In the context of the digital and intelligent era, how should young designers leverage creativity and subjectivity? Where will the fusion of apparel technology innovation and fashion art design lead us? From creative and innovative ideas to innovation and creation, the 10th “Donghua Creative Integrated Fashion Design Week” was held as scheduledat the beginning of the new year 2025. This design week was a test of the quantity and quality of DHU’s fashion design talent cultivation, emphasizing the equal importance of theory and practice. It encouraged students to combine tradition and modernity, art and technology, bringing together works from fashion design undergraduates and graduates in various grades and modules. More than 1,100 sets of original works were presented in forms such as dynamic shows and static exhibitions. This event served as both a “final exam” for students and a “report performance” for the college in its exploration of pathways for innovative talent cultivation.
(The posters for the events of the 10th “Donghua Creative Integrated Fashion Design Week”)
Exploration of Dreams: Creativity in Early Undergraduates
The reports of the course “Fashion Design Model and Method” marked the debut of works by sophomore students. In their required courses, undergraduate students in the early years gained an initial understanding of fashion design concepts. Through practical coursework, they began to draft design sketches, transforming their creativity into physical form. By applying various design and craftsmanship techniques such as linear and planar composition, biomimicry, classic deconstruction, and upcycling, they expressed bold, creative ideas inspired by free imagination, achieving the transformation from creation to production.
（Class of 2023: Reports of the course “Fashion Design Model and Method”)
Cross-disciplinary Integration: Breaking Boundaries to Reconstruct the Talent Cultivation System
The course works of upper-year undergraduates demonstrate a strong fusion of technology and design. The teaching achievements of four elective courses for third-year undergraduates, namely “Innovative Design of Branded Clothing,” “Material Innovation and Applied Design in Clothing,” “Sustainable Fashion Creative Design,” and “Knitwear ＆ Fur Clothing Design,” highlighted the expressive power of various functions and core elements. Based on form, color, and craftsmanship, the fashion design works incorporated attempts at brand DNA, functional innovation, and specialized clothing, among others.
Teaching achievements of elective courses like “Sustainable Fashion Creative Design”
Empowerment with New Qualities: Exploring Infinite Possibilities for the Future
The preliminary round of the final major project competition for the 2021 Class in Fashion and Apparel Design was themed around “U+”, which stood for creative empowerment of industries with new quality productivity. Students were guided to interpret the new look of the new era from the perspectives of “excellence, novelty, and intelligence,” presenting a NEW LOOK that reflected local and global characteristics, past and present, and even reaching into the future. With the support of AIGC technology, students who were about to graduate integrated cutting-edge technology into their designs, creating over 400 works that were both futuristic and filled with humanistic care.
（The preliminary round of the final major project competition for the 2021 Class in Fashion and Apparel Design）
Innovative Breakthroughs: Enhancing Materials and Functions
The final major projects of the graduate students in Fashion and Apparel Design highlights a stronger emphasis on material innovation and technological craftsmanship. By utilizing novel materials, students have developed clothing with special functions, such as sportswear featuring seamless knitting technology and technologically functional fabrics. They have also conducted research on sustainable fashion through the use of biodegradable bioplastics, redesign of recycled materials, and environmentally friendly garment processing techniques. Furthermore, students have experimented with special crafts, such as creative pleating, innovative fabric re-engineering, and creative dyeing processes, to produce finished products.
（Final major projects of the graduate students in Fashion and Apparel Design）
Industry-Education Integration: Cultivating Practical Design Talents through University-Enterprise Collaboration
The “Donghua-Cai Lun Cup” Paper Yarn Clothing Creative Design Competition represents an innovative outcome of industry-education integration through university-enterprise collaboration. DHU, in partnership with Guangdong Haihuang New Material Technology Co., Ltd., has innovated its education model, exploring the connection between the talent chain, education chain, and the industrial chain and innovation chain. This approach addresses the disconnect between theory and practice in the traditional classroom, ensuring that the cultivation of design talents yields tangible results.
（The “Donghua-Cai Lun Cup” Paper Yarn Clothing Creative Design Competition）
International Cooperation: Donghua's Innovative Designs Highlighted in the Silk Road Friendship Circle
The final round of the second “Fusion and Prosperity” Sino-Kenyan Cultural and Creative Arts Joint Design Competition focused on copyright content as the primary output target, which is increasingly demanded by current society and industry. Through friendly exchanges centered on textile and apparel culture, the competition aimed to consolidate and deepen the friendship between teachers, students, and other people of China and Kenya, contributing to the building of a closer China-Africa community with a shared future. A total of 40 excellent entries from universities across China qualified for the final round in the Chinese division.
（The final round of the second “Fusion and Prosperity” Sino-Kenyan Cultural and Creative Arts Joint Design Competition）
