Fashion Design

What is Fashion Design

From the past few years, fashion design has become more of a necessity. It has come to take over our consciousness to the extent that whatever we buy or wear today should definitely make a fashion statement. As the fashion industry is developing in every aspect, courses related to fashion have also emerged and made its place in the academic field. Today there are many Fashion Design courses at UG and PG levels. The courses groom students according to the requirements of the fashion world. Students get to learn a lot about fashion designing, textile industries, fashion management and other such things.

Eligibility Criteria (UG & PG) of Fashion Design

Colleges and institutes have set certain eligibility criteria that students should meet if they want to apply for admissions in Fashion Design courses. Generally, most of the colleges follow the same eligibility criteria.

Eligibility Criteria for UG Courses:

• Students seeking admission in Fashion Designing courses at UG level must have passed their class 12th examination with not less than 50 per cent from a recognised board in India.  

• They may have to appear for entrance exams like NID DAT, UCEED and NIFT Entrance exam.

Eligibility Criteria for PG Courses:

• Students applying for PG courses in Fashion Designing must have passed bachelor’s programme in a related field with not less than 50 per cent from a recognised college/ university in India.

• They may have to appear for entrance exams like IIAD, CEED, NID DAT and many others.

Eligibility for Diploma Courses:

• For admission in Diploma courses, students must have completed 10+2 level from a recognised board in India with not less than 40 - 50 per cent.

Fashion Design Entrance Examination

Many colleges and institutes admit students in various fashion design courses on the basis of the scores fetched in entrance exams conducted by them. The eligibility for appearing in the entrance tests is set by colleges and institutes accordingly. Some of the entrance exams for fashion designing courses are –

1. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Entrance Exam: NIFT is one of the most prestigious institutes for fashion and designing. NIFT conducts its entrance exams for various UG and PG courses offered at the institute. NIFT is headquartered in Delhi and has its branches in 15 other major cities of India.

2. National Institute of Design Aptitude Test (NID DAT): NID is one of the pioneers in offering fashion education in India.  NID offers Bachelor of Design and Master of Design courses and students seeking admissions in any of these courses need to clear NID DAT Prelims and NID DAT mains.

3. Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED): IIT Bombay conducts the CEED for students seeking admission into Master of Design courses including Master of Design in Fashion Design. A great number of colleges accept CEED scores for admissions.

4. Indian Institute of Art and Design Entrance Exam (IIAD): This is a very popular institute for fashion designing courses like BA in Fashion Design, MA in Fashion Design, BA and MA in Fashion Business Management. It conducts entrance exams and studio or interview rounds for UG and PG courses respectively.

5. Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design (UCEED): UCEED is taken by a large number of students seeking admission in UG courses for design, including fashion design. The entrance exam is conducted by IIT Bombay, and it covers as many as 24 colleges.

6. Pearl Academy Entrance Exam: Pearl Academy is a very renowned name in fashion education. The academy is famous for its fashion designing courses and various specialisations offered by it. The academy conducts an entrance exam in three cycles every year– January, April and June. Once a student clears the entrance exam, he/ she will have to appear for an interview or studio round.

Required Skillset for Fashion Design

Fashion Design students can be successful in their courses if they develop certain skills to help in bringing out the fashion expert within them:

1.   Artistic and Creative Mind: A Fashion Design student must have a very artistic and creative mind so that he/ she can be very innovative and, at the same time, very original with ideas and designs.

2.   Business Acumen: A Fashion Design student must know how to design cost-effective and high-in-demand products that will be profitable in the long run for the business.

3.  Strong Imagination: A fashion design student has to visualise a lot before penning down the design which is possible only if he/ she has a very strong imagination which will help him/ her to visualise the design and make modifications as and when necessary.

4.  Great Observation Skills: Students must have the power to observe the requirements, settings, demands and on-going fashion trends before designing a product. They should have an eye for details, not even small details should be missed.

5.  Sketching and Drawing Skills: Fashion designing courses are all about sketching and drawing. Students will have to be absolutely phenomenal with their sketching skills.

6.  Research-oriented: Students must be research-oriented so that they can understand the demands and needs of customers, observe various fashion trends, work on establishing cost-effective methods and researching on adopting new and innovative designs.