Summer College/Adult

Half-Day Course - Summer 1

3 U.S. credits recommended
Language of instruction: English

This course is an immersive introduction to fashion industries and their management strategies. Students will explore the relationships between innovation, design, production and marketing. The course also provides an overview of the Parisian high-end fashion market and its key actors, from designers to retailers. Through the visits to Paris luxury stores and showrooms, students will gain an overall understanding of today’s fashion business.

Online Course

Students learn to approach management as a strategic process that combines design innovation and business knowledge. In collaborative projects, they develop problem-solving skills and familiarity with design strategies through the application of research methods, prototyping, and quantitative analysis. Emphasis is placed on understanding a European setting and perspective and the way entrepreneurs, business innovators, and designers operate at the intersection of design and management. Students engage in design thinking and business strategy exercises, applying these approaches in a broad range of enterprises and real-world business contexts.

All-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

This course introduces students to various approaches and techniques involved in the design process for fashion products. Working on projects individually and in groups, students develop fashion concepts for which they draw on the unique resources of Paris and explore how fabrication methods and color affect collections. Students are also introduced to branding and merchandising basics used to identify and create work for targeted markets and consumers.

Half-Day Studio Course

Summer 1 and 2

With the advent of the internet, there has been a shift in the ways fashion, its objects and its images are produced and consumed. Online fashion shows, live shopping events, fashion talks sponsored by luxury brands, fashion virtual games and the increasing attention of brands towards Big data are transforming the fashion system and its hierarchies. This course explores this shift focusing on contemporary fashion and its unique relation with the new media. Via workshops, visits and discussions with guest speakers, the course opens up multiple perspectives on the fashion media industry, the emergence of new figures and its wider social and cultural dimensions. A particular attention we will be given to the proliferation of fashion in media platforms like Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter and the increasing popularization - via social media - of politics and discourse on the social role of fashion. The course will investigate key-topics such as the shift from print to digital media, online consumption and identity formation; technological innovation and VR gaming, the emergence of IG fashion influencers in neo-liberal economies, the role of social media in fostering the emergence of discourses on inclusivity, equity and race.

All-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

This course introduces students to painting as both a fundamental part of the design process and an integral tool for media arts of all kinds. Students will learn basic concepts of painting such as color theory, composition, and techniques for using water based paints. Drawing will also be taught as a means for observation and representation. Traditional and nontraditional methods, media, and theories of painting are all explored. Time will be dedicated for students to develop a personal project.

All-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

This is an intensive drawing course in Paris. The goal is to develop eye, hand and mind coordination, plus an understanding and enjoyment of methods and materials. There will be short lessons, discussions on classical and contemporary artists, still life drawing, figure drawing and composition exercises in the studio. Numerous visits to museums, exhibitions and public places around Paris will support the learning process and allow students to work outside the studio.

Half-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

This course is an immersive introduction to communication strategies in fashion and luxury companies. Students learn how to create and foster dialogue between a fashion brand and consumers. The seminars and workshops cover a range of topics such as semiotic resources for brand identity, advertising and event management, experiential marketing, digital and interactive marketing, fashion journalism, and fashion public relations in the digital age. In addition, the course offers a Parisian perspective of luxury company strategies and investigates heritage management strategies from a communication perspective.

All-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

This is an intense fashion illustration course where students will explore Paris fashion in relation to local places, fashion history, and today's people in the city, through drawing as an investigative and representation tool. The course will investigate the Parisian fashion landscape and explore fundamental basic techniques focusing on the body, movement and fashion, themes that will be further explored and developed through experimental model drawing sessions, fashion research and illustration, as well as pattern and color workshops.

Half-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

Today the discourse about cultural heritage and local patrimony is at the center of a variety of public and private activities about design and fashion. While the organization of events such as “Le Journées Européenne du Patrimoine” are including fashion houses and ateliers, the concept of ‘heritage’ has been recently employed in new and sometimes controversial manner by private and public institutions. This course explores this field looking at the intersections between the current discourse on heritage, patrimony and memory – with a particular attention on its relation with design and fashion. Through visits to major Parisian fashion archives and talks by experts from private and public museums, the course will interrogate what is fashion heritage in Paris and its multiple forms. Starting from UNESCO’s definition and activities on cultural heritage, students will investigate the tensions between: the idea of heritage and patrimony; hierarchies and power in the identification of heritage; and the use of national, regional and city identity in the construction of personal and collective memories.

All-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

Students will learn how to analyze fashion photography using interdisciplinary tools, from history to sociology and semiotics. In parallel, students will experiment practical photography techniques at a professional level in order to be able to produce a fashion shoot, from the preliminary research to the final realization in collaboration with a model. Workshops, field trips, and exhibitions are also proposed during the course.

Half-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

This course will focus on the making of contemporary fashion imagery following a professional brief. It will offer an introduction to various fashion media. It will shed light on the sequences that lead to a strong fashion editorial concept and to the creation of an original narrative and its visual translation. Students will become familiar with the most cutting-edge fashion stylists, photographers and editors in the Parisian fashion scene. They will learn to select models, choose and assemble garments and accessories, and prepare professional shoots. The course concludes with the creation of a personal stylist portfolio.

All-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

Graphic design is everywhere around you—websites, advertising, clothing, packaging and publications. It is a medium in which words and images merge to communicate powerful messages. In this hands-on course, students learn to expand their creative problem-solving techniques using dynamic layout, form, typography, and content. Through projects, students learn to employ narrative and storytelling methods and engage in design research, analysis, documentation, and implementation. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between creative and critical thinking skills and the designer’s role within the professional arena. Topics covered include creation of the elements of brand identity programs, such as logos, publications (including zines), advertisements, and websites. This is an intermediate level course open to college students. Basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator is required.

All-Day Course

Summer 1 and 2

How do you tell a story through images, or accompany a written text visually? This course explores many forms of visual storytelling using a mixed media approach: drawing, painting, collage, digital renderings and more. Paris serves as the backdrop for exploration of French artists, illustrators and cartoonists through history. Course field trips to various Parisian neighborhoods provide points of departure for individual exploration. Visits to exhibitions and museum collections cover different stylistic, conceptual and material approaches.

Classes will be held at Parsons Paris, located at 45 rue Saint-Roch in the first arrondissement, which is a short walk from the Louvre and Opéra Garnier. Many classes will also meet in locations throughout the city, ranging from art and design exhibition settings to architectural landmarks and parks, with coursework complemented by excursions and day trips.

The total cost is $6,920 for one session (Summer 1 OR 2) or $12,980 for both sessions (Summer 1 and 2). Fee includes housing, subway passes, insurance, and the cost of excursions.

Parsons Paris partners with Academic Programs International (API), our preferred partner specializing in study abroad, to enroll you and provide on-site support services.

Visit API’s Summer Art and Design page to learn more. There, you can apply by clicking the yellow "Apply Now" button in the top right-hand corner to create an online account and gather necessary materials and complete the application. Required materials include the following:

• Grade report 
• Letter of recommendation
• Course registration form

Within two to three business days of receipt of your application, an API program manager will review your application and then email you to inform you if you’ve been accepted and provide next steps.

Students confirm their participation by submitting a $400 deposit and an Intent-to-Enroll form (ITE). You can register for courses only after your deposit and ITE items have been received.

You have until the final payment deadline to complete your remaining post-acceptance forms and make payments.

College and adult students receive detailed travel instructions upon their acceptance into the program and then purchase their own tickets. Students arriving by air are met at the airport by on-site staff on the program start date. (The cost of travel from Charles de Gaulle is included in the program fee.)

Housing is included in the tuition; meals are not. (Upon arrival, students will be provided with information about affordable local dining options near the Parsons Paris building and their accommodations.)

Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (one-hour break)

For most courses, students can take morning sessions (9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon), afternoon sessions (1:00 to 4:00 p.m.), or a combination of both.

Besides the Parsons Paris campus, many classes will also meet in locations throughout the city, ranging from art and design exhibition settings to architectural landmarks and parks, with coursework complemented by excursions and day trips.

All Summer Intensive Studies Paris students earn three U.S. college credits (or six for Luxury Design Management) upon successful completion of the course. Students can earn up to six credits per session.

Participants are strongly encouraged to consult an academic advisor at their home institution before registration to confirm any details related to the approval and transfer of credits as well as fulfillment of graduation requirements.

Transcripts for Parsons students are issued by the Registrar's Office and carry the signature and seal of The New School. A transcript is confirmation of a student's permanent record at the university. Students who complete Summer Intensive Studies in Paris may request that their transcript(s) be mailed to other colleges and institutions by submitting an official request to the Registrar's Office.

Classes are project based and intensive, requiring daily homework and time for independent study. Students provide their own materials and supplies. Instructors will email a list of supplies to students who must bring materials to the first day of class.

Please contact Courtney Kovacs, API Paris Program Manager for Summer Pre-College and College/Adult Programs, with further questions.