Portfolio for Accessories Design

Colleges and Universities A-Z Fashion Institute of Technology
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<p>Hello peeps</p>

<p>Having decided to walk away from my law career and follow my passion to a career in shoe design I am intending to run away to NYC from Australia and study the AAD Accessories Design. </p>

<p>I dont have an arts background and have never put together a portfolio before so I have a question for those in the know....</p>

<p>What makes a portfolio stand out from the pack? What is it about the portfolios of successful applicants that clinches the deal?</p>

<p>I have lots of great ideas but delivering a portfolio that does them justice is the challenge!</p>

<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>

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<p>Can you draw well? And are your designs unique? If yes and yes, I think your portfolio will be well received. And obviously, it should be carefully put together, no spots of glue and such. An exciting step!</p>

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<p>Drawing isnt my strength but Im working on it. Practice practice practice. </p>

<p>I read that there is a drawing test conducted at the in person evaluation…any idea what that’s all about and how that do that for international students?</p>

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<p>Yes, practice, practice, practice :)</p>

<p>It seems that it would be helpful if you had a person who could do a session or two with you, and guide you in your drawing, do a bit of a critique. Maybe take a class? </p>

<p>I haven’t really heard of an in-person drawing evaluation, but they might be looking at what you can express in the context of a limited time period. So I would practice drawing things within 3 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, etc. Try to draw accurately, but perhaps more important, EXPRESSION, of a style, a mood, a feeling.</p>

<p>And don’t be afraid to tell them your background, that you don’t have a bunch of experience doing art & such, but you can talk about your passion for fashion, what you love about it. (Don’t get too hung up on skill level, in other words - they’ll look at that, but they also will want to see where you are coming from, your spirit of design.)</p>

<p>Be able to talk, to some degree, in the language of design - concepts such as balance & harmony, contrast, proportion, negative & positive space. And elements of design such as form, shape, line, texture, color.</p>

<p>The fashion world is all about be yourself, confident, quirky - so have fun in your work :)</p>

<p>Maybe start a collection of images, if you don’t have that, of accessories, other clothing items, furniture, home/office accessories, architecture, nature scenes, photographs/scenes, and so on, of things that you like, that give you inspiration. It’s surprising how helpful an image file can be, in terms of refining your own style.</p>

<p>Anyway, hope I didn’t go on too long! Just some ideas for a starting design person…</p>

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<p>Thank you for your generous reply Hana Violet :)</p>

<p>All good advice. Im going in search of some drawing tuition :)</p>

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<p>Hi DoonaDay,</p>

<p>I don’t know if the school you are planning on applying to is F.I.T., but I had applied to that school a long time ago. Unfortunately I didn’t get accepted. They do give an in house drawing test, which was unexpected to me, but it was the only thing I aced lol. A+ for the test, which was a lovely chair, portfolio was a B- because, fresh out of High School I had no idea what a portfolio was until I received their letter… and a C- for the essay… That essay put me on the waiting list, that eventually rejected me :confused: ( this was for the Interior Design program, hence the chair)
Moral of my story, don’t just practice drawing, practice making a great essay too.</p>

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<p>My daughter applied for Assessory Design and she was disappointed that the portfolio asked that there NOT be examples of assessories made or designed. It appears that they were looking for overall artistic aptitude.</p>