Digital Fashion Education: Guest Lecturing at Manchester Metropolitan University

In 2022, AVimmerse Creative Director Keith Myers was invited to guest lecture on the MA Fashion programme at Manchester Metropolitan University. The sessions were delivered as part of the Fashion Department’s exploration of emerging digital tools, creative technologies, and new forms of design practice.

The teaching focused on how immersive and interactive technologies can sit alongside traditional fashion methods, supporting experimentation, storytelling, and future facing creative workflows.

This teaching also builds on AVimmerse’s wider work in immersive heritage and digital storytelling, where immersive technologies are used to support learning, interpretation, and creative exploration across cultural and educational contexts.

Digital Tools for Contemporary Fashion Education

Across a series of lectures and workshops, students were introduced to a range of digital and immersive tools, including:

• 3D design workflows using Blender.

• Unity as a real time platform for interactive and experiential design.

• Digital fashion concepts and virtual presentation spaces.

• Emerging ideas around the metaverse and immersive platforms.

Rather than positioning technology as a replacement for physical craft, the sessions explored how digital tools can extend and complement existing fashion practices. Students were encouraged to think critically about where and why technology should be used, and how it can support narrative, identity, and sustainability within fashion design. This is something we've discussed during immersive technology events, including 'understanding immersive technology beyond hype'.

Studio Practice, Feedback, and Experimentation

Alongside lectures, time was dedicated to reviewing individual student projects and providing feedback on work in progress. Many students were exploring how traditional fashion processes could be combined with digital design, interactive media, and speculative concepts.

Projects included experiments with:

• Digital garment visualisation.

• Hybrid physical and virtual design processes.

• 3D scanning and modelling.

• QR codes and digital layers embedded into physical fashion pieces.

This studio based approach allowed for practical discussion around feasibility, presentation, and creative intent, helping students refine both their ideas and execution.

Student Outcomes and Creative Development

One notable outcome from the programme was a short film produced as part of an MA degree show, exploring fashion through a digital and immersive lens. The work demonstrated how emerging technologies can be used not for spectacle, but as a tool for storytelling and conceptual clarity.

Other students developed work that integrated sustainable materials, digital fabrication, and interactive elements, highlighting how technology can support more responsible and experimental fashion practices.

Feedback from students reflected the value of exposure to industry informed workflows and practical digital skills alongside conceptual teaching.

It was a wonderful experience in Keith’s class when we learned about immersive technologies: Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. I really enjoyed every lecture and seminar - his knowledge and enthusiasm in this subject sparked a real passion in the same for me and led me to pursue this in my final digital project: https://youtu.be/DWw3ZiHaPMk

-- Natalia Siukstiene, Fashion MA Student

Reflections on Teaching and Creative Education

Guest lecturing on the MA Fashion programme reinforced the importance of cross disciplinary thinking within creative education. Fashion, technology, storytelling, and digital production increasingly overlap, and students benefit from understanding how these domains connect in real world contexts.

For AVimmerse, this work aligns with a wider commitment to education, skills development, and supporting emerging creatives through practical, industry relevant teaching. The focus remains on empowering students with tools and frameworks that help them navigate evolving creative industries with confidence.

Looking Ahead

As creative education continues to evolve, the role of immersive and interactive technologies within disciplines such as fashion will only expand. Supporting students to experiment responsibly, think critically, and connect digital tools to meaningful creative outcomes remains central to this approach.

AVimmerse continues to collaborate with universities and educational institutions to deliver teaching that bridges theory, practice, and future facing creative technologies.