On topic
Fashion forward Lecturer Tuomas Laitinen is a highly respected fashion expert. His status stems from a profound understanding of the needs of current fashion industry as well as the ability to guide students to find their place in its fields. Text Elina Peltonen Photo Chris Vidal
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HIS YEAR, London’s top fashion
magazines covered only two student fashion shows, with one being that of Aalto University. At Hyères, the most highly regarded fashion competition in Europe, Aalto students have gained three Grand Prix wins and numerous finalist positions since 2011. The latest acknowledgement came in the form of a university ranking in which Aalto’s BA fashion programme was listed among the top three in the world. This goes to demonstrate, how lucky Aalto is to have Tuomas Laitinen. To his own surprise, four years after finishing his BA studies in fashion design, Laitinen returned to his alma mater in 2005. The years elsewhere had been an eventful time for him, to say the least: Laitinen had completed an MA at Central Saint Martins in London (CMS), the best fashion school in the world, and gained valuable working experience from the industry both in Paris and London. 36 / AALTO UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE 18
During this period, he had not only witnessed a different way of teaching, but a fundamental change in the industry as well. On commencing his work as a teacher, he knew things demanded urgent reform. “The whole structure of education was designed to serve the fashion industry in Finland: an industry we had in the 1980s and, to some extent, up to the 1990s. However, the problem was that it was not relevant any more. That industry no longer existed here and it had changed so much outside of Finland, too.”
Culture of openness Changes were plentiful, but required years of persistence to implement. “Professor Pirjo Hirvonen and I started to replace small design courses with more comprehensive projects and also to emphasise the meaning of finding one’s own identity and creating one’s own world through visual research.
Also, getting closer with textile and encouraging people to make their own materials. We have all these amazing facilities with which we do almost haute couture level materials.” At CSM, under the renowned professor Louise Wilson, Laitinen had witnessed how one could demand a lot more from students, and consequently get much more out of them. Therefore, his most transformational impact of all was likely the fostering of a new study culture based on open communication. Initially, Laitinen’s directness came as a shock to some, but proved elemental in teaching students to tap into their full potential as designers which transferred to their collections. Now, students cannot wait for the opportunity to work with him. “People were not used to receiving criticism or talking about their work and bringing it into the broader context of what’s happening elsewhere. It took a