Fashion design education increasingly navigates how students become professionals within creative, ethical, and technologically mediated cultural systems (Faerm, 2022). This paper examines a year‑long, industry‑embedded capstone pedagogy implemented across two upper‑level fashion design courses, reframing professional preparedness as a process of professional becoming rather than a single culminating assessment (Bertola & Colombia, 2021).

Positioned within humanities‑oriented approaches to teaching and learning, the capstone sequence unfolded through dialogic engagements with industry, including a career expo, scaffolded critiques with practitioners across entrepreneurial, local, and international contexts, and a formal professional defense. These encounters functioned as authentic sites of critique, reshaping students’ understandings of authorship, authority, responsibility, and professional voice.

Drawing on situated learning and professional identity formation, the study frames the capstone as a holistic pedagogical strategy integrating mentorship, critique, and ethical accountability. Student reflective narratives and instructional observations were examined using thematic analysis, revealing a transition from student designer to emerging professional identity marked by resilience, reflective judgment, and leadership. Findings suggest that industry‑embedded critique operates as an authentic site of professional socialization. This study contributes to arts‑ and humanities‑based discussions of how creative education can cultivate professional readiness while sustaining human‑centered, critically engaged learning.

Authors:
Barbara Trippeer, University of North Texas, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Barbara Trippeer, Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, University of North Texas, interdisciplinary sustainable design education and learning theory.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-trippeer-aa339823/

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