Fashion Design

School of Design

Department of Fashion Design and Merchandising

Description

The Fashion Design degree curriculum synthesizes the individual esthetic of the designer with an understanding of the market, historical context of fashion and costume, consumer psychology, materials, and techniques of apparel construction.

The major's curriculum focus is primarily on studio work and other discipline-specific course work central to its mission of developing the student’s individual design voice and vision while developing their potential as practicing technical fashion design professionals.

Objectives

Upon completion of the Bachelor of Science in Fashion Design, graduates will be able to:

  1. Apply the skills, concepts, methodologies, and behavior to be practicing technical fashion design professionals.
  2. Execute sophisticated rendering, design, and computer skills to illustrate concepts, communicate design development ideas, create effective presentations, and translate into technical specifications.
  3. Demonstrate competence in visual expression of garment design from experience of the human form through life drawing and fashion drawing conventions to represent the clothed figure.
  4. Create a fashion portfolio of finished art, collections, and work and presentation boards expressing a personal voice and vision.
  5. Employ concepts of sustainability in global, environmental, social and economic contexts as fundamental characteristics of a comprehensive design strategies in the fashion industry.
  6. Articulate the history of fashion and costume design in a context of applied research and analysis.
  7. Integrate fashion design in the business context and use research to discern consumer psychology, markets, and trends to create strategically targeted product lines.
  8. Collaborate with design, merchandising, management, and specialty groups to make informed garment design decisions.

Policies

Students must earn a minimum GPA of 2.00 in the major, and the lowest acceptable grade is a "C" in all major and Stevenson Educational Experience (SEE) courses. No student, regardless of major, will be permitted to advance to the next course without earning a grade of "C" or better in the prerequisite course(s). When a grade below "C" is earned in a major course, the student must repeat that course.

Requirements

The courses listed below are required for the completion of the bachelor's degree in fashion design. Students must also complete the requirements for the Stevenson Educational Experience (SEE).

Specific pre- and co-requisites for each course are listed in the course descriptions.

Major Requirements:

FYS 100First Year Seminar

1 credit

ART 106Introduction to Art History

3 credits

ART 110Fundamentals of Design I

3 credits

ART 113Fundamentals of Design II

3 credits

ART 116Drawing I

3 credits

ART 117Drawing II

3 credits

ART 217Figure Drawing

3 credits

OR

PHOTO 242Fashion and Portrait Photography

3 credits

ART 315Surface Design

3 credits

FDES 101Garment Construction Techniques

1 credit

FDES 200Introduction to Textiles

3 credits

FDES 201Fashion Design I

3 credits

FDES 202Fashion Design II

3 credits

FDES 203Garment Construction Studio

3 credits

FDES 205Computer-Aided Pattern Design I

3 credits

FDES 210Fashion Illustration I

3 credits

FDES 274History of Fashion

3 credits

OR

FDES 280Fashion Design Study Abroad

3 credits

FDES 290Internship Preparation

1 credit

FDES 301Fashion Design III

3 credits

FDES 302Fashion Illustration II

3 credits

FDES 303Fashion Design IV

3 credits

FDES 305Computer-Aided Pattern Design II

3 credits

FDES 315/FMER 315Writing for Fashion

3 credits

FDES 390Internship

3 credits

FDES 401Fashion Design V: Senior Studio I

3 credits

FDES 403Fashion Design VI: Senior Studio II

3 credits

FDES 404Fashion Design VII: Product Development

3 credits

MGT 210Business Writing

3 credits

MKT 206Principles of Marketing

3 credits

PHOTO 141Basic Digital Photography

3 credits

VCD 125Fundamentals of Digital Media

3 credits

Suggested Course Sequence

Suggested Course Sequence Fashion Design

Minor in Fashion Design

The minor in fashion design requires successful completion of a minimum of six courses and 18 credits with a FD prefix. All course prerequisites must be met to be eligible to take the selected course for a minor. Please see an academic advisor for more information. General information regarding minor requirements may be found in the Minors section of the catalog.

Course Descriptions

See Fashion Design Course Descriptions