5 Luxury Aesthetics (Gallatin/IFM Institut Français de la Mode, Paris; Spring only)* 
B2S1 Fashion Branding (Gallatin/IFM Institut Français de la Mode, Paris; Spring only)* 
B2S2 Introduction to the World of Retail (Gallatin/IFM Institut Français de la Mode, Paris; Spring only)*

NYU Shanghai 
IMBX-SHU 262 Global Beauty Industry 
IMBX-SHU 263 Fashion Industry in East Asia 
INTM-SHU 185 Interactive Fashion 
EAP-SHU 100N English for Academic Purposes: Fashion Consciousness  

College of Arts and Sciences 
SCA-UA 253 Couture/Culture: Fashion and Globalization 
ITAL-UA 410 La Bella Figura: Self and National Identity in Italian Fashion 

Stern 
MKTG-UB 89 Retail Management & Merchandising (Prerequisite: MKTG-UB Intro to Marketing) 

*A limited number of seats are available for students outside of Gallatin Fashion programs.