Summer Intensive Studies Paris | Parsons School of Design

Acquire academic credentials and deepen your knowledge in one of the world capitals of culture: Paris. Our college-age students are pursuing full-time degree programs or building competitive portfolios to prepare for careers or advanced study, while adult students come to Paris to acquire new professional skills.
Students benefit from learning with Parsons Paris faculty, a project-based curriculum, and the resources and stimulating academic environment that only a top art and design educational institution can provide. All courses are taught in English.
Course Dates Summer 1: June 4 – 26, 2021 (courses begin June 7 and end June 25); Summer 2: July 1 – 24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)

Location Parsons Paris

Schedule See individual course listings below.

Housing Included in tuition (See below)

Registration Deadline April 1, 2021 (Payment due April 15, 2021)

Ages 19+ or 18 with a year of college

Tuition $6,920 - $7,990
Courses
- The Business of Fashion
  
  Half-Day Course
  SUMMER 1: June 4–26, 2021 (courses begin June 7 and end June 25)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  This course is an immersive introduction to fashion industries and their management strategies. Students explore the relationships between innovation, design, production, and marketing. The course also provides an overview of the Parisian high-end fashion market and its key actors, from designers to retailers. Through visits to Paris luxury stores and showrooms, students gain an overall understanding of today’s fashion business.
  APPLY NOW
- Digital Fashion and New Media
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  
  APPLY NOW
- Explorations in Drawing
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  This course introduces students to drawing as both a fundamental part of the design process and an integral tool for media arts of all kinds. Students approach drawing as a way of thinking, a critical tool, and a means for observation, storytelling, and representation. Traditional and nontraditional methods, media, and theories of drawing are all explored.
  
  APPLY NOW
- Explorations in Painting
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  This course introduces students to painting as both a fundamental part of the design process and an integral tool for media arts of all kinds. Students learn basic concepts of painting such as color theory and composition and techniques for using water-based paints. Drawing is also taught as a means for observation and representation. Traditional and nontraditional methods, media, and theories of painting are all explored. Time will be set aside for students to develop a personal project.
  
  APPLY NOW
- Fashion Communication
  
  Half-Day Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  This course is an immersive introduction to communication strategies in fashion and luxury companies. Students learn how to create and foster dialogue between a fashion brand and consumers. The seminars and workshops cover a range of topics such as semiotic resources for brand identity, advertising and event management, experiential marketing, digital and interactive marketing, fashion journalism, and fashion public relations in the digital age. In addition, the course offers a Parisian perspective of luxury company strategies and investigates heritage management strategies from a communication perspective.
  
  APPLY NOW
- Fashion Design Process
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  
  SUMMER 1: June 4–26, 2021 (courses begin June 7 and end June 25)
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  This course introduces students to various approaches and techniques involved in the design process for fashion products. Students are encouraged to experiment as they research and find inspiration for a fashion collection and devise innovative 2D and 3D production methods for their fashion pieces. Working on projects individually and in groups, students develop fashion concepts for which they draw on the unique resources of Paris and explore how fabrication methods and color affect collections. Students are also introduced to branding and merchandising basics used to identify and create work for targeted markets and consumers.
  
  APPLY NOW
- Fashion Illustration
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  Fashion Illustration is an intensive drawing course in which students explore fashion through drawing in the context of Paris. The course introduces students to fundamental drawing techniques for rendering body proportions through life model drawing sessions and studio assignments in conjunction with museum field trips and guest lectures. Students gain visual and perceptual literacy, mastering principles of textiles, volume, and garment translation and developing a personal visual vocabulary.
  APPLY NOW
- Fashion Photography: History and Practice
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  This course combines theoretical and practical approaches in guiding students in acquiring an understanding of fashion images and how to create them.
  Students learn how to analyze fashion photography using interdisciplinary tools ranging from history to sociology to semiotics. In parallel, students experiment with practical photography techniques at a professional level in order to produce a fashion shoot from the preliminary research stage to the final realization in collaboration with a model. Workshops, field trips, and exhibitions are also part of the course.
  The course explores photographic methods that enable students to see and interpret style. Paris is the historical capital of haute couture and luxury fashion, but students also learn to appreciate it as a city of fashion subcultures, in which appearance can express social and political claims.
  
  APPLY NOW
- Fashion Styling
  
  Half-Day Studio Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  This course focuses on the creation of contemporary fashion imagery following a professional brief. It offers an introduction to various fashion media and sheds light on the sequences that lead to a strong fashion editorial concept and to the creation of an original narrative and its visual translation. Students become familiar with cutting-edge fashion stylists, photographers. and editors in the Paris fashion scene. They learn to select models, choose and assemble garments and accessories, and prepare professional shoots. The course concludes with the creation of a personal stylist portfolio.
  APPLY NOW
- Graphic Design Workshop
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  Graphic design is everywhere around you—websites, advertising, clothing, packaging and publications. It is a medium in which words and images merge to communicate powerful messages. In this hands-on course, students learn to expand their creative problem-solving techniques using dynamic layout, form, typography, and content. Through projects, students learn to employ narrative and storytelling methods and engage in design research, analysis, documentation, and implementation. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between creative and critical thinking skills and the designer’s role within the professional arena. Topics covered include creation of the elements of brand identity programs, such as logos, publications (including zines), advertisements, and websites.
  This is an intermediate level course open to college students. Basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator is required.
  APPLY NOW
- Introduction to Design and Management
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  SUMMER 1: June 4-26, 2021 (courses begin June 7 and end June 25) - ONLINE ONLY (40 hours)
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  Students learn to approach management as a strategic process that combines design innovation and business knowledge. In collaborative projects, they develop problem-solving skills and familiarity with design strategies through the application of research methods, prototyping, and quantitative analysis. Emphasis is placed on understanding a European setting and perspective and the way entrepreneurs, business innovators, and designers operate at the intersection of design and management. Students engage in design thinking and business strategy exercises, applying these approaches in a broad range of enterprises and real-world business contexts.
  
  APPLY NOW
- Picturing Stories
  
  All-Day Studio Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  How do you tell a story through images, or accompany a written text visually? This course explores many forms of visual storytelling using a mixed media approach: drawing, painting, collage, digital renderings and more. Paris serves as the backdrop for exploration of French artists, illustrators and cartoonists through history. Course field trips to various Parisian neighborhoods provide points of departure for individual exploration. Visits to exhibitions and museum collections cover different stylistic, conceptual and material approaches.
  This course is open to varying levels of experience and skills.
  APPLY NOW
- Luxury Design Management: Parsons Paris—Polimoda (Paris and Florence)
  
  All-Day Course, Monday to Friday
  Paris: July 2-17, 2021
  Florence: July 19-31, 2021
  6 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  Luxury Design Management is a specialized summer course on the essence, heritage, and organization of high-end industries. It focuses on the strategic development of French and Italian leading luxury sectors and provides an interdisciplinary understanding of their processes and specificities at the crossroads of design innovation, business, and culture.
  The course is run by resident professors and guest lecturers from the industry in Paris and Florence, two of the main historical capitals of luxury.
  During the Parsons Paris portion of the program, special focus is put on haute couture and the relation between French fashion heritage, local crafts, creativity, and strategic management. These topics are examined more closely in the Italian part of the program through the exploration of the strong tradition of Florentine craftsmanship, the production of high-end leather accessories, and Made in Italy.
  Luxury Design Management is taught in English and is offered through The New School's affiliated study abroad program provider, API Abroad. To apply, you must be an adult learner or a matriculated junior or senior student in good academic (2.75 GPA) and disciplinary standing in an eligible major for the program. Non-native English speakers must provide TOEFL scores of 79 or above or IELTS scores of 6.5 or above to show proof of English proficiency.
  All applicants must receive academic approval to participate in the program. New School students can discuss their options with their advisor; other applicants can email studyabroad@newschool.edu.
  
  APPLY NOW
- Paris: Fashion, Luxury, and Brand Heritage
  
  Half-Day Course
  SUMMER 2: July 1–24, 2021 (courses begin July 5 and end July 23)
  3 U.S. credits recommended
  Language of instruction: English
  Today discourse about cultural heritage and local patrimony is at the center of a variety of public and private activities involving design and fashion. Fashion houses and ateliers are playing a role in organizing events like Le Journées Européenne du Patrimoine. But the concept of heritage has been recently employed in new and sometimes controversial ways by private and public institutions. In this course, we look at the intersections between heritage, patrimony, and memory in current discourse — with particular attention to their relationship to design and fashion. Through visits to major Parisian fashion archives and talks by experts from private and public museums, the class looks at fashion heritage in Paris and its multiple forms. Starting with UNESCO’s definition of and activities involving cultural heritage, students investigate the tensions between the idea of heritage and patrimony, hierarchies and power in the identification of heritage, and the use of national, regional, and city identity in the construction of personal and collective memory.
  APPLY NOW

College & Adult Summer Intensive Studies: Parsons Paris

Courses

Take the Next Step

Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

Undergraduate Adult Learners

Graduates