Since 1953

As early as 1953 the Department of Fashion Design was founded within the Academy of Fine Arts Arnhem (now ArtEZ University of the Arts). The Bachelor Fashion Design and the Fashion Masters belong to the most successful fashion curriculums in Europe. Fashion students from Arnhem are frequently nominated and awarded national and international prizes and because of their achievements they receive a great deal of media attention. In all segments of the fashion industry you can find strategic fashion designers, concept designers, fashion or lifestyle journalists, trend forecasters, trend researchers and fashion curators educated at Arnhem.

Our first master course, the Master Fashion Strategy, previously known by the name Fashion, Design and Strategy (FD&S), was set up in 1990 by ArtEZ, with support from various sectors of the Dutch fashion industry. The initial aim was to better train talented fashion designers, notably regarding their more effective functioning in their chosen specialisation within the fashion industry. We owe many thanks to the founders and former Course Directors; Gisela Prager, Henriëtte Verburg and Tine Luyt.

Since then the Fashion Masters of ArtEZ have gradually evolved into an advanced specialised two-year Master course. In the fall of 2008, the most recent international accreditation, both fashion masters were officially granted the Master status. As of 2009 the two Master courses offered by ArtEZ are formally known as the Fashion Masters.