The fashion and beauty communications milestone prepares students from the Newhouse School and the College of Visual and Performing Arts to become mass media or fashion design specialists.
The Fashion and Beauty Communications Milestone is a sequence of courses designed for Syracuse University students studying at the Newhouse School and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The milestone recognizes the tremendous cultural force of fashion and offers students a rigorous, cross-disciplinary concentration of study that provides them with an expertise in fashion and beauty communications. Syracuse University is uniquely qualified to deliver this specialized concentration given the national reputations of the Newhouse School and the Visual and Performing Arts’ Fashion Design program.
This collaboration between two professional schools provides a unique and important educational opportunity. As majors in their respective programs, milestone students become either mass-media or fashion design specialists. This experience also allows students to build on a common area of interest—fashion and beauty communications—and gain access to coursework, professors and students beyond their home school and to apply what they have learned to another field of study. Milestone students take these required electives to gain expertise and experience in another subject and at another school.
The professionally focused experience comprises one required course and four electives that explore the fashion and beauty industries from a variety of perspectives, plus a required practicum project. Classes aren’t listed online because they change each semester. The one required offering in the sequence is Beauty & Diversity in Fashion Media, a three-credit class that explores issues, controversies, and ideas surrounding diversity and that encourages students to think critically about beauty ideals.
Electives that have been offered in the past include:
Students earn a milestone distinction in Fashion and Beauty Communications in addition to earning their current Newhouse or fashion design major and respective minor. Students use their elective credits to complete the required courses for the milestone. Along with the five classes, students produce a final practicum that draws on the knowledge and experience they’ve gained in their classes. Please note: This is not a minor, and as such, it does not appear on a student’s transcript. However, students are encouraged to talk up the milestone on their résumés and to use these experiences and opportunities to demonstrate their expertise in interviews and on job applications.
During their senior year, students propose and execute a practicum project in their field of study. Examples of past practicums include creating a fashion publication, producing a fashion show, coordinating the fashion film series, planning guest speakers, planning a gallery exhibit, creating a TikTok or Instagram series, and writing a research paper.
To complete this sequence, students are required to complete five classes from the approved list designed for Fashion and Beauty Communications, one final practicum project, and must attend the annual April Practicum Day, where seniors present their projects. We recommend you meet with your academic recorder before applying to make sure the sequence fits with your academic requirements.
Applications are accepted once each semester—late September/early October for fall admission (open to sophomores only) and February for spring admission for freshmen and sophomores.
Interested students may email fashions@syr.edu for more information.
Harriet Brown, Newhouse School
ChaCha Hudson, College of Visual and Performing Arts
With support from Anthony Ho, Newhouse School