Parsons goes goth (and other tragedies)

[AHutching]

I am interested in designers who haven't attended any formal education from a school as well?Zam did you attend any school?

[zamb]

I am interested in designers who haven't attended any formal education from a school as well?Zam did you attend any school?

I did,
I attended a School called IFAC, now renamed Miami International University of Art and Design

I think my case is very different though. I started sewing at 13/14 and by the time I left High School at 17 I had a custom clothing business
At 22 I was already one of the most successful designers/ tailors in my Country (Jamaica).
It was after then, and wanting to move to the US to further my career, that I went to school as a means of validating my knowledge. I wasn't sure if not having a formal education, there were things I needed to know that I didn't. It going to school two things became clear to me.
1. There was a lot I needed to know, especially about the industry as a business and how hard it was going to be for me to achieve any mind of lasting success.
2. That there were things I knew that were never gonna be taught in school and that school to an extent was a damn ripoff.
One the one hand I was paying to be taught by the same an teachers who were asking me to cut patterns and make clothes for them!

As I said before, I would never tell anyone who wants to peruse MAINSTREAM fashion not to go to School, but I also do not see it as the only way to develop ones abilities and technique.

[byhand]

That's a painful article to read. It's one long whine and definitely not the voice of a person excited about her chosen profession. She's doomed. She ends the article with the idea that she wants to leave NYC. I suggest she quit now and save herself the expense and heartache. Adult life can be a slog. Breaking into tears because a teacher doesn't like her garment isn't a good harbinger of things to come. Imagine how many lives Project Runway has ruined - all the starry-eyed young folks rolling into NYC thinking they are going to be the next phenom. Imagine the parties, the press, the models, the CASH!!! The reality is that you will be lucky to get a job designing dresses for Laura Ashley. You'll be living in the suburbs somewhere and will cry every night on the way home wondering where it all went wrong. Better to stay in your podunk town, design your own wardrobe in your mom's basement and get a job at the local petting zoo. That's a much more interesting life than moving to NYC to become a designer because you were inspired by Project Runway.

[Faust]

Imagine how many lives Project Runway has ruined - all the starry-eyed young folks rolling into NYC thinking they are going to be the next phenom.

Signature material alert, even the first part before the dash.

[applecrisp]

Fashion Design is an epidemic sweeping the nation!

When I graduated (RISD) our graduating class for our department was 16 (?) and the incoming freshman class was 45 students!

My senior year coincided with the first season of Project Runway.

Luckily, being a chef took over as "cool job with lots of tv presence" a few years back, so maybe the flood of designers will thin out eventually.