Fashion Design School – Why You NEED To Study Fashion Design At School

How to Study Fashion Design at School. Welcome back to the channel and today I want to talk about something really, really important. Today's topic is me explaining why you need to study fashion as a degree if you're considering becoming a designer now. The reason I'm actually making this video is I feel like I've made statements in the past and people take it the wrong way. So in this video I'm going to kind of clarify all the things I've said in the past. Now, one of the things I say a lot is you don't really need to study fashion to become a fashion designer, a great fashion designer. And I use examples like you know, Raph Simmons or Ray Calcubo, or I use people like Carl Aguafeld, who are all fashion legends in their own right, but none of them studied fashion design. Now, where I think this is misleading and I didn't follow up those statements with another statement, is I didn't tell people the second part of the spectrum.

So my opinion on this is that if you study fashion as a degree, you're given all the tools you need to become a fashion designer. obviously, some schools are different. Are there? Some schools teach you in a way where you're in a better position to work under a brand, and then some schools like CSM are more creative and they teach you in a way to kind of be more creative and make your own brand. They kind of push you that direction. Either way, from a design aspect, you're given the right foundation and base to design well and become a good designer. Now for all the great people and all the greats who didn't study fashion design, so let's go through them one by one. So, Ray Calcubo, she didn't study fashion at university, but She worked in the textile industry for a long time.

Why You Shouldn't Study Fashion Design

She works as a freelance stylist and she made Comde Gasón. She's making clothes under the umbrella, Comde Gasón, before she even made the brand official. So she was working on her craft for many years. Who else are we going to talk about? Raf Simons didn't study fashion design, but His mentor, his mentor, was Walter Van Berendonk, who is a fashion legend in his own regard, in his own right. How many of us are going to have the opportunity to be mentored by someone like Walter Van Berendonk? none of us. So the problem I have is a lot of people start to take what I say the wrong way, and I feel like I was being kind of misleading, bringing these anomalies as like the perfect example of not studying fashion design.

So why would I not study fashion design? Because I understand what it takes to become a fashion designer. So I know if I'm not studying fashion design, I'm going to need to intern at brands. I've already interned at two brands, I've interned at Stella McCartney and I've interned at Deploy London. So I'm working on my craft. I'm not like kind of like what guys I think I'm kind of portraying to other people where I'm like: Don't don't say you don't need to study fashion to become a designer. That doesn't mean you don't have to intern, you don't have to work at places for no money working on your craft, but you don't have to. You know, get some sort of apprenticeship somewhere, and learn how to tailor and stuff like that.

That is what is required if you don't study fashion, because if you don't study fashion, basically you're playing catch up. So really, now you're going to have to learn all the skills that people that study fashion didn't learn in the classroom. You're going to have to learn the outside of classroom through kind of like apprenticeships, internships, and stuff like that, or just trial and error. So my whole point of making this video is: "Please don't take me the wrong way." If you want to be a fashion designer and you're agreeing with me and you think you don't have to study fashion for whatever reason, just realize you're going to have to work five times as hard as people that do study fashion, because all the information they need is given to them all in one at one point by people who have been doing this for like 20 thousand years. They're lecturers. So if you're not going to study fashion design, you better start interning.

You Better Start Working on Your Craft

You better start working on your craft. You better start, you know, doing trial and error. You better buy a sewing machine. You better start working on some designs. You better really start working. So more examples I can bring.

Karl Lager didn't study fashion design, but Karl Lager was such a good designer anyway, that I think, if I can remember correctly, he moved to Paris when he was like 16 around that age, and he was such a good designer, even though he wasn't formal trained. He used to enter his designs into competitions and then he started winning these competitions, and through that he got some internships in Paris and then he kind of worked his way up that way. So you can't compare yourself to guys like Karl Lager, who was so good at 16–he was beating adults at design competitions–or someone like Ray Calcubo, who worked in the textile industry for years, or someone like Rasmund, who was mentored by the great and still great Water Van Brandonk, or who else is in that boat of informal trained designers. I don't know who else I've mentioned, but you get the point.

If You're Not Going to Study Fashion Design, Work on Your Craft

If you're not going to study fashion design, work on your craft. It was misleading for me to say you don't need to study fashion design. Meanwhile, I'm like interning at fashion brands and the way I was portraying it was like studying fashion design is outdated, which is not true, um just, I personally don't feel like I need to, but I feel like most people should, and if I could go back in time I would. However, just my circumstances and the fact I want to. I don't really want to study fashion designers. agree, I want to. I want to study fashion journalism or fashion PR. So that's the main reason why I personally won't be studying fashion design.

Fashion Design – Should You Study Fashion Design?

So if you have, if you're like young, you're like 18, then if you have the money- obviously, finances is another thing, um, that you have to consider, but definitely consider studying fashion design. Another question I can answer while making this video is a lot of people ask me: 'Um, a lot of YouTubers have brands now, why don't you have a brand?' And once again, I just want to work on my craft man like I don't want to force it. Let me work on my designs, master some stuff, and then, when I feel like my, my designs are on a reasonable level, then I'll release a brand, because everyone has been asking me that question. I just don't. I don't know. I don't like the idea of designers who have never designed themselves coming out with brands. It just doesn't sit right with me.

But yeah, on that note, uh, comment down below what you think in the comment section. Do you think designers should study fashion degrees or should they not? uh, what do you think it takes to become a fashion designer or a good one? And yeah, on that note, uh, follow me on Instagram at Fashionroad Man, if you want to support the channel financially, then the patreon is in the description below. like this video. subscribe to the channel if you're new, and I'll be back for another video soon you.