Education · 1 of 5

The path

Nobody licenses this. The gate is a portfolio and the ability to actually make a garment.

1. 1

   High school

   Grade 12

   Art, sewing, and any class that teaches you to draw a figure. Start a sketchbook and start making real things, badly, now.

2. 2

   Build an application portfolio

   6 to 12 months

   Fashion programs admit on a portfolio: drawings, garments you sewed, an idea carried through. Schools publish exactly what they want to see.

3. 3

   Fashion school

   2 to 4 years

   A two-year associate degree or a four-year bachelor's. Draping, pattern making, sewing, textiles, and digital design tools.

4. 4

   Internships while you study

   Two summers

   One or two in a design room. This is how almost every first job actually happens in this industry.

5. 5

   Assistant designer, then designer

   2 to 4 years

   Two to four years supporting a designer before you own a category of your own.