CCL002 - Fashion & Diversity for the Professional Environment

Course Description

Offered by SMU Fashion Media in partnership with 
The Fashion and Race Database

Get acquainted with the workings of fashion and dress for today’s world. In an increasingly globalized industry, the complexities of dress, identity, and media representation are more pronounced than ever. Decisions made without cultural awareness can harm brands, damage careers, and affect real lives.

Through readings, lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities, this course equips working professionals to think critically about race, ethnicity, and gender — and prepares them to lead thoughtfully in the fashion space.

This noncredit program is designed for students, fashion enthusiasts and working professionals responsible for creative directions, messaging and decision-making in the fashion world.

Meet Your Instructors 

Kimberly Jenkins, M.A.
Founder and Director of The Fashion and Race Database (FRD). Since 2016, Kimberly has developed creative, research-based projects and public programming that examine the intersection of fashion and race, exploring how the construct of race has shaped beauty standards, representation in retail and photography, and broader systems of power. Her academic work has led to consulting partnerships with leaders across the business of fashion.

Laura Beltrán-Rubio, Ph.D.
Curator, researcher, and educator specialized in Latin American and Indigenous textile and fashion arts. Her mission is to diversify global fashion by building bridges between the industry and academia. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from William & Mary and an M.A. in Fashion Studies from Parsons School of Design. Outside the FRD, she is Lecturer in Design Cultures at De Montfort University (UK) and hosts the podcast and YouTube channel Redressing Fashion.

Course Outline

The program is organized into four modules:

• Module I: Design 
  Appropriation and influence, refashioning history and diversity in design education
• Module II: Business
  Labor, sustainability and social responsibility
• Module III: Imagemaking
  Representation, subject formation and meaning and symbolism
• Module IV: Narrative & Storytelling
  Reclaiming and expanding narratives, decolonizing fashion and cultural awareness

Each module includes assigned readings, podcasts, and video content, followed by an applied exercise and a review quiz. Exercises range from analyzing objects in the FRD's archive to developing visual campaigns, manifestos, and personal design-ethos statements, providing participants with tangible work samples they can bring into their professional practice.

Learner Outcomes

By the end of this program, you will be able to:

• Apply foundational theories to systemic issues at the intersection of fashion, race and power
• Think critically about the relationship between fashion and race in their own work
• Use methodologies from visual and material culture studies to reframe fashion history and dominant narratives
• Recognize and problematize existing media imagery, narratives, and design;  and imagine solutions for a more diverse fashion system

Complete this program and earn a digital badge from SMU to add to your resume, LinkedIn profile and professional portfolios. 

Notes

About the Partnership

Developed in partnership with The Fashion and Race Database (FRD), this program draws on a body of research that examines how fashion, race, and culture shape the way we interact with the world — from individual self-expression to the broader systems that define beauty standards, retail, and representation. The FRD's interdisciplinary scope spans political science, psychology, anthropology, sociology, fashion design, fashion journalism, textile design, business, and media studies, providing lessons and programming that create a roadmap for lasting change in the fashion system.

SMU Fashion Media
Fashion Media programs prepare students for a range of careers through coursework, professional opportunities and a supportive community in the fashion-savvy city of Dallas.
 

The Fashion and Race Database (FRD)
FRD is an online educational platform and research archive that explores how the construct of race has shaped fashion history, aesthetics, cultural identity, and industry practices.