Textile education. Today’s textile students tackle the here & now.
If you love working with textiles and wish you could be making a living in the area, is 2009 the year you start looking at options? This month ‘get creative’ steps inside the hallowed halls of one of Australasia’s most respected fashion and textile education bodies, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and finds out what goes on, at a practical  level, within the School of Fashion and Textiles.
Situated only five kilometres from the Melbourne CBD, RMIT’s Brunswick campus prides itself on presenting industry focused education, training and research across the textiles, clothing and footwear supply chain. Vocational programs for apprentices and trainees are conducted here, along with a wide range of TAFE Certificate and Diploma programs.
Everything from fibre production and textile technology to textile and fashion design, garment production, merchandising, marketing, retailing and even dry cleaning can be studied. One thing that sometimes puts would-be students off pursuing their dreams is the fear that they do not have the formal entry level requirements demanded by modern educators.
“It’s fair to say that when you come to the Brunswick campus you are going to be working on the side of fashion that feeds directly into stores,” says Sarah Tedesco, Marketing Officer for the School. “You don’t need to come in straight from VCE. Entrance is based on your folio and an interview. It’s probably best suited to those with practical talents... You’re working in areas relevant to the industry here and now. There are a lot of hands-on elements to the work our students do whether that is sewing and drawing or pattern making and so forth. We have a mixture of age groups.”
Of course at RMIT’s City campus, the higher education (degree) courses are offered. There, a four-year degree program focuses on design innovation and issues such as conceptual and analytical thinking alongside practical skills. Post graduate courses at the City campus include the (Fashion) Master of Arts by Research and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
Nevertheless, if you begin studies within the School of Fashion and Textiles there’s no reason why, along the way, you can’t move into undergraduate studies within RMIT. So, in theory, students could articulate into the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) offered by RMIT’s School of Architecture and Design.
Rebecca Gully, Lecturer - Fashion Architecture and Design, RMIT University, is based at the City campus so has first hand experience with students who’ve crossed over.
“It’s not that we don’t do what TAFE does, it’s what we do in addition to what they do,” she explains. “And the crucial thing that we teach is the design process, in other words, how to research and develop ideas.
“Our students learn patternmaking and garment construction but they also learn history - of art, fashion and society - so they can place work in a broader context. And they learn how to research and develop original ideas from scratch... they come out understanding what I refer to as a sustainable design process - i.e. they cannot run out of ideas as they are continually referencing the world around them.”
Diploma courses like the one offered at Brunswick are shorter than degree courses. For instance, the Diploma of Applied Fashion Design and Technology is a two year full time program designed for those who want to work in the design and production area of the fashion industry.
The Disciplines offered at the School of Fashion and Textiles are fashion design and technology, footwear, fashion and textile merchandising, textile design and textile technology.
The Screen Print and Studio Textile Design program is one that would tempt many a practical and creative person. Students get to explore print, weave, knit, tapestry and experimental textiles. The enormous, well lit studios where they study are abuzz with activity and include large looms and other equipment, not to mention samples of work such as the triptych tapestry of RMIT’s City, Brunswick and Bundoora campuses destined for public exhibition.
“Our facilities include computer laboratories, weaving, knitting, drawing and tapestry studios, as well as a newly renovated screen printing studio,” says Sarah.
The course encourages innovation and personal artistic development with the help of teachers, many of whom are practising artists and designers with specialist industry and art experience.
Lecturer, Luise Adams, embodies the commercially savvy staff employed by the School. She’s worked for Jockey, Boydex International, Simon de Winter and the Austin Group and designed everything from underwear and surfwear to homewares, napery and linen. Away from the classroom, she produces a range of gift cards sold at markets and boutiques.
The Textile Technology and Production program turns out professionally qualified textile technologists, able to work in fields as varied as medicine and automotives, as well as apparel, furnishing and interiors.
Basic sciences are integrated to provide a launching pad for new discoveries and innovations, making this an exciting area to work in.
“Recently, for instance, our students have been developing environmental textiles that adapt to changing environmental conditions,” explains Sarah.
Cool Schools
RMIT- School of Fashion and Textiles:
www.rmit.edu.au/fashionandtextiles [rmit.edu.au]
Fashion/Textiles at University of Technology, Sydney:
www.uts.edu.au [uts.edu.au]
Textiles at Massey University Wellington New Zealand
www.massey.ac.nz [massey.ac.nz]
Textiles/Fashion at Auckland University New Zealand
www.auckland.ac.nz [auckland.ac.nz]

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