2024-2025 Undergraduate Course Catalog
Fashion Design, BFA
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Contact
Jeffrey Mayer, Program Coordinator
Faculty
Todd Conover, Dee Densmore, Audrey Grant, Jeffrey Mayer, Kirsten Schoonmaker
Description
The curriculum of the B.F.A. degree program in Fashion Design includes beginning to advanced development of design research skills and concept development for fashion collections. The curriculum supports students with garment construction, flat pattern, draping, and presentation, all with the emphasis on design. Important related topics include textiles, fashion drawing, technical drawing, fashion marketing, computer-assisted design and fashion history. Students learn to develop their ideas on paper, then translate them through pattern skills into three-dimensional forms and, finally, into finished designs. The fashion design program places great importance on inclusive apparel design which is taught throughout. Academic requirements and electives balance studio and didactic courses each semester.
A minimum of 30 credits from the Liberal Arts & Sciences is required for completion of the BFA in Fashion Design.
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Student Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate appropriate and advanced apparel construction skills using industry specific machinery 2. Apply skills to visually translate detailed apparel design concepts, materiality, color and fit through two dimensional fashion sketching and illustration 3. Develop well proportioned, balanced and competently fit industry standard apparel patterns by using both two and three-dimensional approaches 4. Demonstrate the use of appropriate material and color choices as it applies to the apparel design collection within its cyclical and seasonal relationship to consumer buying and use habits 5. Demonstrate a visual and theoretical understanding of fashion, art and design history and their relationships to the cultural context and social implications within their periods 6. Research, gather, analyze and develop apparel collection concepts from a variety of base source materials and translate these findings two dimensionally in the form of unique apparel collections Major Requirements: 54 credits
Art History Requirements: 12 credits
Academic Requirements: 6 credits
Liberal Arts Electives (12 credits)/Academic Electives (8 credits)*
Academic electives are most courses offered outside of art, design, or transmedia (for example, courses offered in CRS, Arts and Sciences, Whitman, and other colleges outside of VPA). These academic courses usually have non-art-related content, such as math, natural sciences, astronomy, global history, political science, psychology, and entrepreneurship, and languages at the 100-level, among others. You can find a comprehensive list of approved academic electives here. *The required 20 credits should consist of Liberal Arts & Sciences Electives (12 credits), and Academic Electives (8 credits). Studio Electives: 27 credits
Studio electives are courses usually offered in VPA through art, design, or transmedia. The content of the courses directly relates to the preparation of students for professional careers in art, design, and transmedia. The course content includes, but is not limited to, conceptualization, process, product, and critique of creative work in studio practice. These courses meet for a much longer time, for a minimum of four hours per week for the duration of the semester. Usual meeting patterns are: the class meets once per week for four+ hours, or the class meets twice per week, usually for two or more hours each. You can find a comprehensive list of courses that count as studio electives here.
Study Abroad
The fashion design program has connections with the London College of Fashion. Students may apply, and pending a successful application and meeting program requirements, spend a semester abroad in this program during their junior year. Please refer to the SUAbroad website for eligibility and application criteria. University Wide Requirement
Total Credits Required: 120
Degree Awarded: BFA in Fashion Design
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