Fashion Design - Master's or Second Bachelor's?

liek0806
Wed, 14 May 2008 04:16:19 +0000

Alot of students at Otis have also gotten CFDA awards, they compete every year with their portfolios. I was pursuing a BFA at Otis and reached junior standing. Have you visited? they have their fashion campus in downtown la, in the cal mart building if you’re familiar. They have the stuff on the second floor, so you can walk around and see the student work, although for the summer they replace current work with old work as students take their stuff home. during your junior year and senior year, you work on mentor projects. mentors are designers and companies invited to give students directions of who and what to design for. they then choose designs for you to create for thea nnual fashion shows. you essentially choose from the mentors offered every semester. with in the last 2 years mentor projects included calvin klein, bcbg, max studio, libertine, disney, Nike, abercrombie, john varvatos gillyhicks, monique lhuilier, tommy bahama, nordstroms, armani exchange, juicy couture, and others.

i’m pretty sure otis will accept you at sophomore level if you’ve had a bachelors in graphic design, i dont think they’ll need you to do foundation, if they do then make sure you tell them and work with them and say that you already completed a bachelors degree in a design discipline and as such dont think going through foundation would be necessary. no top fashion school tends to accept for junior level standing because every school has their own program. at sophomore level you’re introduced to all the basics of patternmaking, garment construction, designing, illustrating, and TIME MANAGEMENT. its a very rigorous program, the connections out of Otis may not be as strong as its NY rivals, but they’re there for LA companies, ie BCBG, juicy couture, etc. Some graduates dont end up having trouble finding jobs once they go to ny after otis. alot of getting internships with Big name com companies takes communicating months in advance before summer. i know when i was a sophomore i was in contact with Marc Jacobs and some european fashion houses, unfortonutaely for marc jacobs they started their internships during the time when otis is still in session, and at otis you really cant miss school unless you plan on failing. the european fashion houses had already filled up spots by the time i contacted them(and this was around feb/march) its always about being proactive and being a go getter. you’ll realize this once you start being in the industry.

in terms of getting a real education, i was referring to learning for the sole purpose of laerning to make you an educated person. you can go to school to learn a trade, ie graphic design, fashion design, etc and you end up only knowing one thing, or learning how to do a job in a specific industry. you’re seeing this yourself with graphic design and trying to merge into fashion design. I dont want to live life knowing that fashion design is all i know how to do. i think getting an education in something that makes me a more educated person is much more important to me than entering an industry.

if you give me your email. i can send you a job link to a denim company looking for graphic designers in la, its an internship for the summer, but its better than nothing rihgt? they are a fashion company as well but its a good way to get your foot in the door.