Programme Talk | MA /PgD in Bespoke and New Couture

Mung Lar Lam is a cross-disciplinary artist, historian, educator and Programme Director of the new MA in Bespoke and New Couture program at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has 20 years of fashion industry experience in fashion design and executive management for global brands in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Paris, and over 15 years of academic experience, in teaching and administration, including online and onsite modalities, program oversight, design/redesign and curriculum development.  Mung Lar holds degrees in Fashion Design, Textile Art and Economic and Social History with research focused on the enormous and undocumented contributions of women in the textiles industry, the second most important sector of the Industrial Revolution.

Born and raised in Florence, Niccolò Sbaraglia is an economist specialized in statistics and a production manager dedicated to luxury accessories with a niche in product communication strategy. Following 8 years in New York City, founding two companies T-project showroom and PLUMA - ITALIA, Sbaraglia returned to Florence after accepting a teaching role at Polimoda for the Craft to Business course, becoming next Head of Commercial Development, and working as a trend forecaster of leather jackets for LGM Kering Group. Niccolò believes in the power of art and fashion to open the dialogue on all cultures of the world.

Polimoda Fashion Design Supervisor and Resident Lecturer in Sociology of the Imaginary, Silvia Tolaro has a conceptual and interdisciplinary approach to cultural and countercultural fashion phenomena. With her international experience in Trend forecasting, Tolaro provides consultancy for emerging designers and specializes in cross-cultural analysis while addressing new paths of social behavior. Combining her in-depth research and educational background in Fashion Management, she works with the creative and learning process, mentoring the next generation and shaping a socially conscious and human centric approach to fashion education and the industry.