Picking And Getting Into A Fashion Design School

As with most any career, fashion design requires training and a degree to show that you have the basic knowledge to work in the field you have chosen. In order to do this you will need to attend a fashion design school. A fashion design school is simply an art school for people who create with fabrics.

Picking A Fashion Design School

Once you have realized that fashion design is the career you want to follow, how do you go about finding the education you need? Picking a fashion design school is no less of a choice than someone picking out a school for engineering or a business degree. You need to put in the time and effort to research the various fashion design school offerings and reputations. Finding the best fashion design school for you is the ultimate goal.

When you are looking into different schools, you, like everyone else wishing to further their education, must take into consideration the reputation of the fashion design school, its cost, size and what the school offers. As with any search for a school you will need to do the following:
Decide what area of the fashion design field you want to work in; then find schools that specialize in that field.
Make a list of items to look for such as cost, location, programs, degree level, and placement.
Put together a list of schools for consideration; then find out everything possible about each of these schools
Apply to the schools you have chosen, along with any grants or scholarship programs you have found.
Visit the schools if possible to get a feel of the school and its teachers.
After receiving responses from applications, start the elimination process to narrow down the field, arriving at your final choice of fashion design school.

Getting Into Fashion Design School

Getting into a fashion design school takes about as much work as getting into any school of higher learning and specialty. You need to show the admissions people that you at least know the basics and have an idea about the field you intend to work in is about.

Drawing – you will need to have the ability to sketch out your ideas and concepts before ever getting to the finished product. Your portfolio will show your drawings and your ability to flesh out your ideas. Any fashion design school will want to see a copy of your best work.
Sewing – you need to show the school samples of completed work (clothes you made yourself). This means that you must learn sewing.
Mentors and references – while you do not need big name designers for references, it does help your case to have names of fashion designers that you have worked with or under before you get to the school. This tells the admissions people that you know what the life of a designer is like.
Grades – unfortunately, fashion design school is like any other school. If you don’t have the grades at an acceptable level, no amount of creativity or ability to sew and draw can help you.

When you finally get to the fashion design school of your choice you will find that you learn many things. Yes, you will learn the fundamentals of fashion design, but there are new tools and ideas that have come into the fashion design world. Such things as marketing and fashion design software are among them.