The Reasons Behind Bunka Fashion College's New 'Virtual Fashion Course' and Their Future Vision for Fashion Education

The second installment of our feature 'Fashion Tech & Education' introduces the efforts of Bunka Fashion College, a fashion school that has produced more than 300,000 graduates in the fashion industry and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Established in 1923, Bunka Fashion College was the first school in Japan authorized for clothing education. Collaborating with the growth and development of the industry, it has built its reputation as a leading fashion education institution representing Japan.
 
From the 1970s up to the present, many designers such as Kenzo Takada, Junko Koshino, Yohji Yamamoto, Jun Takahashi, NIGO®, Akira Minagawa, Junichi Abe, Hiromichi Ochiai, Hidenori Kumakiri, Yoshiyuki Miyamae, Ryota Iwai, and Takuya Morikawa have been active.
 
This traditional fashion school is introducing a new 'Virtual Fashion Course' in 2024 for students in the third year of the Apparel Technology Department in the fashion technology program. The course aims to cultivate 3D modelers who can excel not only in the fashion industry but also with the most advanced digital skills and technology.
 
This time, we asked Sachiko Aihara, Dean of Bunka Fashion College, and Satoshi Tokuoka, a full-time lecturer at the college who launched the course, about why they decided to establish the Virtual Fashion Course, its purpose, strategy, and future development.

Background of Engagement with Fashion Tech

The fashion tech education at Bunka Fashion College began in 2019 when the college was commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to promote next-generation fashion education as part of the 'Model Curriculum Development Project Envisioning the Society5.0 Era in the Fashion Field.'

As a related project, the college held the 'Fashion Tech Seminar 2020,' and amidst growing interest in the digitalization of the fashion industry, developed a new education model focused on fashion tech.

Even before this, there was a desire within the college to utilize technology in fashion education. In this context, the participation of young faculty members in this project heightened the momentum towards fashion tech, explains Dean Aihara:

"Prior to the establishment of this new course, in 2021, we launched the 'Fashion Promotion Course' as a second-year elective course in the Department of Fashion Distribution. Unlike traditional fashion education, this course focuses on mastering promotion skills using digital media.

"The faculty members who participated in the project insisted that 'digital media will be important in the future fashion industry', and that was the spark.

"Responding to their enthusiasm, when we finally launched it, there was a rush of nearly 100 students wanting to enroll. Initially, it started with one class, but we had to increase it to two.

"Taking that into account, Professor Tokuoka from the Department of Fashion Technology also appealed to me that a Virtual Fashion Course would be necessary and he himself was preparing by attending school to enhance his expertise."

Tokuoka, who returned to his alma mater to teach after working as a pattern maker in a company following his graduation from Bunka Fashion College, has been a faculty member for 10 years. Although his main expertise was in pattern making and sewing, he started questioning whether he should continue only sewing after seeing the expansion of 3D use in the fashion industry.

"About six years ago, I started seeing 3D around me and initially thought, '3D looks cool'. But as soon as I got hands-on with CLO, I realized that it was an absolutely necessary tool in the process of making apparel products in the near future. I then started studying on my own.

"After that, I formed a research group with my colleagues from the same period, presented our research results within the school, and started providing single lectures to students a few years ago.

"In the meantime, as the movement in the fashion industry surrounding 3D dramatically changed, the school also started thinking that we should cultivate 3D modelers who can respond to the transformation of fashion. Then, two summers ago, I was directly approached by Dean Aihara to establish a Virtual Fashion Course."