Luxury accessories brand MCM and Parsons The New School for Design have announced an innovative partnership that will explore new frontiers in fashion and technology. Drawing on their shared dedication to cutting-edge international design, MCM and Parsons will create prototype design products that integrate technology and luxury.
"Accessories have an enormous potential for the integration of technology that enhances the consumer experience," said Ms. Kim, Chairperson and CEO of the Sungjoo Group. "We believe that MCM's product line can be extended with the creative exploration of 'smart' accessories that are luxurious through added technologies. We look forward to seeing the creativity of the students in this regard."
The partnership will launch this spring with a competition bringing together students of fashion design, product design, and design and technology. Led by wearable technology faculty member Katherine Moriwaki, fashion design faculty member Aneta Genova, and product design director Rama Chorpash, cross-disciplinary teams of students will explore design technology and fabric innovation to create new objects from MCM textiles and tech products including controllers, solar panels, and LED lighting.
"Design innovation comes from collaborating across the disciplines, and this is at the heart of what we do at Parsons," said Simon Collins, Dean of the School of Fashion at Parsons. "Wearable technology brings together a number of design fields, and we are excited to have the top professionals in this area on our faculty and leading this effort."
Each team will develop fashion 5-6 product prototypes that integrate their training in fashion, technology, and product design. Teams will also produce inspiration and fabric boards and sketches of 3-6 proposed products. Later this year, the results of the competition will be debuted at a VIP media event. The projects will also be presented at the Parsons Fashion Benefit, taking place May 9, 2011. The winning team will receive a $5,000 prize, with two runners up receiving $2,500 each. In addition to the competition prizes, MCM will be donating $20,000 to establish MCM Scholars Fund at The School of Fashion at Parsons.