About
The School of Fashion has a strong international reputation rooted in from over 65 years of leadership in fashion education.
Our Vision
As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, new skills, knowledges, practices and paradigms are required for continued leadership in the fashion industry. The School of Fashion prepares students for the future by equipping aspiring fashion creatives to RE-DESIGN THE WORLD.
As a fashion school, we consider how to integrate sustainable design and production practices that protect workers and the earth, how to value craft and quality over newness and speed, how to decolonize the fashion industry and foster Indigenous fashion resurgence, how to support transgender and non-binary fashion collections, as well as what impact we want our work to have on the fashion industry and the world today, tomorrow and for the next seven generations. By centring new worldviews and actions, the School of Fashion will further our legacy of leadership in the fashion industry.
Our Values
The School aims to transform the fashion industry by centring inclusive, decolonized and sustainable approaches to fashion through our teaching, research and creative activities as well as, our industry and community partnerships. The transformation is fueled by changes in industry, education, and culture. We value new creative design processes, techniques and methods that recognize and honour tradition while critically challenging convention and social norms, with a global perspective.
Our Goals
Housed within the Faculty of Communication & Design (FCAD), alongside eight of Canada’s best university programs for creative and cultural industries, we are part of a rich, interdisciplinary community at Ryerson. FCAD connects faculty and students across its programs to provide innovative course offerings, technical resources, research opportunities, creative projects, and community collaborations.
The School of Fashion has a long tradition of nurturing students to become leading fashion makers, thinkers and doers equipped to systemtically transform the Canadian and global fashion system, as well as respond to and instigate new ideas in the ever-evolving fashion landscape.
Fashion at Ryerson – by the Numbers:
Media Mentions
Monthly media highlights of our Faculty and Leadership Team.
Faculty and staff can use this google formform, external link to submit additional content.
Cheap fast fashion or expensive slow fashion? Where is the future of sustainable fashion?, external link (SOHU.com (Online))
Date: Aug 23, 2020
Quotes Prof. Anika Kozlowski, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Canadian Designer Spotlight: Mic. Carter On Making Fashion More Gender-Fluid, external link (Elle Canada (Online))
Date: Aug 26, 2020
Carter developed and taught the first-ever course on non-binary design at Ryerson University's School of Fashion last year.
Kimberly M. Jenkins on Her Revamped Fashion and Race Database and the Need for Change, external link(Vogue (Online))
Date: Jul 08, 2020
Features Prof. Kimberly M. Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD
Scholar Kimberly Jenkins on fashion, race and Viola Davis's Vanity Fair cover, external link (NOW Toronto (Online))
Date: Jul 17, 2020
Features Prof. Kimberly Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Kimberly Jenkins Wants to Help Decolonize Our Understanding of Fashion, external link (Fashionista (online))
Date: Jul 16, 2020
Features Prof. Kimberly Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Canadians disrupt fashion industry with clothing for people with disabilities, external link (CTV Toronto (Online))
Date: Jul 20, 2020
Alexa Jovanovic, a 24-year-old recent graduate of Ryerson University's Faculty of Communication and Design... turned her love of fashion and beadwork into an innovative idea, creating "Braille in Fashion," a fashion line for the blind.
Fashion that's inclusive for all, external link (Citytv Montreal (Online))
Date: Jul 20, 2020
Story on Ryerson fashion grad Alexa Jovanovic's "Braille in Fashion," a fashion line for the blind.
Ryerson fashion professor Kimberly Jenkins on her Fashion and Race Database, external link (TheLoop.ca (Online))
Date: Jul 21, 2020
Features interview with Prof. Kimberly Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
etalk, external link (CTV Saint John CKLT TV)
Date: Jul 21, 2020
Airtime: 18:19
Interview with Prof. Kimberly Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD, on her fashion and race database.
Far-right 'boogaloo' movement is using Hawaiian shirts to hide its intentions, external link (The Conversation CA (Online))
Date: Jul 22, 2020
A piece by Prof. Henry Navarro Delgado, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Reading Canada's coronavirus outbreak in the faces of Toronto's citizens, external link (Washington Post (Online))
Date: Jul 24, 2020
Quotes Prof. Alison Matthews David, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Lire l'épidémie de coronavirus canadien sur le visage des résidents de Toronto (Reading Canada's coronavirus outbreak in the faces of Toronto's citizens), external link (News 24 (Online))
Date: Jul 24, 2020
Quotes Prof. Alison Matthews David, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Queer Crip Fashion: For Standing Out, Proudly, external link (Refinery29 (Online))
Date: Jul 24, 2020
Quotes Prof. Ben Barry, chair of the Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
A style connoisseur's virtual exhibition catalogue for physically distanced times, external link (The Globe and Mail (Online))
Date: Jul 24, 2020
Features Fashion & Race Database project by Prof. Kimberly Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Are These Shirts The Next Far-Right Symbol?, external link (The National Interest (Online))
Date: Jul 27, 2020
A piece by Prof. Henry Navarro Delgado, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Made Your Statement Yet? Actions Speak Louder than Words, external link (Cultured Magazine (Online))
Date: Jun 17, 2020
Mentions Prof. Kimberly Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD, was hired by Gucci to be an in-house scholar after the company's 2019 blackface debacle, to teach employees about how race has a role in forming standards of beauty.
Fresh Air, external link (89.1 CBC Radio One Paris (CBLA-FM-2))
Date: Jun 07, 2020
Airtime: 08:17
Interview with Prof. Anika Kozlowski, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD, on brands merchandising around COVID-19 pandemic.
How wearing masks will change us, external link (VOX (Online))
Date: Jun 08, 2020
Quotes Prof. Alison Matthews David, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
What Does It Mean to Be a Mission-Driven Brand Now?, external link (The Business of Fashion (Online))
Date: Jun 08, 2020
Quotes Prof. Kim Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Pandemic style revolution; Virus restrictions could be death knell for gut-pinching waistbands of 'business casual', external link (Times Colonist)
Date: Jun 02, 2020
Quotes Prof. Ben Barry, chair of the Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
The new frontier for fashion and politics, external link (Vogue Business (Online))
Date: Jun 03, 2020
Quotes Prof. Kim Jenkins, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Rethinking denim jeans, the most wasteful item you own, external link (Usa Today Post - Entertainment)
Date: Jun 03, 2020
Quotes Prof. Anika Kozlowski, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
, external linkSweats are in, slacks are out: Could 'work-leisure' become business as usual?, external link (CTV News (Online))
Date: May 31, 2020
Quotes Prof. Ben Barry, chair of the Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD. *, external linkAlso picked up by over 75 media outlets.The Problem with Quarantine Merchandise, external link
(Flare (Online))
Date: May 20, 2020
Quotes Prof. Anika Kozlowski, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
52 ideas that changed the world - 48. Fashion, external link (The Week UK (Online))
Date: May 22, 2020
Quotes Prof. Henry Navarro Delgado, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
What post-pandemic fashion may look like, external link (CTV News (Online))
Date: May 21, 2020
Quotes Prof. Alison Matthews David, Ryerson School of Fashion at FCAD.
Massive mask-making networks mobilize across Canada, external link (Toronto Star (Online))
Date: May 15, 2020
Features Ryerson School of Fashion's initiative, led by Professors Danielle Martin and Sandra TullioPow, to deliver 4,000 masks to St. Michael's Hospital.
FASHION Canada September Issue
School of Fashion Alumni and Faculty were featured in the September 2018 issue of FASHION Magazine. Profiles and interviews covered: Ethnic Futurism, Emerging Indigenous Designers, Cultural Appropriation, and Accessible Design.
Alumni featured: Susan E. Jean, Warren Steven Scott, Curtis Oland, Justine Woods, and Sonia Prancho
Faculty featured: Dr. Ben Barry and Anna Romanovska
Warren Steven Scott, external link
“How These Shapely Statement Earrings Celebrate Coast Salish Culture,” contemporary Indigenous designer and alumnus, Warren Steven Scott featured on Vogue Magazine. Scott’s collection bridges the Western concept of luxury fashion with his ancestral worldview on ethics, craft, and aesthetic sustainability, representing a distinct contribution to a genuine Canadian fashion. Read the full interview here., external link, opens in new window
Photo Credit: Mckenzie James
Designing For Wellness 2018
A two-day symposium by FCAD and the School of Interior Design. School of Fashion’s Design Technician, Audrey Colphon-Reynolds presented about the process of fixing the furniture versus prescribing to disposable culture. This was a collaboration with the School of Interior Design, and industry professionals. Reynolds described the collaboration as, “working together to make us all better.
Devlyn van Loon, external link
Fashion Design graduate, Devlyn van Loon launched her eponymous label in 2016. The Devlyn van Loon line is focused on sustainability, streamlined silhouettes and modern essentials. The line is handmade in small batches in Toronto using ethical labour, sustainable fabrics and a keen eye for striking yet understated elegance. Visit Devlyn van Loon, external link, opens in new window for more information.
Sonia Prancho, external link, opens in new window
Fashion Design Alumna, Sonia Prancho’s collection UN•FORM seeks to change the form of disability aesthetics in fashion through adaptive design techniques and forward-thinking branding. UN•FORM reclaims space for the disability community by un-forming, rather than conforming to traditional body and beauty norms. Visit UN•FORM, external link, opens in new window for more information on Prancho’s brand.