University of Salford teams up with China Academy of Art for fashion workshop

The University of Salford (UoS) in greater Manchester, UK and the China Academy of Art (CAA) recently hosted a joint fashion workshop event. The aim of the event was to explore the potential of using paper materials in fashion modelling.

In October, educators from UoS travelled to the CAA Liangzhu Campus in China to partner with academics at the Chinese institution, as per a press release shared with FashionUnited.

The goal of the academic visit was to guide students at the CAA campus through the fashion workshop together with the local educators, as well as for the University of Salford delegation to ‘share their unique insights into fashion design’ with their Chinese colleagues, the release read.

With the workshop, the educators at both institutions sought to ‘showcase the unique expressiveness of paper materials in fashion design whilst also delving into their potential to shape forms, construct layers and three-dimensional structures,’ as per the release.

For the event, several creative teams of CAA students were created, and educators from both institutions were added to each team. As part of the workshop, the teams received white paper and coloured paper. They were then asked to create garments on mannequins using these materials. At the end of the workshop, each team had to present its final garments to the rest of the group.

University of Salford, China Academy of Arts partner on fashion workshop event

Commenting on the news in a statement, Bashir Aswat, programme leader for the bachelor and master programmes in fashion design at the UoS, said: "We were pleased to collaborate with our colleagues from the China Academy of Art for this workshop facilitated by Salford academics. The event was characterised by creativity and individuality.”

He continued: "The design outcomes produced by students working collaboratively in teams were innovative, allowing them to demonstrate their unique understanding and identity through the medium of 'Paper'.”

"This event exemplified international collaboration between Salford and one of China's premier arts institutions. It also provided us, as lecturers, with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the design process within an international and cross-cultural context," the educator concluded.

The University of Salford delegation consisted of: Bashir Aswat, programme leader for the bachelor and master programmes in fashion design, Paul Marsden and Dominic Barber, lecturers in fashion design, and Yingxin Jiang, associate lecturer for fashion design.

Furthermore, the fashion educators were accompanied on their travels to China by Allan Walker, pro-vice chancellor and dean of the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology at UoS.

The CAA academics who were involved were: Xiaoding Wang, Shuying Wang, Huailei Yu and Jialu Li.