In Fashion Part 8

The take-away is simple: If you are an English-speaking person, go to Parsons in New York or Central Saint Martins in London. If you are French, explain to us why there are so few French designers, s'il vous plait. If you speak the three official languages of Belgium-French, Dutch, and German-and hold a Belgian pa.s.sport, you may apply at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, but beware: The attrition is high. Of the estimated 120 who start the first year, only 70 survive. After four years, only 15 to 20 students are allowed to remain in the program and graduate.

Like most New Yorkers, I'm biased and believe my city is the center of the universe. When it comes to fashion and a fashion education, it's hard to argue: New York City is the U.S. fashion capital. It follows then that if you do want to study design, New York is the place to do it. But I'm also a sn.o.b about a liberal arts education. If you have options and, say, have the choice to attend Brown University or FIT, I say there's no contest: Go to Brown. But when Zac Posen had the option of accepting a spot at Brown University or going to London to interview for a spot at Central Saint Martins, he did the latter. And things have worked out pretty well for this bright star. To my mind (and to many fashion academics), the absolute perfect education of a fashion designer would be to attend Brown University for a BA and then to continue on to Central Saint Martins for an MA or Parsons for an MFA.

In a perfect world, I'd recommend the path that Thakoon took-earning a degree from a liberal arts university, following up with technical and creative coursework at an amazing school like Parsons or Central Saint Martins in London. Steven Faerm, director of fashion design at Parsons, confirms that, increasingly, students come to Parsons having already completed a BA from schools as prestigious as Va.s.sar, choosing to start the BFA program at Parsons. In addition, there is an increase in BFA graduates continuing to earn MFAs.

If you've narrowed your search to NYC, you have two main options. Below I've tried to condense the profile of these two top, but dramatically different, U.S. fashion schools according to your key issues and concerns.

PARSONS VERSUS F.I.T.

PARSONS: THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN FIT: FASHION INSt.i.tUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Check Out www.parsons.edu www.fitnyc.edu Why Go Here? You get the highest-caliber, most well rounded fashion education at this private inst.i.tution, part of The New School. You join an elite group of graduates who blanket Seventh Avenue and populate design studios in Paris and Milan. Technically a New York State community college, it's as tough and technical as the industry itself.

Star Alum Edith Head, Claire McCardell, Adrian, Norman Norell, Reed Krakoff (Coach president and executive creative director), Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Isaac Mizrahi, Anna Sui Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Nanette Lepore Famous For The Parsons Portfolio Producing hard workers Also Famous For Star alum make themselves available to critique and guide senior projects, and often they hire favorite graduates. Industry internships help you get your foot in the door.

How to Get In A great portfolio, good SATs, ACTs, TOEFLs Show up.

Hallmark The clear, sequential logic of the four-year BFA design program turns out talented designers who are creative problem solvers. A long, moveable menu of possibilities from full-time BA or MS degrees to flexible evening cla.s.ses catering to people looking to move up in their careers or switch out completely.

Parsons: The New School for Design

Claire McCardell, the woman who practically invented American sportswear, Norman Norell, one of the first American designers to win the respect of the Paris designers, and Edith Head, the Hollywood costume design legend-if these famous graduates from Parsons are any indication, the bar is set high at this school. Academically, the school is looking for conceptual, technical, and well-rounded students. Standardized tests-SATs, ACTs, and, for foreign students, the TOEFL-are required. Students who have shown high intellectual capacity coming in generally surpa.s.s those with outstanding drawing abilities within the first two years of study, says Steven Faerm, BFA director at Parsons. Once you do get admitted, the program builds in a straight line from the core skills of fashion ill.u.s.tration to creating a full-blown collection.

PARSONS: THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN FIT: FASHION INSt.i.tUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Teaching Style Highbrow, conceptual, referenced, but ultimately commercial Lowbrow, hands-on, practical Cost $$$$ $ Perks Parsons in Paris Programs in Florence and London, among others Toe-in-Water Test Take an evening ill.u.s.tration cla.s.s, or study with the Paris summer program (there's one for high school students). Check out summer programs custom-tailored for high school students with fashion fever.

Vibe Art school intensity High school aura with lockers and an auditorium Campus Seventh Avenue between 41st and 40th Streets Sprawling urban complex in Chelsea Industry Dis "Those people have their heads up in the clouds." "It's the fashion factory."

Props Established in 1896, the oldest fashion educational inst.i.tution in the United States produces some of the greatest designers of our time. Established in 1944, it takes n.o.bodies and gives them a future in fashion.

Year 1. Foundation cla.s.ses. Rigorous focus on skills and tools of design. Special focus on fashion ill.u.s.tration. "We still use gouache," says Faerm. Every student does at least fifty ill.u.s.trations per week.

Year 2. Skill building and fashion history. Moving into two dimensions-patternmaking, draping, sewing, color sense, proportion, exposure to every market including men's, women's, children's, teens', denim. "We still do 'flats,' and top st.i.tching by hand, so students get the feel of the process."

Year 3. Concept and mini thesis collection. Shopping the marketplace for trends and direction. Determining the fabrics and concept for a small collection of looks, a process that is intended to be a warm-up to the much more sophisticated and professional thesis of year 4.

Year 4. Thesis collection. Each student develops a collection from 100 or more sketches. Famously, the duo already known as Proenza Schouler (Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough) saw their entire senior collection snapped up by Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart to be sold at that store.

The best students, Faerm says, come to Parsons with historical and cultural contexts to draw from and generally have very strong time management skills. Those who've been drawn to the field after watching Project Runway generally do not fare well. "Students who come here because of that fail out," says Faerm.

Fashion Inst.i.tute of Technology (FIT)

FIT has something for everyone, including options for high school students who want to get a head start, as well as evening and weekend coursework for nontraditional, already working people who want to pursue their fashionista dreams. There's even a store on campus that sells students' creations. Talk about real! Like any school, FIT is only as good as you make it. While it is more practical than the more arty and theoretical Parsons, be careful of what you specialize in, because many of the most technical of these jobs have moved out of the United States to China.

Other Schools

Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, Drexel University, Philadelphia, offers a five-year liberal arts program with a one-year co-op in which you work in the field. Visit www.drexel.edu.

Fashion Inst.i.tute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) is a private college with campuses in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Orange County, California. Its teachers maintain strong contacts in the West Coast activewear, sportswear, and swimwear markets. Visit www.fidm.edu.

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, offers high-concept education in architecture, art, music, film, fabric design. (Nicole Miller's alma mater). Visit www.risd.edu.

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia, campuses, has a well-rounded, career-focused design program. Visit www.scad.edu.

Cornell University (www.cornell.edu), Texas A&M (www.tamu.edu), University of Georgia (www.uga.edu), and University of Wisconsin at Madison (www.wisc.edu) are among the state schools that previously had strong home economics programs that morphed their expertise into s.e.xier formats like fashion design, fashion business, or fashion management. Don't automatically reject this option since, occasionally, there is one dazzling personality, dean, or professor who makes a program like this cool and rewarding.

Getting a Grip on Central Saint Martins (CSM)

Thank G.o.d for CSM Professor Sarah Mower, my former Bazaar colleague, for she can explain this fine, intimating inst.i.tution for us Ah-Mer-RI-cans.

What is it? Central Saint Martins' design school in London, www.csm.arts.ac.uk.

Curriculum. "Creativity, not technical concerns, come first. You don't go there to learn pattern cutting or business. You go there to find out who you are and do something that is (if you're lucky) original, or at least very, very true to yourself."

How to get in: The interview. "You must know absolutely everything about the history of fashion. And if you can't quote chapter and verse on who's styled what for whom, on catwalks and in magazines and have an OPINION about current fashion, and why you should be in it, then forget it."

What it's like. "Incredibly multicultural, like London itself. And very compet.i.tive. The BA program now has a vast intake that has diluted the teaching since Galliano, McQueen, and Hussein days. You are very much thrown on your own devices, but that is what they have said about CSM for years: You teach yourself, find out how to operate, by having to operate."

Fashion, communications, and promotion (FCP) degree. "A fast track to fashion journalism, styling, PR. They always get jobs as everyone takes them as interns. Though of course they all have to slave unpaid for quite a long time too."

Master of arts (MA) degree. "The actual creme de la creme of world-cla.s.s standards is run by Professor Louise Wilson. She is a phenomenon. She breaks them down, does not allow anything derivative, but sends them out to populate the great brands of the world: Lanvin, Chloe, Donna Karan, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs. Or they become star designers in their own right like Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Marios Schwab, Louise Goldin, Sophia Kokosalaki. Verily, all the good young designers we have now are hers."

In my opinion, says Sarah Mower, visiting professor at Central Saint Martins: "If a person is serious about fashion, she or he could take a first degree [a bachelor of arts degree from a liberal arts college] anywhere, but if he or she is obsessed about getting on, save up to try for the MA, fashion's elite finishing school." Look at their graduation show on style.com.

Advice for foreign applicants? Be aware that CSM is part of the University of the Arts of London, which confoundedly also includes the London College of Fashion. CSM and the London College of Fashion operate completely separately with very different standards and studies. In addition, Sir Philip Green of Topshop fame owns something called the "retail academy" in London, which offers courses that may not be completely applicable to U.S. or continental European marketplaces. There's only one real CSM.

Design Compet.i.tions

Talk about breaking away from the pack. Winning a design compet.i.tion is an instant way to get seen and be known where it matters most-in the marketplace. Stuff like this happens all the time so read the bulletin boards hanging around school. Keep your ears open. What do you have to lose? Go for it.

Some examples. Gap creative director Patrick Robinson, a serious designer in his own right, recently invited thirty Rhode Island School of Design students to have a go at designing a cla.s.sic cotton cardigan for spring. Their work was displayed at Gap's rotating concept s.p.a.ce on Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street in Manhattan. Henri Bendel, a store known for its open call system where accessory and jewelry designer hopefuls are invited to show their stuff, also sponsors a handbag compet.i.tion with Parsons. Recently, of the thirty-five Parsons seniors who submitted sketches, the winner received $10,000 and the opportunity to sell the bag through the store; two runners-up received $2,500.

Also, check out the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) website, www.cfda.com, for information on the influential, annual CFDA/Vogue Young Designers Compet.i.tion as well as the Teen Vogue Student Design Compet.i.tion.

Getting Your First Design Job

Think of your job search as a campaign to work where you really want. Be creative. Make yourself seem interesting. Here is some advice specific to fashion design that comes from lots of designer friends who combined have centuries of experience interviewing, hiring, and training design a.s.sistants on Seventh Avenue.

Finding a Design Internship

"Everyone is always looking for a good intern," says dress designer Ruth Ann Stanley. "The top designer companies are looking for students with exceptional design and sketching skills-there's a lot of compet.i.tion for these internships. And the most talented students get them.

"I work for a small, unknown company, so I'm not the top choice for interns who'd much rather intern at well-known places like Marc Jacobs or Donna Karan. I'm looking for interns who may not have the most fully developed skills but who are smart and intensely interested in learning. Where I work, it's all hands on deck: You have to work and partic.i.p.ate, and we are depending on you."

Ruth Ann hires interns who are available to work four to five days per week. "It's excellent practice for understanding the day-to-day life in an office," she says, adding that the interns are also able to see a project progress. "They are able to take the responsibility for a project and have complete ownership of it. And I've found by giving interns actual responsibilities and the ability to watch something they've worked on materialize, it helps build self-esteem."

RECEPTION = FIRST IMPRESSION LAND.

One insanely funny, well-known Seventh Avenue designer told me that he sometimes doesn't even bother sitting down with a.s.sistant candidates for design jobs. His "time saver" method is to walk through the black-and-chrome reception area where the candidate waits, and, in a millisecond, based on how the person is dressed, he makes the decision whether he is interested enough in this person to do the interview himself or whether he'll pa.s.s it along to a top a.s.sistant. The outfit and how the candidate looks in the outfit tell him everything he needs to know about that person's taste level and eye.

Don't Dismiss the Small Labels

When you work at a small company, you are more likely to have the chance to interface with merchandising, production, the spec department, sample room, and maybe even accounting. Not only is it valuable to know how a company functions and how each division functions, you may discover that your strengths lie in another division. Perhaps you'll find that you love the pace of the later stages of work that happens in production. In this situation, you'd have time to adjust your studies and future internships to focus on just that so that when you graduate, you will be on the right track straight out of school.

A designer's inner circle looks something like this and functions more like a family or tribe than like a business.

WEB WARNING.

Lots of websites promise the world. They then ask for your credit card number to cover your monthly fee. AVOID THESE SITES!

You shouldn't be paying for a service to help you find a summer job. The three listed here are among the ones worth checking out: www.internzoo.com www.dailyfashionjobs.com www.freefashioninternships.com

How You Look at Your Interview

This is fashion. How you present yourself matters. "You need to look polished," says one friend in fashion HR, "but don't wear a business suit. That's too stiff."

Try to figure out what would be appropriate for the company you'd be working with. Let your look be influenced by that company's culture and style, slanting your look to the brand where you are interviewing. For example, if you have an interview at Calvin Klein, you'd blow your hair straight and dress neat and minimal. If you're interviewing at Betsey Johnson, you'd wear your hair curly and dress more crazy-creatively, like high tops and a touch of neon.

How to Express Yourself