Fashion Design

Courses

• Introduction to Fashion Design

  Explore the fashion industry’s structure from concept development to final production. Examine market segmentation, consumer demographics, psychographics, and purchasing power to understand how business metrics shape design decisions. Identify industry career paths, unique design strengths, and define target markets. Study iconic 19th- and 20th-century fashion leaders to understand their lasting impact on contemporary style.

• Collaborative Design Workshop

  Within the framework of the design process, you will learn essential ideation, design, and workplace skills. Handle complex problems by thinking critically and creatively, communicating your ideas effectively, and applying your specialized skills in a collaborative environment. Whether you’re working on a large-scale building development, making a movie, contributing to an online magazine, developing an app, or taking a new fashion line to market, the success of the project relies on your ability to work with others. Learn to collaboratively use the methods of design thinking to respond to a brief presented by a real community client.

• Design Fundamentals

  Learn the fundamental elements and principles of design, including balance, line, shape, and colour theory. Apply these concepts through hands-on projects to develop original fashion designs and begin creating your final collections. Track the full garment development process from initial inspiration to draping, pattern drafting, cutting, and sewing. Advance technical skills by working with complex silhouettes to produce a final, well-executed garment reflecting a personal design vision.

• Fashion Sustainability

  Develop an understanding of fashion’s environmental impact, examining industrialization, man-made textiles, and the advent of fast fashion. Learn about the collective efforts to reduce waste and promote sustainability. Examine global standards of fair trade and ethical garment production to implement responsible design practices.

• Textiles

  Get an overview of the textile industry, including the identification, properties and use of fibres and fabrics for apparel products. Weaving, dyeing, and printing processes will be explored through course assignments. Performance, care and labelling laws will also be covered.

• Garment Construction I

  Learn professional garment sewing techniques used in the fashion industry. Get hands-on experience operating industrial sewing machines and sergers while working with common seams and construction techniques.

• Garment Construction II

  Building upon the skills acquired in Garment Construction I, learn fashion industry techniques used in professional garment sewing and better develop your skills with more complex methods.

• Garment Construction III

  Building on the skills acquired in previous Garment Construction courses, develop specialized skills associated with knitwear and stretch garments. Learn about knitting machines, negative ease, and the unique challenges of working with knits and stretch fabrics.

• Garment Construction IV

  Building on the skills acquired in previous Garment Construction courses, learn the specialized skills associated with menswear and tailoring.

• Garment Construction V

  Apply the skill sets learned in previous Construction classes toward creating a final collection of your work for the graduation fashion show.

• Pattern Drafting I

  Learn the basic principles of pattern development through pattern drafting exercises and assignments. You will develop draping patterns using standard measurements and how to manipulate those patterns to achieve a desired design.

• Pattern Drafting II

  Explore pattern drafting skills as a continuation of Pattern Drafting I. Expanding on a repertoire of the basic block set (skirt front/back, bodice front/back, and sleeve), the shaping and lengthening of pre-existing patterns into pants, shirts, and dresses will be approached. Emphasis will be placed on the manipulation of pre-drafted patterns.

• Pattern Drafting III

  Build upon the foundational skills acquired in previous Pattern Drafting courses. Learn the specialized skills associated with knitwear and stretch garments. Develop skills to create patterns for knitting machines, and draft sewing patterns for knit fabrics.

• Pattern Drafting IV

  Building on the skills acquired in previous Drafting courses, learn the specialized skills associated with menswear and tailoring.

• Pattern Drafting V

  Apply the skill sets learned in previous Drafting courses toward creating a final collection of your work for the graduation fashion show.

• Draping I

  Learn the principles of draping through exercises and assignments and establish solid foundations of draping skills with a focus on body contouring and fitting. In addition to creating final garments. Develop patterns and adjust patterns to achieve desired design and fit.

• Draping II

  Building on Draping I, develop the principles of draping through exercises and assignments and broaden their foundation draping skills with a focus on body contouring and fitting. Learn to design, drape, cut and sew at least two garments for their final collection.

• Fashion Flats

  Adobe Illustrator (part of Creative Cloud) is the primary computer software used in the fashion industry. Get an introduction to technical drawings for the fashion industry, and the basic functions of Adobe Illustrator through a series of demonstrations and practical exercises. Develop an understanding of the technical specifications and annotations used for industry-standard fashion flats.

• Fashion Awareness

  Expand your understanding of fashion through fashion history and business practices of the fashion industry. Immerse yourself in pop culture of the 20th century decade by decade, analyzing and becoming inspired by artistic movements and fashion icons, as well as social and economic developments to better help you identify your own unique aesthetics as designers.

• Business of Design I

  Explore business practices within the fashion industry. Get familiar with the production cycle from design concept to final sale. Learn about the global fashion economy, study consumer behaviour, and analyze market trends to understand the contemporary fashion industry. Get an introduction to a range of business models in the fashion industry.

• Business of Design II

  This course builds upon the foundational skills acquired in Business of Design I. Learn how to establish and run a successful fashion business. Through lectures as well as hands-on learning, students will be introduced to the financial, legal, and regulatory aspects of running a fashion business, including funding, business incorporation, the protection of intellectual property, and hiring employees. Get an introduction to up-to-date local resources for new businesses.

• Fashion Illustration I

  Explore the fundamentals of fashion illustration: basic drawing skills, the Fashion Croquis and manipulating its proportions, demonstrating how garments move on the figure, fabric sketching techniques, and maintaining a sketchbook.

• Fashion Illustration II

  Learn a mix of both traditional and digital media using Adobe Illustrator, Fashion Illustration II. Expand and refine your repertoire of rendering the textures needed to communicate different types of fabric and accessories. Explore different media and sources of inspiration and develop their own unique visual communication styles.

• Computer Aided Drafting (CAD)

  Get an introduction to the industry-standard computer-aided drafting program. Learn to draft digital patterns based on your own original designs.

• Fashion Photography I

  Get an introduction to basic photography. Learn about different camera features as well as concepts of exposure, composition, and perspective. Focus is placed on camera functions and operation as well as understanding how you can use photography to enhance other aspects of your fashion design work.

• Fashion Photography II

  Build on the foundational skills acquired in Fashion Photography I. Apply knowledge of exposure, lighting, composition, and perspective to fashion photography. Learn how to design, style, plan, and direct a fashion photoshoot from start to finish.

• Design for Stage and Screen

  Get an introduction to costume design for theatre, film, television and performance art. Learn to tell stories through clothing and to communicate a character’s background, goals, and desires to the audience to enhance the cohesiveness and visual impact of a production. Combine both theoretical study and practical application of skills through the creation of polished costume designs for the full cast of a given production.

• Tech Packs

  Build upon the foundational skills acquired in the Fashion Flats course. Get experience in creating complete tech packs that include technical drawings, fabric specifications, component lists, construction details, and cost sheets.

• Fashion Styling

  Learn essential fashion styling skills, including dressing different body types, utilizing design principles to create cohesive looks, and styling for different occasions. Through hands-on practice, you will develop your unique styling vision and apply professional techniques to various styling assignments.

• Line Development

  Explore the steps required to design and create a fully realized fashion line. Over the course of the term develop ideas from initial concept(s), through sketching, sample-making, fitting, and construction phases, to the final presentation of a complete collection. Develop a full media package and promotional materials to support your collection.