Book Alert: Masterclass – Fashion & Textiles (Frame Publishers)

The year has just started and some of us may be looking for new careers and challenges. If you're at the moment researching the possibility of opting for a fashion and textile course, you should check this book, recently published by Frame.

Part of a series of guides focusing on different disciplines (Architecture and Urban Design; Fashion and Textiles; Graphic Design and Visual Communication), Masterclass (Frame Publishers) is a reference guide to the world's leading graduate schools, all selected according to specific criteria such as quality of graduation work, list of lecturers and employability of students.

The volume is structured in quick chapters, each one dedicated to a different school: the chapters feature interviews with the dean of the school or the head of a programme; feedback from students and from previous alumni, and practical information on courses (including tuition fees, scholarships, affiliations, housing and facilities for students).

Some of these institutions are based in buzzing city centres, others are immersed in nature; some offer more commercial courses that also look at marketing, business management and e-retail, others put more emphasis on visual arts or traditional crafts while innovative technologies and smart textiles are quickly becoming another subject of interest.

The guide is mainly aimed at bachelor's degree students, recent graduates and professionals who are on the lookout for specialisation courses, but the book may be used also as a quick reference guide for travellers with an interest in visual arts, fashion and textiles since the section about the cities where specific institutions are based also includes quick maps and notes on the best places to visit and hang out, including museums, galleries, shops and venues.

You can certainly go online and look for information on courses and schools, but Masterclass offers a quick and compact overview of twenty-eight institutions from all over the world, from Europe to the States, from Japan to India, Australia and New Zealand, and may be a helpful way to start your research and eventually choose a university or other further education institutions.