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⇱ Fashion as Design: Expression and Community | Coursera

Fashion as Design: Expression and Community

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Fashion as Design: Expression and Community

This course is part of Fashion As Design Specialization

Included with

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Beginner level

Recommended experience

6 hours to complete
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Beginner level

Recommended experience

6 hours to complete
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

  • Translate your observations into a deeper awareness of this personal form of design and the communities it creates.

  • Analyze how garments and accessories transmit specific messages about identity and belonging. 

  • Participate in prompts that encourage you to consider how you use clothing as a tool for individuality and community building.

  • Gain critical insights from the visual language of clothing and cultivate your cultural intelligence and community-centric strategies.

Details to know

Shareable certificate

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Recently updated!

January 2026

Assessments

2 assignments

Taught in English

Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Fashion As Design Specialization
When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
  • Learn new concepts from industry experts
  • Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
  • Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
  • Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 4 modules in this course

Clothing is not only a personal choice, it is a visual language that connects us to others and defines our place in the world. This course explores how fashion functions as a powerful tool for self-expression and a catalyst for community building.

The Museum of Modern Art invites you to hear directly from designers, activists, and photographers who use clothing to tell stories and challenge social norms. You will explore the history of borrowing and remaking styles, to understand clothing as a living cultural archive. You’ll gain the fluency to decode the social signals of style and understand the profound impact of the clothes that make us stand out and belong. Career Application: This course transforms the social signals of style into a competency in cultural intelligence and community-centric strategy. By gaining an understanding of how clothing functions as a visual language for self-expression and community building, you’ll acquire the critical insights necessary to forecast subcultural trends, direct inclusive brand marketing, and foster authentic audience engagement.

What we wear informs our everyday experience of self and society. Explore how the clothes in your closet connect you to others and make you stand out through items that express identity, create and demonstrate community ties, and borrow and remake existing styles.

What's included

2 videos4 readings1 assignment

2 videos•Total 4 minutes
  • Preview Fashion as Design•1 minute
  • Cara Romero. Wakeah. 2018•3 minutes
4 readings•Total 40 minutes
  • Welcome to the course•10 minutes
  • First Look: This Course in Three Garments •10 minutes
  • Optional Readings & Resources•10 minutes
  • Optional Prompts for Discussion & Reflection•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
  • How do you express yourself through your clothes?•30 minutes

In this module explore garments that have been used as a tool for expression—from religious wear to clothes that play with gender and performance. You’ll consider the role of fashion in distinguishing yourself as an individual.

What's included

6 videos12 readings

6 videos•Total 22 minutes
  • Fashion Historian Raissa Bretaña on Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair•4 minutes
  • Stephanie Syjuco. Cargo Cults: Head Bundle. 2013-16•3 minutes
  • Historian Leila Ahmed on the Hijab•2 minutes
  • Model Hari Nef's Abecedarium Presentation on Unisex Fashion•9 minutes
  • Monét X Change on Drag•2 minutes
  • Karl Ohiri. Untitled from the Archive of Becoming. 2015-ongoing•2 minutes
12 readings•Total 120 minutes
  • Welcome to Module 2•10 minutes
  • In the Museum•10 minutes
  • Identity•10 minutes
  • Look Book: Identity•10 minutes
  • Gender•10 minutes
  • Look Book: Gender•10 minutes
  • Performance•10 minutes
  • Look Book: Performance•10 minutes
  • Review of Module 2•10 minutes
  • Optional Readings & Resources•10 minutes
  • Optional Prompts for Discussion & Reflection•10 minutes
  • Optional Mid-Course Survey•10 minutes

This module examines how clothing creates community, and the ways that subcultural trends have been adopted by mainstream culture—and vice versa.

What's included

5 videos9 readings

5 videos•Total 23 minutes
  • Street Photography with Jamel Shabazz•6 minutes
  • Guy Baldwin, International Mr. Leather 1989, on Leather Pants•2 minutes
  • Gabriel Fontana’s R&D Salon Presentation on Subverting the Sports Uniform•8 minutes
  • Hal Fischer. Street Fashion: Uniform from Gay Semiotics. 1977•2 minutes
  • Sky Cubacub on Rebirth Garments and Radical Visibility•4 minutes
9 readings•Total 90 minutes
  • Welcome to Module 3•10 minutes
  • On the Street•10 minutes
  • Subversion•10 minutes
  • Look Book: Subversion•10 minutes
  • Visibility•10 minutes
  • Look Book: Visibility•10 minutes
  • Review Module 3•10 minutes
  • Optional Readings & Resources•10 minutes
  • Optional Prompts for Discussion & Reflection•10 minutes

Reflect on your journey through Fashion, Expression, Community and complete a final assessment.

What's included

4 readings1 assignment

4 readings•Total 40 minutes
  • Conclusion to Fashion as Design: Expression and Community•10 minutes
  • Optional End-of-Course Survey•10 minutes
  • Optional Prompt for Discussion & Reflection•10 minutes
  • Continue Learning with MoMA•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
  • How will you express yourself through your clothes now?•20 minutes

Earn a career certificate

Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. Share it on social media and in your performance review.

Instructors

The Museum of Modern Art
4 Courses•17,826 learners

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Frequently asked questions

No prior knowledge of fashion, design, or art history is needed to complete this course.

Coursera currently provides certificates of completion, but MoMA does not offer additional accreditation at this time.

This course will show you how to decode the underlying social signals of clothing. It also provides insights into production systems and the socio-cultural impact of garments and the clothing industry.

The Museum of Modern Art looks at garment histories from all over the world and from a variety of perspectives—ranging from street fashion to photography studios and subversive uniforms.

No prior design background is required to complete this course! The optional creative prompts and final project focus on design literacy and critical analysis, making it highly accessible whether you are a student of design, a professional in the industry, or someone just looking to think more about what you wear.

While the course grounds itself in 20th-century and early 21st-century landmark garments, it heavily features current makers to look at where the industry is moving next.

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Financial aid available,