Encouraging 360° Thinking in Fashion Design
Micro Teaching Lesson Plan:
20 minutes:
1pm: (for the purposes of this micro teaching where I couldn’t ask students to prepare) Ask the students to find 4 pieces of paper (can be newspaper, brow paper etc…) any size, but needs to be a rectangle shape, and some coloured pens for the workshop.
1.02pm: Introduce the workshop and explain the context behind it, why I am asking the students to do it, to get them to look at 360 silhouettes. Designing for the body is NOT 2D! it’s about:
<Front,
<Left side,
<Back,
<Right side,
Full 360.
1.05pm: Show the students about how to do “consequences” folding the paper etc.
1.07pm: Explain about the themes
There are 4 themes:
<Gothic
<Brutalism
<Clowns
<Traditionalist
Start with the back
1.08pm: Start the drawings
Front:
Head
<Fold
Body
<Fold
legs
<Fold
Shoes
1.11pm:
Left Side:
Head
<Fold
Body
<Fold
legs
<Fold
Shoes
Back
Head
<Fold
Body
<Fold
legs
<Fold
Shoes
1.14pm:
Right side
Head
<Fold
Body
<Fold
Legs
<Fold
Shoes
1.17pm: Unfold all 4 drawings and share – hold up to screen, talk about 360 and how these drawings can be developed and mashed up or collaged into different looks.
1.20pm: Finish
Context:
Teaching Fashion design I see so many students struggle with designing the 360 silhouette, they often just consider the front of the design, and not who they are designing for, or full looks , top of the head – tip of the toe ! My micro-teaching session aimed to help fashion design students think beyond 2D sketches and consider the entire body—front, back, left, and right.
I did show a colourful clown object with distinct designs on all sides as inspiration, however the main object/s would be those 4 pieces of folded consequences that the students made.
To achieve this, I used a hands-on approach where students created their own designs using the “consequences” method, typically a drawing game where different sections are drawn without seeing the whole body.
Each student folded paper and sequentially drew a muse-inspired outfit.They did this 4 times Front, Back, Left side , Right side. To guide their creativity for the drawing, I provided themes—Victorian, Brutalist Architecture, Clown, Wobbly, Traditional, and Water Gothic—I used words/themes often used by in fashion design students. I also emphasised the importance of designing from head to toe.
At the end, students reviewed their drawings as 3D design references, moving beyond flat sketches. These objects/ drawings would then be used as a starting point for designing a collection of looks.
Feedback was positive—students found the exercise fun and engaging. However, they noted that abstract themes were easier to interpret than some cultural references.
Reflecting on the session, I see potential for refining this method, timing and theme choices, but it was effective in shifting students’ perspectives toward 360° design. Developing this workshop further could enhance understanding of silhouette and full-body design in fashion.
