Fashion Design: Design Track
The goal of undergraduate design education in the School of Design is to provide a foundation that will allow graduates to deal with diverse professional challenges appropriately and to master tools and media of the future. This foundation has three components:
- an integrated twelve quarter curriculum, rather than a collection of courses, concentrating on the design process rather than product
- one and one-half years of supervised experience in the design field through the professional practice (co-op) program
- a structured liberal-arts education
About the Program
Within Fashion Design, there are two tracks - Fashion Design and Fashion Product Development. The fashion industry involves the design, manufacturing, and merchandising of apparel and accessories. Clothing design incorporates an understanding of the design process as it relates to the three-dimensional form of the garment. Fashion designers communicate ideas three-dimensionally through their knowledge of color, fabric, and silhouette. Today's fashion designer must produce beauty and excellence in design as well as a marketable product.
The Fashion Design: Design Track develops a command of both creative and technical skills. Students are able to sketch, design, plan, and execute a garment at a quality level. Course work emphasizes the function of the design (how well the product works, moves, and fits the body) as well as the beauty of the design (how it looks).
The Fashion Design: Design Track provides a broad liberal arts background as a basis for understanding economic, sociological, and psychological influences of fashion. The curriculum includes basic art and design courses, fashion design, technical courses in patternmaking, draping, and tailoring. Electives permit the student to explore other areas of interest.