New York is known as one of the fashion capitals of the world. Many of the groundbreaking designs that ultimately make it to the runway during New York Fashion Week had their start in local communities throughout the City.
This course will take you on an anthropological expedition of New York’s 5 boroughs, using fashion as the lens. We will explore the impact that New York’s unique and multifaceted cultural landscape has on local fashion trends, using Harlem as a specific example.
You'll learn how fashion in Harlem has evolved, while always remaining innovative and empowering. You’ll get a chance to visit the best local boutiques and speak to pioneering fashion artisans, all while browsing the racks for clues about the neighborhood’s culture. We will end the course with an examination of your own home countries and the fashion trends that best exemplify your culture.
This course is designed for students who would like to become more familiar with New York’s unique fashion landscape. Students will also leave with a deeper, more authentic, understanding of New York’s local communities and the people who live here.
• Credit for 36 educational hours or 3.6 CEUs (Continuing Education Units).
• There is a pre-assignment for this course. Students will receive their pre-assignment via email one week before the first class.
Course Price: $359
Tuition for class includes:
• Public transportation pass (Metrocard) to get around New York City with your teacher.
• All costs associated with the class. (There are no material fees or activity fees!)
Schedule
• Friday: 10:00am - 4:00pm Class is in the classroom and out in the city today.
• Saturday: 10:00am - 5:30pm. Students will meet at BMCC, Harlem campus. The day will be spent both in the classroom and out in the city.
• Sunday: 10:00am - 2:30pm. Students will be both in the classroom and out in the city.
Mikaila Brown is a fashion anthropologist, who has a doctorate in Anthropology and Education from Columbia University and over 10 years of work experience with domestic and international non-profits.
During these years of working as a consultant, she honed the skill of identifying the needs of a particular community and aligning them with the services provided by their local agencies. She applied these same skills when she left the nonprofit sector to pursue a lifelong dream of working in the fashion industry.
After working for designers like Oscar de la Renta, Pamela Roland and Betsey Johnson, she launched a socially conscious fashion line in 2011. Most recently, she has further integrated her anthropological background and fashion experience to create The Common Thread Project, which highlights cultural diversities within the fashion industry by investigating the style trends of local, underrepresented fashion communities. She shares this knowledge with the public by offering cultural shopping tours through AirBnB’s new experiential arm.
She is also currently a senior lecturer in Cornell’s Fiber Science and Apparel Design department.