People who are interested in FIT, even as non-degree students, should know that many students come there already sewing at a very high level. There also are numerous graduate students, mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe, who are exquisitely trained and seem to be getting the degree mainly for extra polish and as an entree to American fashion industry.

I can't tell you how many times I've been told something was “easy” and it was far from easy. I was in a tailoring class with someone who had 19 years of experience and was working for a fashion design company you've all heard of — he wanted the credential so he could teach. Yes, he thought everything we did was easy and his projects looked professional. Meanwhile, I was melting my lining on the FIT iron that was too hot because it had been on for several hours. Well, I did learn something. Always test the iron. :-)

I don't know if Project Runway uses regular Parsons rooms and sewing machines, but at FIT they don't use Brother machines, they use industrial machines that are very, very fast. After two years of evening classes, and admittedly I don't practice as much as I'd like, I can now sort of control the slowest of those machines.

All this grousing aside, I've learned a lot at FIT.

Fascinating. At FIT, the international students bitch about how much more expensive their tuition is. But the Belgian school is very small (140 in a class or for the entire school), thus, highly selective.

Also, maybe fewer people want to come to Belgium.

who would want to go to fashion school in Cincinnati?

HAHAHAHA that school is a joke too, if youre going to do an MA in fashion…. if you can get in, go to St. Martins or RCA in london

tiffany jewelry

i should mention that i worked for the designer as a print/fabric/inspiration sourcer, not as a draper! good thing for them……so when i watch project runway i have massive respect for someone who can whip out a nice garment so fast. i just down have that in me.

I really feel this story about Top Fashion Schools is inadequate. Because it has just rounded up the usual, familiar named institutions without really exploring many other places and their educational merits. The best summary to make for anyone seriously consider venturing into Fashion is choose a school wisely. Not based on a list but on skills and which personal areas to develop. But if great student alumni are the benchmarks well there have been plenty of other great designers who haven't gone to those mentioned schools. Many of them didn't even study Fashion and have come from Fine Arts or Architecture and the best example would be Rodarte. Have said this, there are other good schools such as Bunka College, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Rhode Island School of Design, Beckmans, and more.

No, you certainly are NOT the only one who's had a hard time at FIT, my dear! :-) I'm extremely clumsy myself. I took Sewing I, and wanted to take Sewing II, but there were only a few sections and as a nondegree student I couldn't get in. I wanted to take something to keep it up, so I had the bright idea of taking Haute Couture Sewing Techniques.

That was a near-death experience. But at least I learned to cut, measure and sew better and now I baste everything. :-)

After doing this for some period of time I finally understand why so many of the students are more interested in design than construction. It's rewarding, but incredibly tedious and demanding, not to mention stressful.

One term took two technique classes on term at FIT and what with all the supplies toting and staying until 2 a.m. to work when the classrooms were free, it literally made me sick. Only one technique class a term after that.

Project Runway, which I long ago stopped watching, reawakened my interest in sewing, but after even just evening classes at FIT I realize how poorly some of the PR designers have been trained. I'm sure any top graduate of the other schools mentioned here could also run circles around the PR folks. It's a shame that the ordinary person doesn't realize the degree to which a talented industry professional is trained and educated. The high prices might be more defensible in some cases if s/he did.

But I am learning. Hope you like what you're doing now.

you should be more aware as a FIT student! this past FUSION fashion show (which pits design rivals FIT and Parsons against one another in a runway showdown of the top design students from each school judged by industry elites) FIT came out on top as the top fashion design school (at least until the next show in 2011).

How come you didn't mention Istituto Marangoni in Milan, is the oldest school in fashion and i think one of the most important ones.

You forgot about L.A. Trade Tech. Nothing says fashion like south central LA. Rick Owens went there and its only 20$ a unit.

Exactly right. The guys behind Proenza Schouler didn't sew their thesis collection and apparently could have financed a first collection on their own had it not been picked up by buyers.

This story revealed some ignorance about how the fashion industry works, and frankly, how the world works. You usually need more than talent and hard work to succeed. Money and connections help. A lot.

“FIT is widely considered to be a joke when it comes to fashion design.”

–It has a reputation of teaching technique much better than Parsons, but it's hardly a joke. Every year there's a competition between Parsons and FIT, it's called “Fusion,” and FIT wins just as often as Parson.

–I, too, was surprised not to see Bunka on the list.

lol, wow, I didn't know that about Proenza, I keep hearing concept over technique at Parsons.

i totally agree. Plus Brussels'La Cambre is not even mentioned once – so many ex-students actually fill up big houses's studios ( from Margiela to Jil Sander, to Gaultier, Chanel etc).

At FIT your first two years are spent doing an associates degree which means the tuition (for those two only) is $3741 (in state) and $11142 (out of state) so the total 4 year cost is a little cheaper.

susie in the housseeee!!!

i was on the jury for both schools, and was blown away by the programs; they are small, 8-12 kids per class, so the efforts are quite focused. didn't know theyskens dropped out; well, do did xavier delcour so i guess they don't yet have any superstar alumni, but given the program's strength, i wouldn't be surprised if they create the next sensation. oh, and i think bernhard willhelm is now the director at the vienna school…

this list is not surprising. i think a top ten would have been interesting so other schools (less known but still well known) could have been included.

Thanks for the insight. I will definitely share with my fashion-minded mentees. It would have been wise of me at 16 to search for information like this from insiders as opposed to spending 5 years correcting a 4 year long mistake of studying fashion at a U.S. State University. Great job!

:-| sad..but true:))

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Hey, great post! Don't you guys know where to find the information concerning average graduate placement (companies, positions…) and some average salary range from these schools? I'd like to apply to Parsons 2yr AAS program in fashion design but have no idea of whether it is “normal” and quite doable to find a job (entry-level designer job) in the industry afterwards and what the salary may be – I'd desperately need that information to calculate reasonable indebtment (or forget about it, lol)… And the Parsons offices won't tell :) Thanks for any help!

It's a fashion school, but they offer a total of over 30 different majors. Not everyone who goes to FIT studies in fashion, sweetheart.

I think from my experience having taught at various schools both in the UK and the US, there are two completely different approaches to fashion education. One, which Central Saint Martins, excels at is teaching fashion as part of art education, and this seems to be a particularly European approach: Antwerp does an excellent job at it and the same is true for Royal College and the School of Applied Arts in Vienna. The only school in the US that engages in this type of approach to fashion is the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.

If I were a student interested in fashion as a conceptual practice, I would most definitely study at one of the above institutions.

Whereas the second approach sees fashion as part of a technical education and is based on a trade school model. I think FIT represents a great example of this (possibly the best?), and London College of Fashion might be along those lines a bit more. Parsons seems to be based on a trade school model as well, which is unfortunate because that leaves New York with no conceptual/art school model of fashion education.