Harvard's Dapper Dean

The Boston Globe counts Graduate School of Design dean Mohsen Mostafavi among the city’s most stylish denizens.

Harvard may not have a reputation as the most fashionable place, but this morning, one of our own landed on the list of the 25 most stylish Bostonians compiled by the Boston Globe: Graduate School of Design dean Mohsen Mostafavi.

In the accompanying interview, Mostafavi muses about similarities and differences between fashion and architecture:

I think one thing that’s very interesting about fashion is its immediacy and the fact that you can see things and you can test things very quickly. Architecture, unfortunately, is very slow. In fashion they create a prototype, and you see it and you touch it and you can make a decision. In architecture, if we could emulate that process, it would make some things easier.

For those who aren’t up for flipping through the entire slideshow, here’s the direct link to the Mostafavi interview.

Harvard Magazine profiled Mostafavi last year; read that article here.

You might also like

After a final round of layoffs, University leaders say 165 staff jobs were eliminated across the division.

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.

A roundup of University news from the summer of 2026

Most popular

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.  

AI Outperforms Doctors in Emergency Room Tasks, New Harvard Study Shows

Researchers say the technology could help physicians with triage, diagnosis.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

Explore More From Current Issue

A smiling elderly man in glasses sits comfortably in a striped armchair.

Plus, veteran higher education leader Thomas Ehrlich reflects on university curricula for his 70th reunion

Three actors perform on stage, with one actor interacting closely with another, set against abstract backgrounds.

The play Spare Parts is a contemporary fable about the quest to live forever.

A flooded office scene with computers, a woman working, and a pink sunset backdrop.

A College student’s attempt to recapture the romanticism of the workplace.