In the last decade we have seen a new attention to contemporary fashion designers from the Eighties, Nineties and early 21st century and their influence in the influence in the contemporary fashion scene. Many restropective exhibitions in art and fashion museums have started to celebrate these figures while contemporary fashion designers have been outspokenly citing them. This course is a response to this new fashion and invites students to engage more deeply with key figures - such as Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Martin Margiela, Bless, Helmut Lang - in contemporary fashion from the 1980s to today. The aim is to go deeper in the history of iconic and less known designers and brands to give an overall view on shifts in creative practices in fashion. The course will not only explore case studies of figurs who reach visibility or market success but also investigate examples of designers and design in connection to originality in terms of garments’ constructions and imaginary. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and research-based projects, students will retrace the contributions of designers whose practices have uniquely shaped the fashion world in the last forty years. By the end of the course, students will have developed a richer understanding of the diverse creative forces that define fashion today and will be able to critically position these figures within broader cultural, social, and aesthetic contexts.