The collection is comprised of work created by the students of Patrick Michael Hughes for two of his courses, "Themes in Men’s Fashion" and "History, Culture, Society." Other materials include a course syllabus created by Hughes and student Michael DiPietro's independent study project.

Each work reflects Hughes’ teaching about the socio-cultural effects of fashion throughout history, which is manifested in written papers, design sketches, and other forms of visual documentation. As a whole, the collection provides an in-depth look at how Parsons School of Design students were taught fashion history and how some chose to incorporate it into their own design work between 2007 and 2010. Moreover, these materials reflect Hughes’s interdisciplinary teaching style, which often incorporates films, exhibitions, and theoretical readings to help students understand the symbolism and cultural significance of clothing from a historical perspective.

Much of the dating in this collection is approximate due to the fact that students were often designing based on the fashion calendar, which typically projects many months ahead of the normal calendar. Additionally, some of the students worked on these projects over multiple semesters.