Fashion Design
For nearly eight decades, FIT’s Fashion Design program has cultivated creative and innovative leaders who continue to disrupt the global fashion industry.
In one of the world’s top programs, you will gain exclusive industry access while creating groundbreaking designs that are informed by market research and inspired by history, art, and culture. Our well-connected faculty guide you to become not only a designer with your own creative vision, but a professional ready to succeed in this challenging field.
Programs
Fashion Design AAS
The AAS program provides an essential foundation in computer-aided design, sketching, draping, patternmaking, construction, sewing techniques, and textiles. Once you earn your AAS, you can apply for a BFA in Fashion Design. You are also eligible to apply to the BFA programs in Fabric Styling, Textile/Surface Design, and Toy Design, along with BS programs in Production Management: Fashion and Related Industries, Technical Design, and Textile Development and Marketing.
Fashion Design BFA
The BFA program offers concentrations in children’s wear, intimate apparel, knitwear, special occasion, and sportswear. You’ll create designs informed by market research and inspired by history, art, and culture. Throughout, you'll master advanced technologies, build presentation skills, and choose from a menu of design electives to customize your studies. The program culminates in a required internship and a senior collection guided by acclaimed designers who serve as mentors. Your work could be showcased in FIT’s professionally produced runway show, the Future of Fashion.
If you have an AAS in Fashion Design from FIT, you may apply. More about eligibility for this program.
Our Work
FIT’s Fashion Design program has been preparing students for success at every level, from haute couture to ready-to-wear to mass market, for 75 years.
Fashion Design BFA student Mohua Goswami won the $25,000 CFDA/K11 Scholar award for a collection inspired by “the many musings of a demure Bengali housewife.”
Vogue selected Chadeese Perriel, Su Jin, Zoe Schultz, and Kenneth Ivey, all Fashion Design ’20, to be in the September Issue as part of a feature called “It Takes an Industry.”
Joy (Juyeon) Kim, Technical Design, Fashion Design ’15, put on an exhibition of nine upcycled garments, including one piece that involved augmented reality and another with embedded LEDs.
Ponton Alejandro's pieces imitate acrylic pouring techniques; these looks were featured in the 2020 Graduating Student Exhibition.
After winning the first Biodesign Challenge in 2016, three students from the Fashion Design Knitwear program founded AlgiKnit, which creates sustainable materials.
Kyle Brogan, Fashion Design ’19, explains that disability is diversity.
Impact
Design beyond … It’s not just about the latest trend; our passions include beauty, creativity, performance, diversity, and sustainability.
Outside the Classroom
Students have interned at Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Josie Natori, J. Mendel, Michael Kors, and Victoria’s Secret. Graduates have worked at Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Giorgio Armani. They may work as assistants or technical designers or head fashion designers for some of the world’s largest and most influential design firms. Other graduates also manage and run boutiques or start their own lines. You may even decide to earn your advanced degree, such as a Fashion Design MFA at FIT.
Explore More
some related minors
Learn From the Best
Faculty members are seasoned professionals with an array of experience, opening doors to the industry so you are connected to what’s happening in this fast-changing field. Meet more Fashion Design faculty.
Asta Skocir
Skocir is a professor in the Fashion Design Department at FIT. She has more than 25 years of experience in the fashion industry as a design director and knitwear designer. Her work with AlgiKnit won the first National BioDesign Challenge Summit (2016), the National Geographic Chasing Genius Award—Sustainable Planet (2017) and the Postcode Lottery Challenge for Green Start-Ups (2018).
Amy Sperber
A multidisciplinary fashion designer focused on innovative technical approaches and design thinking, Sperber aims at creating sustainable systems and creative solutions in clothing. She holds her BFA and MFA in Fashion Design from FIT and teaches in the undergraduate Fashion Design program.
Contact Us
Fashion Design
Su Ku
Art and Design Gallery
The Art and Design Gallery is open from 9 am until 5 pm, seven days per week. The gallery is located at the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 27th Street.
Let's Make It Happen
Application Requirements