FASHION LAB
Learn to Think Like a Fashion Designer
Fashion Lab is a studio-based fashion design program for ages 11–18 built around the way designers actually develop ideas: observing, researching, experimenting, making choices, editing, and communicating a point of view.
Students explore fashion history, color, textiles, silhouette, illustration, draping, styling, and collection development while learning to ask not only How is this made? but Why this? What am I trying to communicate? What design choices will accomplish that?
No sewing experience is required. Fashion Lab may be taken independently or alongside Teen Sewing & Design.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
From Observation to Point of View
Fashion designers rarely begin with a finished idea. They look closely, gather references, experiment with possibilities, make choices, and develop a story. Fashion Lab gives students a repeatable process for doing the same.
OBSERVE → IMAGINE → SHAPE → IDENTIFY → TELL A STORY
Students return to this process throughout the year, applying it to different materials, techniques, references, and design problems with increasing independence.
INSIDE THE FASHION LAB
Fashion Lab moves between looking, researching, making, and discussing. Students work with fashion history and contemporary references, color and textiles, silhouette and proportion, illustration, draping, styling, and visual research.
These are not separate subjects taught in isolation. They become tools for answering design questions. A historical reference might lead to a study of silhouette. A textile may suggest a new shape. Draping can challenge an idea developed on paper. Styling can reveal what a collection is actually trying to say.
As students gain experience, projects become more open-ended. Design briefs introduce constraints and problems to solve, while collection development asks students to edit individual ideas into a coherent point of view.
Program Details
Thursdays · 6:00–7:00 PM
Ages 11–18
September–May
Maximum 6 students
$145/month
TWO WAYS OF THINKING
Teen Sewing & Design
How do I make this?
Construction · Pattern · Fit · Technique · Finishing
Fashion Lab
Why this? What am I trying to communicate?
Research · Form · Color · Context · Point of View
Students may take either program independently—or take both.