Inspiration Test

There's going to be a portion of your application where you basically can make up an outfit about something your inspired by, a bird, a painting, a building (just examples) etc. I changed mine about three times. This is one of the main reasons you want to apply early. You'll have time to find better things and get completely dissatisfied with the things you already have (like I did). For this portion I did two sketches, one for the front and one for the back. I will eventually put up my sketches, but I want to get my acceptance or sigh, third (and final) rejection before I dare. I don't think I need any extra jinx, do you?

If you are a particularly good artist, this is the part of your app where you should go a bit more avant garde. Obviously you don't have to, but why not? It is a competition after all.

F.I.T. BFA Show 2009

Sketching

A lot of people recommend Nine Heads. I've never read it, but if you're like me and don't want to spend the money, get it from the library first, you might find something you like better. I will be adding to the recommended reading category on the blog. If you are at least an intermediate artist. Meaning you know you can get better but can generally copy something. Budget wise (broke) you can check voguepatterns.com which has a lot of great sketches with multiple poses, color rendering for different fabrics. It will help you a lot even if it's different from your art style, it will help with proportion. You do, after all want the sketches to be as tight as they can possibly be. 

Photographing Your Garment Test

They specifically want front and back views of whatever you sew. Particularly since I didn't go to the in-person interview, of the four outfits I did I decided to photogragh them this way:

•  Front View
•  Back View
• Close Up Detail

 Since I did this for two outfits that made six photos (the max you can send is ten) so the other two outfits I just sent the front and back views

This was one of the things showed to me at Portfolio Day with the sample. The close up shot is important so they can view the details of your construction. 

What F.I.T. is looking for

Not to make you nervous if this is your first time applying, but, when you apply to this school, You are competing with people from all over the world for a chance to get into this school. At any point after you apply and you think for a second to send in something second rate (like I did), keep this fact in mind to push yourself harder. Don't even bother to shell out the forty dollar application fee if you aren't going to give it one 100%.

The best advice I can offer is this, if it's humanly possible, go to Portfolio Day if it is scheduled anywhere near you in the coming year. You can have your portolio reviewed by someone at F.I.T. This is particularly helpful if you're like me and don't live anywhere near NY and your college doesn't offer any classes on Fashion Design. Regardless of whether the feedback is good or bad the main purpose for going is that they will show you a sample portfolio of an accepted student that will give you the gist of what they want.

Introduction

I decided to start this blog because I really don't think there's enough information out there for people that want to get into F.I.T.'s fashion design program. As my blog description states I have had my application rejected twice from F.I.T., both times I applied for fashion design. And both times I recieved that crappy thin form letter I was completely and totally devesated. The last letter I recieved was last year, the first was in 2004. This year I reapplied for Fall 2010. I really think both of my rejections could have been avoided if I had some sound advice on how to put my portfolio together. I hope this information sets you on the path to getting accepted. - Good Luck MB