Fashion Design Courses for High School Students

Everyone in the world loves fashion.  Some of us are simply too young to attend a full time college.  Fortunately, some schools offer High School age students the opportunity to take courses during the summer or as part of a high school experience.

If you find any information below that is now outdated, please let us know so that we can make updates.  These are example that we collected but course details and opportunities may have changed by the time you are reading this page.

Don't forget to visit the fashion library in our fashion industry terminology section.

Below are a few examples:

The Fashion Institute of Technology's Precollege Programs a division of the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies offers classes for high school and middle school students to explore art and design, business and technology majors and develop art and design portfolios.  To fulfill its mission, Precollege Programs offers a wide variety of non-credit and credit courses to high school and middle school students, including courses taught by FIT faculty, and partnership Programs with high schools in the New York City area.  Whether you're a serious artist preparing for college or a hobbyist enjoying a passion, FIT has a program for you! We offer a variety of programs designed for students in grades 9,10,11 and 12.

Cornell: This interactive studio program offers you a rare opportunity to develop your fashion design skills, deepen your knowledge of cutting-edge fashion tools and trends, and build a design portfolio.

New School: Designed for students in grades 3 through 12, Parsons' Pre-College Academy meets on Saturday mornings during the school year in the fall and spring and for two weeks in August. Classes are organized by grade level for elementary, middle, and high school groups.  Pre-College Academy classes meet on Saturday mornings for 11 weeks in the fall and spring semesters and every weekday for two weeks in the summer. Students are divided into elementary, middle school, and high school groups. A wide selection of age-appropriate courses are offered, on subjects including animation, fashion, graphic design, interior design, drawing, painting, cartooning, photography, and portfolio development.

High School of Fashion: The Mission of the High School of Fashion Industries is to provide challenging, creative and effective career, technical and academic training for New York City students. The faculty and administration of our school, working with the cooperation of the parents and student body, seek to provide a unique learning experience and a specially tailored program for all students who have an interest in a fashion related field.

Summer Fashion Design Institute (Marist): The focus of the Summer Pre-College Program in design will be in apparel construction and preparation. Additional studio and classroom course work may include trend, color, fashion figure drawing and the history of fashion.  Field trips to New York City will include visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and visits to the fabric and design showrooms of 7th Avenue in order to further enrich the student's understanding of the career opportunities available to fashion designers.  If you are accepted to the Summer Fashion Design Institute, you can look forward to days and nights full of fashion and fun.

The School of Fashion Design: The School of Fashion Design offers a program for the next generation of young designers, the High School Prep Program. Offered throughout the year, this program provides high school students a nurturing environment to test their interest in fashion, explore their talents and get a jumpstart on their dreams.    The course includes fashion art and clothing construction. It is offered twice during the summer session and once during fall and spring sessions.

University of Cincinnati for High School Students:

You like fashion—They Are Fashion! Think you have what it takes? Only those with heart and soul need apply. Being able to make people feel beautiful and look beautiful is an art form that only few can do. Take the risk follow your heart. Come and spend one week in the Fashion DAAPcamp and begin YOUR design legacy with DAAP!

PNW Boces: The newly established Fashion Design and Merchandising program will introduce prospective students to the dynamic and ever-growing fashion industry. Students will be able to create a portfolio documenting their applied knowledge that they have learned in this two-year program. Upon successful completion of the program, students will be qualified for topnotch college programs as well as make a significant contribution in the industry.  The program encompasses both the design and merchandising aspects of the industry. The design portion consists of learning the tools and basics to create a garment from beginning to end.  Their state-of-the-art classroom enhances students' education in fashion illustration, patternmaking, hand sewing, and sewing-machine skills that will allow them to complete their garment and showcase them in a fashion show. The fashion merchandising portion will focus on the business aspect of the industry. Students will learn marketing strategies used to develop, distribute and showcase today's fashion.  Students will analyze consumer tastes and designer influences that create trends throughout the globe. Guest speakers will provide students with “real world” perspectives and experiences. Field trips will enhance classroom instruction.

DC Fashion Foundation: The goal of the Youth Academy Incubator is to develop and implement a curriculum that will educate and prepare high school students for careers in the fashion and creative arts industries. Through early development, these students will be apt to become creative entrepreneurs who can then move to the next level to include of business development including business training, technical assistance, mentoring, job preparation and other business skills. The Youth Academy Incubator seeks be the feeder for the Fashion/retail Incubator, the Entrepreneur Incubator, or the Workforce Development Incubator. Any of these avenues will help transform these students into creative employees or creative entrepreneurs who can earn and sustain a viable living.

The Youth Academy Incubator is one of several incubator projects administered and operated by the DC Fashion Foundation, under the direct management of the DC Fashion Incubator. Within this incubator, there are several key programs that seek to provide the tools for students who wish to learn and master skills in fashion and/or the creative arts. These programs include: Fashion Academy, Camp Runway, Sew N' Know After School Program.

During your research for summer time fashion activities and classes, please let us know if you find additional resources that are not listed above.  We would be happy to add more high school fashion design courses and schools to this page.

You may also want to read our Best Fashion Schools page.