Currently the industry of fashion design is dominated by instrumentalism and utilitarianism though implementation of aesthetic thought is very important for fashion design teaching. Based on the theoretic foundation of Schiller’s aesthetic thought, and with a perspective of modern aesthetics, this paper studies the effect of teaching method reform using questionnaires on attendees of design programs from three colleges. Results show that after the teaching method reform, there are issues such as oversight of aesthetic though education, loss of free spirit, and insufficient perception of beauty and innovation. To address these issues, we should utilize heuristic teaching, game-based teaching, and experimental teaching in order to achieve better learning efficiency, enhanced role of aesthetic thought in skill, competence, and moral education, and construction of humanity-oriented teaching concepts and systematic culture. This research serves to provide reference for further fashion design teaching reform in China.