The fashion industry is a dream for many ambitious talents across the world in various subjects and domains, main elements are fantasy, glamour, luxury, popularity, big money, exposure, etc. due to these, a lot of youths are being attracted and interested in a bright career in the fashion industry. But there are many questions, such as, how to become a fashion designer, how to become a fashion stylist, where and how to learn fashion management, which are the top fashion schools and colleges, how to pursue the business of fashion course, how to learn fashion merchandising, where to study fashion buying course, how to learn fashion illustration, which is the top fashion designing course, how to study fashion sustainability course, and so on, the list of the questions can be long. With this article, I am trying to provide some guidance and information about the schools, institutes, universities, and colleges globally to study fashion. This industry has many career options such as fashion designer, fashion merchandiser, fashion stylist, fashion photographer, model, fashion make-up artist, fashion buyer, fashion illustrator, fashion consultant, fashion coach, sustainable fashion advisor, fashion forecaster, fashion management, fashion technology (i.e. AI, IOT, Cloud-based data and software, etc.) and many more, however, getting the best job is all depends on where you study from, your passion and how skilled you are in the subject, for an example, having no passion and skill about fashion designing won’t get you fashion designer opportunity despite your study at FIT or NIFT or any other elite university.
Here is the list of some of the top fashion schools/colleges/universities:
- Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) – New York
- London College of Fashion – London
- Parsons School of Design | The New School – New York
- The Savannah College of Art & Design – Savannah
- ESMOD – Paris
- National Institute of Technology (NIFT) – New Delhi
- Marangoni Fashion Institute – Milan
- Bunka Fashion College – Tokyo
- Kent State University – Kent
- Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) – Los Angeles
- Columbus College of Art & Design – Columbus
- University for the Creative Arts – Farnham
- University of Applied Arts – Vienna
- Pearl Academy – New Delhi
- National Institute of Design (NID) – Ahmedabad
- Central Saint Martins – London
- Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts – Antwerp
- Polimoda – Florence
And more…
Famous celebrities in the fashion industry such as Alexander McQueen, Phoebe Philo, Stella McCartney, John Galliano, Martin Margiela, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Nanette Lepore, Jimmy Choo, Yohji Yamamoto, Franco Moschino, Domenico Dolce, etc. are from the above schools/colleges. I am lucky that I also had an opportunity to study/associate with NIFT at Gandhinagar and NID at Ahmedabad, but, well, I am not a celebrity!
There are various courses available, undergraduate, post-graduate, masters, certificate course, specialization, etc. in the subjects such as womenswear, menswear, kids wear, jewellery, textile, fashion design + marketing + communications, fashion history, journalism, strategic design and management, accessories design, fashion merchandising management, international trade and marketing for fashion, fabric design and styling, technical design, footwear design, fashion buying, brand management and promotions, textile development and marketing, luxury business & management, lifestyle management, trend forecasting, art direction, etc.
Many of the above-listed colleges provide campus placement at leading brands and companies such as Armani, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Massimo Dutti, Tommy Hilfiger, Givenchy, Burberry, H&M, Aditya Birla Group, Arvind Mills, Raymond and more.
No matter what skillset or creativity you have, the fashion industry is witnessing a change, these days the knowledge of new technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud-based data and software, computerized illustrations, internet of the things (IoT), innovations, etc. are required, you have to get exposure and abreast with these technological advancements and scale-up your skills for better career options.
