Certificate Requirements
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Course requirements: 6-8 online and/or on-campus courses, 4-6 required courses, and 2 electives. You may enroll in Fashion Design Basic Core OR Color Theory, Design Sketching I, and Construction Techniques I as your first required course(s). If you have
taken Basic Core, please register for Construction Techniques II as your next required class. If you are beginning your certificate and are not taking Basic Core, you must register for Construction Techniques I.
- Timeline to completion: Most courses last nine weeks or more. Courses meeting for fewer than nine sessions count as half of an elective and would need to be combined to fulfill one elective requirement. Most students take two courses per semester.
The certificate must be completed in two years.
- Cost: $814-$834 per course
Create groundbreaking apparel. Only a school ranked No. 1 worldwide for fashion education can give you a 360-degree immersion in fashion design, trends, history, and foundational techniques. The program develops each designer’s vision while cultivating the technical skills needed for the fashion industry — from concept development and sketching to sewing and construction techniques, draping, patternmaking, and textile selection. Finish your fashion design studies by learning how to create the perfect fashion portfolio, and polish your job-seeking skills with Professional Practices: Fashion.
Start by completing one of the following foundational course options:
OR
After you complete your foundational courses, your next step will be to enroll in the following:
- Construction Techniques 2
On campus
Building
on the basic draping, patternmaking, and sewing skills learned in
Construction Techniques I, explore intricate draping exercises to design
more tailored apparel and study advanced patternmaking applications.
Make muslin tests of garments and use fabric to create a finished
garment. Prerequisite: Construction Techniques I or the equivalent.
- Fashion Flats
(On campus | Online)
Flat sketching is an essential part of garment production.
It communicates details in the design and construction of a garment,
from concept to marketing. This course introduces the professional
techniques used to create fashion flats, ranging from traditional hand
sketching to the use of Adobe Illustrator to produce sketches digitally
in a vector format. Prerequisite: Familiarity with the Mac operating
system. Knowledge of Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop is recommended.
- Worth to Westwood: Fashion History
(On campus | Online)
In
this course, we explore fashion beginning with the father of haute
couture and concluding with the designer who brought punk and new wave
fashion into the mainstream. We discuss fashion in its historical
context, examining economic and technological influences, as well as
those from the world of arts and artists. Broad thematic considerations
include the nature of fashion (what it is and what it does) and its
relationship to modernity, production and consumption, art, and
globalization and customization, as well as identity and the body. We
assess the relationship of key designers, events, and movements to these
broad themes, covering fashion and art from Charles Worth’s haute
couture to the designs of the woman who dressed the Sex Pistols,
Vivienne Westwood.
After you complete these courses, your final step will be to enroll in two electives.
- Two electives - Choose from our offerings in graphic design, digital
design, fashion design, fashion business, interior design, and fine arts. View elective offerings here.
Want to go further? Explore the AAS degree program in Fashion Design at Parsons.