The 7 Complex Lessons from Edgar Morin
Applied in Fashion Design Education
for Sustainability
Fernanda Enéia Schulz
(B )
, Luiza Honorato Freire ,
and Joana Luisa Ferreira Loureço da Cunha
Universidade do Minho, Campus de Azurém, Guimarães, Portugal
ferschulz.design@gmail.com
Abstract. This article discusses the role of the University and the importance
of transdisciplinary schooling in the education of Fashion Design. Its approach
is based on the seven complex lessons proposed by the French anthropologist
and sociologist Edgar Morin, which suggests the existence of seven fundamental
problems in this century’s education system at all levels. By understanding the
need of a more direct and effective approach to sustainability on Fashion Design
education and focusing on the training of designers capable of dealing with the
challenges of fashion industry and society, we aim, with this article, to show
how sustainability could be presented in a transdisciplinary way on education of
Fashion Design and following the seven complex lessons proposed by Morin.
This seven complex lessons focus on detecting error and illusion, the principles
of pertinent knowledge, teaching the human condition, earth identity, confronting
uncertainties, understanding each other and ethics for the human genre, taking to
this discussion about Fashion education, therefore this article was written using
references and examples from Fashion Design.
Keywords: Transdisciplinary learning · Seven complex lessons · Sustainability
in fashion
1 Introduction
Even though a specific date that indicates the separation between the artisanal and the
industrial is not known, it is known that Design emerged as a result of three historical
episodes that took place in the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries, namely industrialization, modern
urbanization and globalization [1]. These three milestones, which were part of the Indus-
trial Revolution, were responsible for tremendous changes in society, having changed
the system that was in force at the time to a system where greater production was possible
at a lower cost, making it possible for the population to have access to consumption with
greater ease.
The post-industrial period was responsible for the development of several areas, one
of which was the expansion of cities, which can be considered one of the agents that led
knowledge to develop and move from a predominantly domestic area to a public field.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
D. Raposo et al. (Eds.): EIMAD 2022, SSDI 25, pp. 193–208, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09659-4_15