Classic Marc Jacobs Interview 1998

Talks about his experience at Parsons, getting his inspiration from the street, his infamous Perry Ellis Grunge Collection and his first collection for Louis Vuitton

Merry Xmas

Update

Hi guys. Due to reasons that were totally under my control *read* procrastination
I postponed my admission to F.I.T. for Spring 2011. In Jan/Feb I will be picking up the blog again with info on moving to NYC from Massachusetts, how I'm dealing with my classes and posting photos of my class projects. I also added my twitter address to my right if you have any questions or just want to hit me up about fashion in general, I would love to hear about your progress and such. Until then here's my insane Gaga vs. Madonna youtube playlist, enjoy.

Some of My Portfolio Work

I will also upload a tips and tricks post, about little extras I did that I feel rounded out my portfolio

Ahhh

After applying for the third heart breaking time -- the streak is over I got my acceptance letter yesterday!!!!!!

Copying Poses

Everyone has different styles, copying a pose doesn't mean you have to get it exact. You just use it to get familiar with proportion. I kind of got tired of my poses, which looked kind of stiff, and everything looked similar, so this year I started experimenting with different poses to use for my portfolio. Changing your poses gives people something to look at that's unexpected, not to mention it can really add mood to your garment.
Here's one I did. I ripped this photo out of Oprah Magazine. I had intentions to put it up days ago. But considering the fact that my room is so sloppy I could hide t-rex fossils, Sam and Dean Winchester(whoo!) and a pack of wolves in here it took me some time to muster the strength to look for them.

I chose the middle pose

It's not perfect. I think her arms are a little long but you get the idea. I only used PrismaColor Pencils for this. And now that I look at it again I will probably go over it with marker and repost it. Prismas are cool because you can use them to blend. Remember for coloring sketches (what I learned) is white space and shadow are your best friends. For the top I had a pretty good orange, and I used a brown for the shadowing. The jeans are white space and two different blues.

My Parsons Experience

Parsons The New School of Design
--I actually did apply to the school. Not this year but a few years ago.
It was an interesting experience to say the least. I did an in person interview. Braced myself for the three hour ride from Massachusetts to NYC. Was almost late for my appointment because I got lost on the subway. I think I ended up somewhere on the upper east or west side. I still don't know where I was, but it looked rich. I managed to make it on time thanks to a fearless cab driver who almost got into ten accidents racing me and my sister down Broadway in rush hour traffic(or that could just be Broadway). Anywhoo I tipped the driver.
I get to my interview, hand it my quite garish portfolio, just for the interviewer to ultimately tell me I need to learn how to draw. Bummer.
At Parsons they make you do a foundation year, I'm pretty sure you can skip it if you have liberal arts credits, but don't hold me to that. But they wanted a fine art portfolio, trees blowing in the wind etc. I only had my sketches and some painting, Homer Simpson might do(In A WalMart Bag). God bless the man for not laughing in my face, but perhaps he's seen worse.
In an interesting part of the interview he asked me what was my greatest aspirations for my fashion career. Well, no one had ever asked me that, talk about a paranoid loss for words. Of course he had to name drop Proenza Schouler. So in my infinate wisdom, I told him the truth: I want to have my own fashion house. Needless to say you could have heard a pin drop. I have this horrible tendency of staring at peoples facial expressions, looking for even the subtlest nuance ... maybe just then he wanted to laugh. Or maybe I did, hysterically. To make a long story short (2 late) I never finished my application, but in a moment of great irony, they did mail me Someone else's Rejection letter. Christopher Blackmore of Ohio, so sorry...

And I forgot to mention, the interviewers assistant was so Hot!!! I think he was Mediteranean or something - Gay as the day is long - Welcome to New York, I said.

Oh I wanna go!!! LET'S GO!!

Inspiration Test

There's going to be a portion of your application where you basically can make up an outfit about something your inspired by, a bird, a painting, a building (just examples) etc. I changed mine about three times. This is one of the main reasons you want to apply early. You'll have time to find better things and get completely dissatisfied with the things you already have (like I did). For this portion I did two sketches, one for the front and one for the back. I will eventually put up my sketches, but I want to get my acceptance or sigh, third (and final) rejection before I dare. I don't think I need any extra jinx, do you?

If you are a particularly good artist, this is the part of your app where you should go a bit more avant garde. Obviously you don't have to, but why not? It is a competition after all.

F.I.T. BFA Show 2009

Sketching

A lot of people recommend Nine Heads. I've never read it, but if you're like me and don't want to spend the money, get it from the library first, you might find something you like better. I will be adding to the recommended reading category on the blog. If you are at least an intermediate artist. Meaning you know you can get better but can generally copy something. Budget wise (broke) you can check voguepatterns.com which has a lot of great sketches with multiple poses, color rendering for different fabrics. It will help you a lot even if it's different from your art style, it will help with proportion. You do, after all want the sketches to be as tight as they can possibly be. 

from Vogue Patterns

They also have live models, so check it out if you need to.

Materials

- for the sketches I turned in, I used a combo of the PrismaColor Markers and PrismaColor Pencils, I also had some Crayola color pencils to fill in for the PrismaColors I didn't have. Prisma's are beautiful, but the price will set you back a penny. I paid a little under $50 for mine, shipping included (pack or 24) and this was from a private seller on Amazon.com. They are $52 at Staples.

The 12 pack runs in the $25 dollor range, if your really strapped but want them.

Again FIT lets you use computer generated artwork, so do what works best for you.

Photographing Your Garment Test

They specifically want front and back views of whatever you sew. Particularly since I didn't go to the in-person interview, of the four outfits I did I decided to photogragh them this way:

•  Front View
•  Back View
• Close Up Detail

 Since I did this for two outfits that made six photos (the max you can send is ten) so the other two outfits I just sent the front and back views

This was one of the things showed to me at Portfolio Day with the sample. The close up shot is important so they can view the details of your construction. 

What F.I.T. is looking for

Not to make you nervous if this is your first time applying, but, when you apply to this school, You are competing with people from all over the world for a chance to get into this school. At any point after you apply and you think for a second to send in something second rate (like I did), keep this fact in mind to push yourself harder. Don't even bother to shell out the forty dollar application fee if you aren't going to give it one 100%.

The best advice I can offer is this, if it's humanly possible, go to Portfolio Day if it is scheduled anywhere near you in the coming year. You can have your portolio reviewed by someone at F.I.T. This is particularly helpful if you're like me and don't live anywhere near NY and your college doesn't offer any classes on Fashion Design. Regardless of whether the feedback is good or bad the main purpose for going is that they will show you a sample portfolio of an accepted student that will give you the gist of what they want.

Your F.I.T. application will consist of at minimum 12 sketches(there are some specific requirements for some of them, but you can still have some random sketches that show off your skill and style), what you sew for the Garment Test Portion and Essay Questions in addition to an essay you have to write about yourself before your application is completely processed. Also, after you get your instructions, you will be granted a certain amout of time to have the work done and turned in.  So be advised : Start Your Application BEFORE you apply.

It's essentially this

• Clear Sketches* - with full body front and back views

             Notice I said 'clear' your level of artistic skill helps, but your not expected to be a professional artist

             (they do accept computer generated work as well)

For me, the idea of this portion of the application filled me with dread. After going to Portfolio Day in October (Hartford CT) and seeing the sample I knew this was the portion of my application that was my downfall in 09.

I'd previously dabbled in sewing but hadn't touched a machine in years (and honestly didn't want to).

Here's what I did this year.

• 
  
   Garment Test - From my previous dabbling, I already had a dress form. (I paid $150 for it, but ordered it out of a catalog, I probably could have gotton it for $99 or less if it was used, so shop around.) I also used a lot of fabric that I had in my closet. Which was kind of a lot. But most of it was like old lady fabric so I did go to the only place in my city that actually sells fabric, read: Le WalMart. This is also the place where I purchased my patterns.
  
  
  

I can't stress enough, if you aren't an experienced seamstress Do Not try to make an outfit without using a pattern. You really don't need to be intimidated by a pattern. This is why I recommend if your a novice to start with a Simplicity pattern, the pieces are cut simply and the directions have pictures and are easy to follow.

Simplicity also has some Project Runway patterns that have some pretty cute styles (I bought two) but the patterns are much more complicated than the basics, so if your unfamiliar with sewing try something simpler first, because you will get frustrated. 

Introduction

I decided to start this blog because I really don't think there's enough information out there for people that want to get into F.I.T.'s fashion design program. As my blog description states I have had my application rejected twice from F.I.T., both times I applied for fashion design. And both times I recieved that crappy thin form letter I was completely and totally devesated. The last letter I recieved was last year, the first was in 2004. This year I reapplied for Fall 2010. I really think both of my rejections could have been avoided if I had some sound advice on how to put my portfolio together. I hope this information sets you on the path to getting accepted. - Good Luck MB