Best Fashion Schools

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What is the best fashion school? Unfortunately, that is a very difficult question to answer — the best school depends on what a student wants to study, where, and at what cost. This page explains how to approach the choice and links onward to fashion school lists, schools by location, master's degrees, top fashion schools and financial aid information.

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What is the best fashion school?  Unfortunately, this is a very difficult question to answer.  In fact, I will not even attempt to give a specific answer to this question.  In my opinion, their are too many variables involved.  Furthermore, stating that an individual school or group of fashion schools are better then others is purely subjective.  Who is qualified to claim that they know which school is the absolute best?  Personally, I have not attend every fashion school.  In addition, I have not visited every school.  An most certainly I have not interviewed every professor.  Therefore, who am I to judge which one is the best.  In addition, a fashion school that may be best for you, may not be best for someone else.  Due to the fact that I live in the United States, I would find a New York fashion school to be the "best" fashion school choice for me.  However, that does not mean that the same school would be the best for a student living in Milan.  Yes, I understand that students can travel...
 
As with any other educational program, the students experience and learning activities will depend greatly on the teachers (professors) that they are assigned.  If a particular school has an amazing faculty this year, what happens next year if some members of the faculty retire or transfer to a competing school.  If that is the case, doesn't the schools dynamics change?  Possibly, the school is the best this semester, but what is the story for next semester???
 
Anyway, the reality is that "best of lists" are subjective.  And in my opinion, not always very valid.  They are a good source to "begin" your research, but certainly should not be the sole factor when selecting a fashion school.  When reading an article titled "Best Fashion Schools", please read them with an open mind.  It is very possible that the article was written by a professor or alumni from a particular fashion institute.  If that is the case, it is very possible that the author is bias.  Note: you may also find very good and very non-bias articles...

According to Polimoda, they are the top fashion school in Italy.  They may be correct, but I am not making that judgement.  On their website is states, "Polimoda, the International Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing, is considered one of the best fashion and design schools in Europe and definitely the leader in fashion and marketing education in Italy. The fashion school in Italy holds high quality classes in Florence, Italy ranging undergraduate courses to Masters level specialization programs to summer courses, in the areas of Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing and Fashion Merchandising courses."

Not sure if Instituto Marangoni agrees with Polimoda's assessment. The Instituto Marangoni offers highly specialized and exclusive programs with several years of prestigious reputation as one of the finest fashion schools in the world. Apart from fashion courses, the school also offers Italian language, Graphic Design, and Product Design courses.  The school has three campuses situated in the most fashion-forward capitals of Europe: Milan, Paris, and London. Programs include Basic Programs in Fashion Design, Fashion Styling, Fashion Business.

When selecting an appropriate fashion school, keep in mind that some schools are entirely based on a fashion (or textile) curriculum.  Such as the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City and FIDM in California.  Other schools that teach fashion or textiles are traditional colleges or universities that have "departments" that specialize in fashion, merchandising, fabrics, etc.  At first glance, one may think that the educational institution that specialized entirely on fashion is the best choice.  However, this is not necessarily always the case.  Again, I believe that much of the selection process has to do with the actual educators at the institution.
 
Is a fashion school in Italy or Paris a better fashion school then a New York fashion school?  This is very debatable depending on who you are asking... In my opinion, Italy and Paris may be more fashion savvy.  However, if you final goal is to sell product in the United States, do you need a European fashion education?  I will leave this for you to decide.

Possibly, you can find several "best fashion school" articles.  Compare the lists... If they all list the same exact schools, you will have a good head start in finding some very good schools.  You can then meet with advisors and determine which of the fashion schools is "best for YOU".

Do you know the difference between a college and university?  Learn about the best fashion colleges & universities.

Written by ML at Apparel Search April 2009

By the way, you should think about whether or not you should attend school full time or part time.

Learn about fashion school financial aid.

Note: If you are searching for the best fashion schools, you may also want to try the search term "Top Fashion Schools".  You may find some good lists using both "best fashion schools" and "top fashion schools". You may have interest in our article titled the best of the fashion industry.

Common Questions

What is the best fashion school?

There is no single answer, as this page says plainly — it depends on the program, the student's specialty, location and budget. The page points readers to compare lists of schools, including its companion search term, top fashion schools.

Which schools are named on this page?

The page references schools such as Polimoda and Istituto Marangoni in Italy, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and FIDM in the United States, among the wider lists in the Apparel Search education section.

Where can I research fashion schools further?

In the fashion education section linked from this page: fashion schools and more fashion schools lists, schools by location, fashion school master's degrees, apparel research and training, and fashion school financial aid.

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