101 Things I Learned® in Fashion School

Author s Note

A good fashion design curriculum encourages students to come up with informed, creative solutions to the problem of dressing people for their lives. In my years of teaching, I have found that the greatest obstacle to this goal is not the acquiring of technical proficiency or adequate intellectual information with the availability of information today, the average eight-year-old is likely more sophisticated and fashion-savvy than ever but with accepting the need to design for real people.

The perception on the part of many students (and sometimes instructors) is that reality real customers with real needs, real fabrics that must be constructed into real garments is the enemy of creativity. Real experience, it is feared, means drudgery, compromise, and mediocrity. The result is that most curricula tend toward the theoretical, with practical application addressed only to the extent it is considered unavoidable. Students designs often seem to resemble ideas more than clothing.

It took me years as a working designer to accept the importance of identifying a real living customer and recognizing what he or she will and won t wear. Far from being anti-creative, this realization was for me the beginning of true creativity. For what is creativity if it isn t to take something existing in one s head and give it relevance in the real world?

The central purpose of this book, then, isn t to impart technical proficiency (although we hopefully will do some of that) or to challenge students creatively (though I hope to do that too), but to give readers some ways to connect the two. I hope to provide students with small reminders, touchstones, and catalysts to help them solve real problems creatively, and creative problems realistically.

I hope that students and designers will keep this little book handy while researching, designing, swatching, and illustrating. I hope the history lessons help readers understand that innovation happens in

Alfredo Cabrera, who is based in New York City, is an award-winning fashion designer and illustrator. His clients have included Henri Bendel, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Jeans, Express, The Limited, Girbaud, Jones New York, Nautica, FUBU, Izod, and Liz Claiborne.

Matthew Frederick is a bestselling author, instructor of design and writing, and the creator of the 101 Things I Learned® series. He lives in New York s Hudson Valley.