Language

English

Start date

January 2027

Frequency

Evening

Fruition

On campus

Duration

10 Months

Course Coordination

Micaela Clubourg

Learn to read fashion as a complex and constantly evolving system. You will integrate sustainability, technology, materials research and new narratives to develop projects with meaningful impact within the contemporary fashion industry.

The Master in Fashion Systems is an advanced programme designed to enable students to understand and transform the fashion industry from a systemic, technological and sustainable perspective.

Fashion is a major cultural and economic force; however, it is currently under increasing pressure due to its environmental footprint, linear production models and the social challenges present across its entire value chain. This programme responds to this context by developing professionals capable of analysing fashion systems, questioning established practices and integrating innovation in a critical and responsible way.

Over the course of 10 months, students become part of an academic environment closely connected to professional practice. The programme combines trend research, strategic analysis of the European fashion landscape, digital technologies applied to design, material development, and the communication of projects with strong conceptual rigour. Its cross-disciplinary approach frames fashion beyond the product, addressing it as an interconnected network of cultural, industrial, technological and communicative relationships.

By bringing together critical thinking, experimental practice and strategic vision, the programme prepares students to anticipate change, interpret complex contexts and develop proposals aligned with the contemporary challenges of the sector. Technology is understood as a set of tools — digital, material and conceptual — placed at the service of research, innovation and the transformation of fashion systems.

Information to decide

An advanced programme designed to broaden your professional profile and prepare you to work in the most innovative and emerging areas of the contemporary fashion system. 

The programme is structured into four progressive learning blocks that together build a comprehensive understanding of fashion systems. It begins with a macro-level analysis of the industry and its ongoing transformations, progresses to the use of digital and futures-focused tools, delves into materials research and production processes, and concludes with the strategic and cultural communication of projects. This structure supports the integration of critical analysis, experimentation and practical application. Throughout the programme, students work through applied research and project development, combining reflection, strategy and practice to understand — and propose — new ways of operating within the fashion sector.

This master’s programme is designed for graduates and professionals from fashion design, fashion management and business, communication, product design, architecture, textile engineering and related disciplines.

It is also suitable for professionals undergoing a career transition who wish to reorient their trajectory towards sustainable innovation, technology and emerging systems within the fashion industry. Admission is subject to CV review, and the programme is intended for candidates with a critical mindset, a strong interest in sector transformation and the ability to work across disciplines.

Because it offers an in-depth understanding of fashion as a cultural, industrial and technological system, and prepares you to engage with it from a critical, informed and responsible position.

The programme is based in Barcelona, within a creative and productive ecosystem connected to design, research and experimentation — a context that encourages strong links between strategic thinking, academic practice and contemporary professional contexts.

 

 

Syllabus

Module 1. Fashion Industry and Sustainability Fundamentals 

This module provides a comprehensive understanding of fashion systems and their historical and contemporary evolution. Students examine the cultural, industrial and economic dynamics of the sector, as well as its social and environmental challenges. The transition from linear models to circular systems is explored from a critical perspective, introducing key concepts such as impact, ethics, traceability and supply chains. 

Module 2. Optimisation of Processes through Technology in the Fashion Industry 

This module focuses on digital technologies as tools to research, anticipate and visualise future scenarios within the fashion sector. Students work with methodologies such as trend analysis, cultural intelligence and horizon scanning, understanding technology as a strategic resource for interpreting and transforming processes across fashion systems.

Module 3. New Aesthetics through Matter 

This module explores the material dimension of design through an experimental and technical approach. Students investigate biomaterials, advanced fibres and hybrid compositions, analysing performance, durability, finishes and the new aesthetics that emerge through experimentation. Materiality is approached as a bridge between research, prototyping and responsible production within contemporary industrial contexts.

Module 4. Communication and New Narratives 

This module addresses communication as a strategic dimension shaping discourse, identity and cultural perception within fashion. Students explore storytelling, art direction and visual narrative, using visual and digital languages to communicate projects with conceptual clarity and critical rigour. Futures and foresight methods — such as scenario building and speculative narratives — are applied, positioning the digital realm as both an analytical and strategic tool.

Faculty

Micaela Clubourg

Fashion designer specialising in fashion, technology and sustainability

Projects

Medium shot of the torso of a woman wearing a corset with built-in plants

Fashion Design and Styling

Barcelona

Final projects / thesis projects
Walking gardens

Fashion Design and Styling

Barcelona

Recover and Regrow
Close-up of a transparent jacket that stores water and features a drinking tube like a straw.

Fashion Design and Styling

Barcelona

Final projects / thesis projects
Puffair jacket

Fashion Design and Styling

Barcelona

A Modular Fashion Design System through Co-Creation

Fashion Design and Styling

Barcelona

You are what you waste

News

Professional fashion catwalk with models parading

17 September 2026

IED fashion takes centre stage at 080 Barcelona Fashion

Acceptance Letter (by IED Barcelona lecturer Jeakyong Sim), Compte Spain and L’AMAR (brands founded respectively by IED Madrid alumni Santi Mozas and Nacho Lamar) will take to the catwalk at Spain’s most international fashion event in October.

Crowded stalls of an auditorium

15 September 2026

More than 200 students from 52 nationalities open the 2026-2027 academic year of the IED Barcelona

On 14 September, the Welcome Event welcomed a new generation of creatives and designers joining the undergraduate programmes.

14 September 2026

Chimera – Hybrid Artifacts: Design Connects Turin and São Paulo

Seven bags, two cities and one shared project. A collaboration between Italy and Brazil has evolved into an international design journey, bringing together different cultures, materials and design languages.

11 September 2026

Issue 4: Material World - Plural Intelligences

What happens when we recognize the intelligence of materials and learn to work with it responsibly, collectively, and collaboratively?

11 September 2026

IED Kunsthal Bilbao temporarily transforms Doña Casilda Park with ‘Sareak’

A cross-disciplinary project bringing together nearly 200 members of the community to reflect on contemporary communication through design.

11 September 2026

Peio Santisteban’s “Flores para un monstruo” Wins the IED Madrid Fashion Talent Award 2026

Twelve students from the Fashion Design Bachelor’s Degree at Istituto Europeo di Design Madrid presented their collections for the second consecutive year as part of the OModa Madrid Es Moda programme.

07 September 2026

Fashion show and festival: the IED Public Programme is back

In September, IED's Public Program returns with a calendar of events across its campuses in Italy and Spain, offering opportunities for dialogue, exchange and discovery open to the community and the wider public.

07 September 2026

From Turin to Tokyo: IED and Pioneer Denim bring new visions of denim to the international runway

Projects by students on IED Torino’s Undergraduate Programme in Fashion Design, developed using materials supplied by the company, are heading to Tranoï Tokyo and Denim Première Vision as part of the collaboration with Pioneer Denim, bringing together research, experimentation and product culture.

07 September 2026

Exploring Human-Robot Collaboration in China

New forms of collaboration between humans and robots through AR

Don't miss it

Exhibitions and Festival

28 April 2026 - 30 September 2026

Barcelona

“Caliu” in “Matter Matters. Designing with the World”

The project “Caliu”, by IED Barcelona alumnus Judith Aubà, has been selected to form part of this exhibition, which reflects on the major challenges facing design today and in the future at a critical time marked by the scarcity of raw materials.

14 September 2026 - 18 September 2026

Barcelona

IED Barcelona 2026 Undergraduate Welcome Week

The welcome event for undergraduate students, teachers and staff to mark the official opening of the new academic year will take place on Monday 14 September.

Exhibitions and Festival

02 October 2026 - 08 October 2026

Madrid

Sepiia’s 10th Anniversary Exhibition

IED Madrid alumni and designer Federico Sáinz de Robles celebrates the 10th anniversary of his brand, Sepiia, with an exhibition.

An open notebook showing two pencil sketches, one of a lamp and the other of designer handbags
Exhibitions and Festival

17 October 2026 - 17 October 2026

Barcelona

Barcelona Dibuixa 2026: “The Power of Hand Drawing”

IED Barcelona is offering this workshop, where participants will discover, guided by architect and lecturer Gianfranco La Cognata – Laco 2, how design takes shape through illustration.