Archive for December, 2009
Tips on Choosing A School For Fashion Design
Once you’ve made the decision to attend, or at least investigate fashion design as a career, its time to consider your educational prospects. By attending a school for fashion design, you will get the training you need to be successful in your new career. In addition, you will also have the chance to network, and have post-graduate job placement opportunities. Although there are many choices available, finding the right program doesn’t need to be complicated.
One of your first tasks should be narrowing down your field of study. Take a look at the various occupational profiles related to fashion, and focus on the ones that interest you. Some of the more popular fashion areas of study are: design, merchandising, marketing, and fashion retail management. By having a primary focus in mind, you can look primarily at programs which are strong in your niche. If you are not sure what your focus is yet, take a look at schools that offer a variety of fashion design programs, so you can make a decision after you’ve started your initial classes.
Another factor to consider is what type of degree program you are looking for. There are a number of two and four year universities and colleges that offer fashion design as one of their majors. If having a traditional degree is important to you, you may want to apply to these schools. There are also many schools that specialize purely in fashion design programs. This type of education may be more comprehensive, with more of a focus on job placement after you graduate. Many of these offer certificates, associate, and bachelor degree programs.
You should also consider the quality of the education you’ll be pursuing. Make sure you have a chance to review the curriculum and courses, and the teaching faculty. If you can attend some of the schools and take a tour, that would be ideal, as you will have a chance to observe much more than what you will see on the website. You should also try to find some objective reviews of the school and program you are interested in.
At this point, practicalities will also come into play. A major component of deciding which school to attend will be cost. Evaluate the complete financial aid packages that might be available, and consider researching and applying for any scholarships. Location is also extremely important. If you have located an appropriate school nearby, that will be much more convenient. If a nearby school isn’t an option, you may want to consider an online school, or even a school in a different city or county. Some of the best fashion schools are located in places like Milan, London, and Paris.
Because there is so much involved in choosing a school for fashion design, you should take your time and not rush the decision process. Your odds of choosing a school that will help you fulfill your fashion career aspirations are much higher if you are clear about your focus of study, where you want to study, and how much you can afford. With so many choices available, you will find the school that is right for you.
Amy Wells writes about fashion education. Thinking of attending Fashion
School? Get the facts first, find out where to go and how to save money on Fashion
School.
Basic Criteria for Choosing Your Fashion Design School
School, obviously, is the one main vehicle where you can acquire basic and formal training. This is true to all fields and industries. And as such, the fashion industry does not escape this reality.
You may have the talent and the unique sense for fashion but without structured training, you might fail to understand and explore more on your gifts.
Besides, one’s success in the field of fashion relies partly on your choice of school. In this article, we will give you the basic criteria you can use in exploring your options of fashion design school.
Cost- This is one of the main considerations that largely affect your choice of school. The sad truth with fashion design schools is that they are too few and among the relatively small number are the handful schools that can truly deliver efficient education.
As with many other things, low cost fashion design schools are good but only if they can give effective learning. This is rarely the case though. Often, with lower fees, lower quality of education may be had. This is due primarily to the reason that such schools can’t afford higher paying professionals to provide them with man power.
Thus, they settle for people who can give service at a low price. Don’t let quality suffer over the limit of your budget. There will always be some well-performing fashion design schools that will suit your means.
Area of Specialization- In the fashion industry, it is well recognized that one should have special fields where they are greatly inclined to. This must be triggered or further supplemented by the fashion school of your choice.
The first thing you would want to do is to study the nature of the fashion design school. What fields does it cater? What courses does it focus on? What are their main emphases in delivering the art? These are among the many things that you should give intense consideration since the fashion design school that you will be choosing would largely influence your career later.
The best aid for your choice of school is to know its reputation. A self respecting fashion design school is one that makes itself renowned in the world of fashion. Does your school of consideration participate in fashion school competitions? This would be a sure mark of fostering excellence in the industry and the school’s commitment for brilliant education.
To maximize your strength, you must therefore find a school that focuses on your own field of specialization.
Considerations on the Curriculum- As with college education, you must also check into the curriculum offered in the school of fashion design. To get the best offered in your spectrum of choices, you can compare curriculum from various schools and decide what you think would best fit in your preferences.
Ratio of teacher to students- The size of a class against a teacher means two things- the school is either too popular or it’s the other way around. Nevertheless, the larger the size of the class the more likely would education suffer.
These are only some of the major points to consider in choosing your fashion design school. As for your final decision, your best judgment must out rule any doubt.
Warren Peters is the author and can provide additional information about Fashion Design Schools.
Follow these steps and you should be all set.
http://www.wplive.info/fashion-school-site
Top Fashion Design Colleges: Top Fashion Colleges Take You To The Top Of The Fashion Industry
Uniqueness in Common
A common characteristic among fashion designers and those employed within the fashion industry is their uniqueness. That sounds strange, doesn’t it? But think about it: those in the fashion industry are unique individuals, and the top fashion design colleges recognize this quality and offer educational and training programs to help develop the skills of their fashion design students. Whether you want to study fashion design from a location close to your home or in a large fashion design metropolis, like New York or San Francisco, top fashion design colleges that will meet your educational needs are located throughout the United States.
You Have to Start Somewhere
Although most fashion designers have a passion for style and design, few are born with an innate ability to design clothes and apparel. Even the world’s leading designers had to learn and develop their skills before realizing success within the fashion industry. They sought training and education from the top fashion design colleges to develop their designing skills and express their visions. Choosing a fashion school, one that fits your particular uniqueness, is very important to experiencing longer-term success in the industry of fashion.
Fashion designers are artistic people who hold within a desire to create new and exciting designs. Combining knowledge and artistic ability, fashion designers turn their ideas into real fashions for merchandising, publications, and the interiors of the homes we inhabit. Many fashion designers are self-employed and provide fashion services for individual clients, while others provide similar services to department and specialty stores. Designers working for apparel manufacturers generally modify fashions created by other designers to meet the needs of mass marketing.
Keep Up With the Changes
Fashion design is a constantly changing industry, and therefore so are its occupations. The curricula of the top fashion design colleges are structured to provide a well-rounded and contemporary educational experience to the fashion design student. Students can learn the most current innovations taking place in fashion design. They are exposed to computer generated fashion design, pattern development and drafting, fashion merchandising, and much more. If you are interested in a career of fashion design, then you should investigate the courses of study from some of the top fashion design colleges in the nation.
Top Fashion Colleges and World Travel
Most top fashion design colleges provide programs that combine traditional skills – like sewing, pattern production and use of fabric – with the standards and trends of today’s fashions. In any one of these colleges, the work performed is geared toward assisting students to build their own fashion design portfolio. Some top fashion design colleges even provide study tours of the world’s leading fashion producers located in cities like New York and Paris. Imagine traveling to Paris, as a student, to study the styles and techniques of some of the world’s most respected designers. You might even have an opportunity to experience the thrill of one of your own designs being displayed on the runway. It’s all possible if you graduate from one of the top fashion colleges!
For practical info concerning college & university options, such as the University of Phoenix online, psychology graduate schools, community colleges and many more, visit www.college-selections.com, offering great higher education insights!
Pursuing a Masters In Design Degree
It’s an age old question when one considers how best to get ahead in their career: should I just concentrate on getting more relevant experience? should I beef up my academic qualifications? do I need a bit of both? The answer is it depends, though it is also fair to say that having an associated masters degree in whatever field you’re working would never do you any harm. The field of design (and all its associated sub-sections is no different) and one can add the crucial qualifier that a master’s degree in design is essential if you’re ever looking to teach your particular discipline at a University or College. This article will look at the various sub-categories of design in which one can pursue a design masters degree.
Those who pursue a career in design usually do so because they have a certain amount of visual flair and an interest in combining the aesthetic with the functional. Because our society is in a state of flux and always subject to new influences, there is a constant need for designers to create new designs (regardless of the field) which are reflective of the environment and the times in which we live – and at the same time deliver functionality that hopefully makes our lives a little easier.
There are various design fields in which one can specialize. The field of graphic design is aimed at adding visual impact to corporate communications; web design is about producing appealing and useful websites; industrial design is concerned with producing new products which are both functional and have aesthetic appeal; fashion design is an applied art relating to clothing and accessories whilst interior design and landscape design can loosely be described as the indoors and outdoors of design: landscape design being about creating functional and aesthetically pleasing outdoor spaces and interior design being about designing those spaces in which people live and work.
All of these fields will have an associated bachelor’s or associate degree attached to them. Students who are looking for professional advancement and certainly people who are looking to teach within their given field – may want to check out the design masters degrees that are on offer. A design master’s degree will be available at a number of different schools. A student should already have a bachelor’s degree in the field in which they wish to pursue post graduate studies (or at least in a substantially related field) although there are some schools that will offer foundation courses with the aim of bringing a student up to speed before he/she enrolls in the masters program.
Design masters programs will take 1-2 years to complete if being pursued full time and obviously longer if being studied part time. Most post graduate courses have been developed in such a way that professionals can pursue their studies at night and on weekends.
There are an increasing number of schools that are now offering an online design degree via the Distance Education Network. The curricula on offer via online postgraduate programs are not substantially different than those on offer to those attending a campus. An online degree obviously gives a graduate greater flexibility in how they go about pursuing their studies and indeed a greater choice of schools.
For more information on pursuing a
Masters in Design degree go to
http://www.masters-in-design.com
Your Fashion Designer Debut
For the girls who dream of becoming fashion designers, there is a critical resource available online that can help you make those dreams come true – or at least get you pointed in the right direction. It can be challenging to begin a career as a fashion designer while still in middle school, but that hasn’t stopped millions of girls from testing the waters with the help of online dress up and fashion games.
Online Fashion
Girls who love fashion can never get enough of outfits and styles in fashion magazines, but now thanks to the huge variety of fashion games online, you can explore styles and create your own fashions right on your computer.
Making Fashion Work for You
To use fashion games on the computer, you need only internet access. There is no need for expensive software or even a measuring tape. Simply boot up the computer and turn your internet browser toward the world of dress up games.
Dress Up Games
The number of dress up games available online will take you aback if you haven’t explored this realm of fashion before. There are dress up games related to almost every fashionable celebrity and even many of the more popular fashion dolls such as Barbie and Bratz. There are also generic dolls used to model some of the latest and greatest fashion, and as a future designer, it is these games that will help you the most.
Assembling Style
When faced with a new dress up game, you have the option of thousands of clothing items and accessories to combine into new and exciting looks. You can easily spend hours trying on different skirts and tops to find the perfect top and skirt that might offset to a great pair of boots. And you can do all this without ever leaving your seat.
Working with fashion in this way lets you play with the most popular styles as well as learn what might be coming our way from other countries – after all, the United States isn’t the only nation with websites and designers creating all these fashion games. Blend styles from other counties to make your new look a bit more European or sparkle with Asian flair. Work to find the perfect outfit that transcends all national lines and when you find it, you must save it for posterity (and your portfolio.)
Creating a Portfolio
Working with fashion requires assembling a selection of your work to show others what you are capable of creating. This means your creations should be saved to a file on your computer or printed out to be stored in a special folder. While the great fashion houses might not come knocking at your door any time soon, creating a portfolio of favorites can be fun to share with friends and it can be especially beneficial when it’s time to head to the stores for a bit of shopping.
Lisa Park is a 23 year old author and a blogger. She loves to surf the net, watch movies and listen to music. Regina Spektor is one of her favorite pianists. Playing dress up games is also one of her favorites. To find out more about her just drop by Dress Up Games.