Fashion Communication: A Thread Connecting Students to the World

Abstract

Globally, Fashion Communication (FCO) remains a relatively new discipline in higher education, acknowledging a need to train more in effectively communicating messages for fashion businesses and consumers. At a Midwestern school, the discipline is the focus of an undergraduate degree program that takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining courses in fashion, media, business, and graphic design. Within the major’s course curriculum, opportunities exist to infuse concepts about international affairs to heighten awareness and engage communicators in responsibly interpreting and disseminating information such to audiences. Through the lens of significant-learning pedagogy and the contextual model of intercultural communication, this case study describes an assignment in a Fashion Journalism course, where students self-reflect on their own identity and practice intercultural communication skills to interview wearers of the hijab for a story. The analysis will include observations and semi-structured interviews with the students, a textual analysis of their stories, and a reflection of my experience teaching the course.