Long time no see Plus Tips and Tricks: My Essay Answers

Hi guys. Sorry I have been M.I.A. for so long

I had planned on deleting the blog but thanks to several of you I decided not to, if you emailed me and I did not get back to you please email me again if you still need extra help or a portfolio review. I promise I will respond.

That being said after this month I will no longer be available for extra questions or portfolio essay reviews

I will leave up the blog with a disclaimer so this will probably be my last post. If you have a question post it here and will answer within 2 days.

Also, on an old flash drive I found the answers to my essay questions from my 2010 portfolio

Work Hard and Take Care

Rachel

Tips and Tricks: Essay Edition

Check out the first part here

- When writing your essay, one of the most important things you need to do is relax. This is why I say that should always write your essay and then put it away, come back in a few days and look it over. What may have looked like a stroke of genius before may look like scrambled eggs on your second inspection.

- Once you're relaxed, the best tip I can offer is to pretend that your essay is like an actual conversation with someone from F.I.T. The point of that would be to not make your thoughts so mechanical sounding.

- Don't start your essay saying 'fashion is my dream'. Of course it is, but find a different way to say it. Remember you want to stand out from the rest.

Color Rendering

questions/Help

Usually I check my recent comments on the front page, but blogger has an error with it and it's not showing up.

So if you have any questions and I haven answered them yet, feel free to email me at rachelcaderomance@gmail.com

and I will answer as soon as I can

RC

Masters of Style: Alexander McQueen

Fashion File was E-VER-Y-THING!!!
This is kind of eerie and bitter sweet to watch, but the best McQueen Doc I've seen.

Tips and Tricks: 2012/13 F.I.T (AAS Fashion Design) Portfolio Requirements

Some of my info is a little dated. I see F.I.T. shortened the requirements A LOT from when I applied.
I may add to it more if I think of anything, but I'm just throwing out a few ideas for you all working with the new requirements.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments:)

--also, I added a Google translator,  hopefully if you need it, it will work for you.

On F.I.T.'s Portfoilio changes

I realize F.I.T. has changed some things since I applied, I did address it in the comments sections of some of the posts.
However, I can assume the bulk of it is still the same. If you have any questions though, leave it in the comments and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

RC

Top Reasons F.I.T. can (and will) REJECT your portfolio

1. Poorly Constructed Garment Test

I define poorly constructed in a couple of ways. The first comes down to bad sewing, jagged seams, an outfit that just doesn't make sense etc. It can also be something extremely generic.

I posted this at number 1 because I believe F.I.T. values sewing skills more than sketching if you are applying for to their Fashion Design Apparel Concentration course. My sketching has always been pretty good, and I got rejected TWICE for having a shitty garment test.

You also have to be careful that you don't try to sew something that's clearly beyond your skill.

2. Novice sketches.
F.I.T. does allow computerized sketching, if you are not an artist and your strength is more in sewing, I'd suggest you take advantage of this just to have clean looking drawings.

Stuff that doesn't really matter after the jump

Derek Lam and Jenna Lyons at Parsons

Watch this - it's excellent.

Tom Ford Documentary

The first designer I ever truly admired was Gianni Versace.
I have a treasure trove of old Fashion File/Fashion Television/Video Fashion and even some CNN Style w/ Elsa Klensch, but it's all on VHS. I will post it on Youtube one day.
Anyway, the second designer that really made me flip out was Tom Ford. Those Gucci girls were fierce!!!

Hi all

Hi guys, I'm still around
I know I haven't updated. I do try to keep up with comments/questions and respond. But if you need to contact me you can at rachelcaderomance@gmail.com

talk soon

The Fashion Fund Episode 1 - 3

Next week I will move The Fashion Fund Post to its own page. I will update the blog soon with some new posts. Not sure what I am going to do yet. Sound off in the comments if you have any suggestions!

take care RC

Tailoring Your Portfolio: Strengths and Weaknesses

I got an email the other day from a reader that inspired this post. She was good at sewing and had looks done for the garment portion of her test, and wanted to sketch them, but was wondering if she should still do a mini collection like I'd suggested here. I told her she should definitely just sketch the looks she'd sewed instead. Since she was better at sewing that worked for her. I chose to do my mini collection since sketching was my stronger more confident area. For some of you, you may feel equally good at sketching and sewing. Make sure that whatever area you feel weaker in you work the longest and the hardest on (I wanted to throw my sewing machine out of my window).

RC

Post Rejection: Cry, Throw Your Sketchbook Against the Wall, Curse Everyone that DID get excepted, now, Strategize

Okay, this post is dedicated to all the people who, like I did in the past, instead of that great big packet you got that shitty form letter, which basically told you you're not good enough to learn how to be better. Yes, say it with me, you're not good enough to learn how to be better. Let off all your steam, some of you make take longer than others, but, if you want it bad enough, you're going to get to this point.
Reapplying, putting 3000% into your next portfoilio, and getting that big acceptance packet.

Essay Tips (Updated with Formatting Tips 12/29)

************UPDATED 9/5/12  check out my Tip and Tricks for F.I.T.'s new guidelines Click Here

Sorry for posting this so late. But here I am. I wanted to post my essay, spelling errors and all, but I can't find it anywhere, which sucks. If I do come across it I will definitely post it. 


 I'm going to keep my tips simple, I realize not everyone is a writer, and there's nothing wrong with that. But a lot of times it can be confusing about what to leave in and take out, so we are going to talk about that and we are going to talk about some essay pitfalls you need to avoid. Overall this essay, particularly if you aren't doing a face to face interview, is the only time you have to express yourself in words, so that they know who you are, meaning you're essentially pitching yourselves to these people, and keep in mind its always competition.

New Page

Hi guys I uploaded my portfolio on its own page, check the tab next to home below the picture. I'm not a colorist as you can tell, , so it was a real task coloring my sketches, since I usually leave them black and white. I will try to get to the essay tips in the next couple of days. Take Care Rachel

Hi guys, I plan to update within the next couple of weeks some essay tips. I also want to reformat my blog so that you have easier access to the information for each portion of your admission. It has been brought to my attention F.I.T. has changed its portfolio requirements, so if someone wouldn't mind emailing or posting it in the comments section it will be appreciated. Rachel

Design Test

I will be uploading a tips and tricks for drawing soon. But just wanted to share the sketches from my design test I picked Spring in Tokyo Japan. The purpose of the design test is for F.I.T. to see your ability to merchandise, this is why you can only use a certain set of looks and you have to mix and match them. I hate the coloring on the first one, I remember being scared the marker would blur out the detail lol.

On Kanye West: So this is why we go to fashion school

Point Blank. I am sick of celebrity designers. The other day I hope Mr. Divo mic snatcher Kanye West brought the zenith and subsequent downfall of this trend.

His collection was a horrifying mess of stolen ideas, with a lack of focus, amateurishly displayed on professional models and shown at Paris freaking Fashion Week. Ladies and gentleman, this is everything you should not do.

Let me expand on this briefly. I have argued on several websites about this, and this morning I am reading a great article from Eric Wilson about this, view it here: Kanye West, Designer (Yawn) I think the storm gets brewed with someone with a not so great reputation, and infamous history of narcissism, decides to be the 1 billionth celebrity to start a fashion line. And then he feels the need to do his first show in Paris during the fashion week calender among the greats as if we should all expect him to start at the top. But just because you are at the top of another profession means you get to skip the leaning curve in this one. He climbed the to the top of the pedestal and was kicked off it so hard, he's still reeling.
From NY Times : His show was described by those who attended as, at best, a disappointment, and yet the rapper could be found almost everywhere during Paris Fashion Week defending himself. At a dinner party in Azzedine Alaïa’s kitchen on Sunday, Mr. West complained rather bitterly to those assembled that he meant for those sausage-casing dresses, the sagging trousers and the swimming jackets dripping with sparkles and strips of fuzzy bits to fit the way that they did, though everyone else seemed to read them as a failure in tailoring. At the Céline show, he engaged Joe Zee, the creative director of Elle, in a lengthy dialogue, loud enough for everyone around them to hear, in which he noted, as one example, that he did not very much appreciate the criticism of his decision to show fur for summer.
“All I said was congratulations,” Mr. Zee said afterward. “I wasn’t even there.”
Gotta love Joe and his pleasant shade throwing. In the fashion world the ONE THING you can't buy, is respect. The scattered weak applause says it all.

Tips and Tricks (Updated with Sketches)

1. When doing the fashion artwork portion of the test. Do a mini collection instead of random dresses. If you are a particularly great sketcher, you can throw something in that doesn't go. But my advice would be to design a collection around that outfit.
Why? is what you might be asking. The reason is this. F.I.T. is primarily looking for students that can get jobs when they graduate, the more students that find jobs the more money they get from the state. I know that doesn't sound glamorous does it? Yet it's true. If you show them that you can focus your ideas, you get the edge.

Here's what I did for my portfolio. Excuse some of the coloring, it just goes to show you don't have to have a prefect portfolio to get excepted. The theme I chose was cocooning.