Sunday

Sunday on the Potomac River

Travel Day

Six hours on a road trip - what beautiful day!

No research today :-D

Pam

THE SCHOOL OF ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

The School of Art Institute of Chicago's Core Values are "We are explorers; making and meaning are inseparable; we are artists and scholars"

The school says that when you are studying in the Fashion Design degree program, you will be working parallel with sculptures, designers, architects, performance artists, among others, creating a unique, interdisciplinary education..  The school wants to challenge the artists to take on a theoretical approach to their work.

The Sage Studios for fashion design is housed in a historic building designed by Louis Sullivan.  He was an architect from the early 1900's and named "The Father of Skyscrapers"!

What I found to be unique to this art school is that it is also the Chicago Art Museum.  

For the Fashion Design students (though not exclusively) is the Fashion Resource Center.  This is a huge collection of garments and accessories for the students to examine, touch!

Over 800 pieces of clothing to advance the students in design and construction.  Over 800 videos of ready to wear and couture runway presentations, technical instruction, interviews, fashion history and annual student shows.  This is a non circulating research setting with over 3,200 fashion publications, contemporary designer biographies, and interviews.

Rare books are shelved right along side with newer publications.  The center has 25 current fashion and lifestyle publications, vintage publications in the archive from the 1890's for the students use.  The center has foundation garments, 19th century lingerie, uniforms, and occupational dress collection.In the collection they have vintage fabrics as well as new materials for the students inspiration.  How cool is that?!  What a wonderful resource if someone hit a "designer's block" or spend a lazy afternoon.  It can be viewed by us everyday folk as a paid tour, which I think would be worth it.What a fantastic idea to come up with this resource for the students at SAIC.  It does jive with one of the schools core values "Meaning and making are inseparable existing as perpetual and productive cycle driven by experience, research and critique"

This picture is from the Fashion Resource Center - but I don't know what it means.

The school wants students to customize their education within the schools open framework to tailor their creative goals.  For Fashion Design degree seekers, it is highly recommended that the students take electives in such as Knitwear Design: the Manipulated Stitch, Handwear Design, Footwear Design, and Shape and Theory in Garments

A few other courses caught my eye - Sculptural Headwear, 

Objects/Artifacts and No Nonsense looked interesting.  And, what also seems unique to the school, the course The Illustrated Poster - telling a story through a single illustration.

The program of course offers a firm foundation in fashion drawing, pattern cutting, draping and garment construction.  

The annual fashion show is for seniors complete collection but sophomore and junior students present a single prime example of their work!  What an amazing opportunity and learning experience for those students.

Admissions

Rolling admissions with the final deadline being May 1 - early action is December 1.  SAIC uses the common app and require SAT or ACT scores.  With the application students need to submit an essay as a "statement of purpose" where you write about your interests, experiences and why you would be a strong applicant for their school.  One letter of recommendation that "must include the applicants full name and date of birth"  

Well, if the letter writer didn't include your name - would you want that person to be writing your one letter of recommendation?  Sadly, if they said it - it must have happened at least once.

Interviews are strongly recommend.  If you attend one of the nation wide Portfolio Days and speak with SAIC - this is considered an interview!  The schedule is on www.portfolioday.net/

These are held all across the 

country and in every major city and you can have your portfolio viewed by many schools-

including some European ones.The School of Art Institute of Chicago has no extra requirements

regarding the portfolio itself, just 10-15 pieces of your best work with any combination or single

media of your choice.

With such a unique fashion design program I am surprised by this.

Three student housing dorms - and they all look pretty big for a dorm - look at that big window!  And they are all across the street or around the block from the school.

My son's freshman dorm room looked like a prison cell - no matter what he tacked on the walls.

 Living and studying in such a vibrant city would be a rewarding experience - except the winters are long and  hard - and I had a hard time researching about internships with SAIC.  But

with the resource center for students, the interesting options in coursework, and showing a garment of your work as a sophomore and junior during the annual fashion show well attended by the industry - all add up to a special place to study fashion

Pam

DREXEL UNIVERSITY - Philadelphia, PA

DREXEL UNIVERSITY

3141 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA

Drexel University was ranked in June of this year #6 in the country for Fashion Design, #3 in Design and Merchandising in the nation and #2 on the east coast by US News and World Report.  

Drexel's motto "Science, Industry, Art" and school was founded by philanthropist Anthony Drexel in 1891 to provide "educational opportunities in practicing arts and science"

 

Comprised of three campuses - Philadelphia, South New Jersey, and Sacramento California, the main campus in Philadelphia is the fashion campus and it is comprised of 74 acres.

What sets this school apart from the others is the mandatory Cooperative Education Program.  This paid work with industry leaders and you earn class credits for you internships.  By graduation a student could have as much as 18 months of real work experience to put on their resume!  

The average co-op salary for six months is $16,000 - so you have the potential of graduating with a good resume, references, and a bank account.

Some of the participating industry leaders are Michael Kors in NYC, Destination Maternity in Philadelphia and - Mimi's favorite - Alexander McQueen in London! 

Students have the opportunities for Co-op Education starting in their sophomore year.  For the fashion students this is a minimum of six months creating garment design, product development, textile design, production and costume design.  Mimi has a strong interest in costume design so it suits her well that in freshman year students will be taking costume design I & II.Freshman's will also be taking a course called The Drexel Experience.  I think this would be helpful to navigate around an urban campus, learn how and when to do the co-op, and for some to think about their major.  I imagine most in coming freshman would probably groan about this at first, and then realize how helpful it turned out to be.

The first year would also cover some fashion basics - intro to drawing, construction skills, flat pattern design, and figure drawing I.

If someone already has a lot of experience in this, would he/she be able to move up a course level like a math major who has already completed AP Calculus in high school?  I think that warrants a e-mail from me.  So that leads to - admission requirements!

Although Drexel accepts the common app - they prefer a student to use their own on line app.  Accept if your school is using e-Docs or Naviance to send transcripts than you have to use the common app.  They want to see your SAT/ACT and want 2 letters of recommendation - and one has to be from your high school guidance counselor That's a first as a requirement.  The admissions board wants an essay - 250-650 words about why she wants to be a fashion designer.  This has to be done on line - no paper will be excepted.  The application can take up to 4 weeks to be processed - which we feel is really not that long of a time.Portfolio requirements are very basic - a maximum of 12 drawings - any medium.  These need to be sent via HighSchoolPortfolio.com and images will not be returned.

This is by far the less complicated of all her school choosing!  That's a nice break for her.

Drexel also offers Early Decision, and it's non binding!  Another first!  The application deadlines for early decision is November 1 and regular admissions deadline is January 1.

Another interesting thing is Drexel has a partnership with the Dublin School of Business and School of the Arts.  Even as early as your fall freshman year - you could study in Dublin Ireland!  This doesn't apply to fashion students but to many other majors like drama, psychology majors, political science, and economics. 

 Drexel campus that where the School of Media and Arts teaches Fashion Design.

Drexel looks like a very promising school.  Top rankings, Cooperative Education resulting in paid internships for at least six months not only acquiring college credit, but credit on your resume and (if you earned it) recommendations from fashion industry professionals.  Looking good!

Pam

Shopping

SHOPPING TODAY

Mimi will be leaving for London in SIX DAYS!  We needed to get some stuff done!

International phone ordered  - check

Talked to Mimi about how crowded these two cities are going to be and her tote bag no closure purse won't work.  

Secure bag with a side pocket to retrieve Metro or bus ticket without opening whole bag - check.

New camera chip so she doesn't have to up load pictures from her brothers football game when blogging for me until I get over there - check

Comfortable walking sandals - with the added bonus of finding a pair of Michael Antonio suede boots for next fall - originally $99.00, reduced through DSW Shoe Warehouse to $79.99 where I bought them for - 80% off!  I paid only $15.99!!  

Oh yeah, comfortable walking shoes - check

And, because these are fashion schools we are visiting, CLOTHES!

We're done (I hope!) 

I'll work on my school investigations tomorrow - Drexel University in Philadelphia PA will be next.

zzzzzPam