Fashion Design (Certificate)

The four year certificate program provides students with a disciplined approach to the study of Fashion. Student portfolios will demonstrate the variety of skills and creativity developed. Graduates enter the field prepared for professional opportunities in Fashion. Students take electives and art history courses to round out their experience. Unlike the BFA program, students pursuing the Certificate program do not take liberal arts coursework.

Certificate
Core Classes

This program is available on campus

School of Fashion

FSH 100

Drawing for Fashion Core/3

Develop foundational skills in design sketching through observation and replication. You will become familiar with body proportions, basic human anatomy, and figure balance.

FSH 101

Fashion Visual Research and Design Development Core/3

Fashion design is a process. You'll build a firm foundation of skills as you develop and use visual research to create, edit, and balance a collection.

FSH 105

Fashion Industry Decoded: From Concept to Consumer Core/3

Discover how fashion businesses operate from concept to consumer—and beyond. You will dissect the fashion ecosystem and examine key functions and supply chain synergies across design, product development, sourcing, manufacturing, merchandising, marketing, promotion, and distribution. You will cultivate industry fluency to navigate, analyze, and influence the ever-evolving fashion landscape with confidence and creativity.

FSH 110

Creative Concepts for Fashion Core/3

Focus on original and creative hands-on development for collections. Color, fabrics, proportion, silhouette, customer, and wearing occasion are explored through 2D and 3D development.

FSH 120

Color Science & Fabric Fundamentals Core/3

Color and fabric are concepts that drive creativity, novelty, and innovation. You will explore how fashion professionals apply color and design principles at all levels of the industry. You will study how textile fibers and other fabric characteristics affect garment performance.

FSH 161

Fashion Business: Digital Techniques Core/3

Use professional software to communicate visual information. Learn to work fluidly between programs to create fashion line layout, concept boards, and detailed specification for reproduction.

FSH 164

Fashion Sewing Techniques Core/3

Get the cutting and sewing skills for work in the apparel industry. You will learn both hand finishing and machine sewing techniques in wovens and create a notebook documenting your new skills.

FSH 220

Construction/Draping/Flat Pattern 1 Core/3

Create basic garment blocks using the principles of flat pattern drafting and pattern cutting. You will create sewn muslin samples of your created blocks.

FSH 221

Fashion Design Communication Core/3

Learn to represent your creative design ideas as specification drawings (flats) and as fully colored illustrations. Develop the design skills to analyze current design trends and learn to render fabric and color accurately.

FSH 465

Navigating Fashion Careers Core/3

Perfect your design portfolio to a standard of excellence expected in the industry.

Degree Requirements

Unit Requirements	Units
Core	24
Sophomore Portfolio	3
Senior Portfolio	3
Major	48
Art History	6
Art by Advisement	24
Electives	12
Total	120

FASHION CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS

Minimum 2.0 GPA
Minimum grade of C- in all core courses and major courses

Program Learning Outcomes

Undergraduate students will meet the following student performance criteria:

Research and Concept Development

Produce creative and original designs
Select concepts appropriate for the market and customer, building on analysis of design and market research
Generate ideas that are coherently related to the chosen concept as well as to one another
Conduct thorough design research, as evidenced in the sketchbook
Demonstrate evidence of trialing and self-editing designs
Propose designs that are possible to translate from 2D to 3D
Relate silhouettes, color and fabric, details and styling to the design concept
Produce croquis that use color to indicate color and fabric

Visual Presentation Skills

Create professional and organized presentations that reflect an individual/personal style
Effectively communicate their design concepts and philosophy two-dimensionally
Produce accurate and detailed technical drawings that include supportive information, where appropriate

Technical Skills

Work effectively with industry standard software
(3D Design) Draft flat patterns and drape 3D designs

Verbal and Written Presentation Skills

Clearly express their ideas utilizing fashion industry vocabulary

Professional Readiness

Create a relevant and original portfolio and collateral materials which can be used to market themselves to the industry