Fashion Design
Plus, how 1 student takes her design skills from the runway to the raceway
Get an inside view of
this Fashion student’s
day-to-day life
Meet 2 student faves
Curriculum deets, student work, and more
Coming soon
ABOUT
You have a vision for style, and in the Fashion Design program at Columbus College of Art & Design, you’ll get the hands-on, technical skills (and access to high-end tools) to make that vision reality.
5 THINGS TO KNOW NOW
Plus, our favorite art and design tools, professors, and study break spots.
1
Green is Stylish
At CCAD, environmentally and socially conscious approaches to creating are woven throughout our curriculum. You’ll meet people like Columbus designer Celeste Malvar-Stewart, whose custom gowns are biodegradable and made with environmentally friendly dyes. Skype with Pittsburgh-based Thread, which takes plastic bottles collected in Haiti and turns them into fabric that can be recycled at the end of its life. Travel to Ecuador and meet with the minds behind fair-trade company WinterSun. Learn how to prevent fabric waste and how innovative technologies (3D printers and faux leather made from mushrooms) are revolutionizing design (and saving money). It’s knowledge that can change an industry — and set you apart from the pack.
2
Your Vision, No Limits
You’re cut from a different cloth and so are your designs. Here, faculty don’t just accept your vision, they embrace it. Sarah Marie Gillespie (Class of 2017) has ridden dirt bikes since she was a kid, so when it came to designing her senior collection she knew just the thing: activewear for motocross riders. That meant dying and printing her functional fabrics and harnessing her Industrial Design minor to use a laser cutter and 3D printer for the work. “Teachers are excited to see something new or different,” she says. “As long as you stick with an idea and you’re able to push and grow, they’ll help you all the way through it.”
3
Make Your Mark
Sure, you can take a shopping trip to New York to pick up designer fabrics (and many students do just that), but sometimes you need materials beyond the readymade. Enter our Mutoh textile printer. From pattern repeats to free-form illustrations, you’ll be able to see your vision carried out on cotton, silk, or rayon. Stylized tigers, detailed flowers, and graphic insects are just a few examples of what we’ve seen come out of the printer. Now it’s your turn to make your mark.
4
Hit the Runway Running
It’s exciting to see your designs on a dress form, but there’s nothing like the thrill of witnessing them come alive on the runway at the CCAD Fashion Show. Each year, select Fashion Design seniors and MFA candidates get to do just that. Working closely with faculty and peers, you’ll have a chance to develop a collection, cast models, connect with photographers, and talk to the press in advance of the Fashion Show, which draws fashion fans from central Ohio and beyond. There’s a reason why the night is the hottest runway ticket in town. That reason: You.
5
A Fashion Hub
If you’re thinking fashion, you should be thinking Columbus. For one, we employ more fashion designers than almost anywhere else in the
U.S. (behind only New York and LA). Here, you’ll find the headquarters of clothing retail giants like Express, Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, and Eloquii. Plus, a low cost of living makes it easier for indie upstarts like Homage (a company that revives retro sports, music, and pop culture images on vintage-soft T-shirts) to thrive. What does all that mean for you? Access to internships, jobs, and fashionistas aplenty.
STUDENT VLOGS
TWO AMAZING FACULTY MEMBERS
Assistant Professor of Fashion Design
Tricia Carlos has been a fashion designer for more than 11 years, working with such apparel brands as Liz Claiborne, Ellen Tracy, and Lane Bryant. Carlos brings her experience designing and working in product development for casual sportswear, day and evening dresses, intimate apparel, and loungewear to the classroom
at CCAD, where she encourages students to engage with a variety of media and technology in their design work.
Interim Chair and Assistant Professor
of Fashion Design
Rebecca Robinson has a passion for education and for fashion history, one of several courses she teaches at CCAD. Robinson, Interim Chair of Fashion Design at CCAD, has authored supplemental fashion textbook materials for Prentice Hall and was a contributing author to The Men’s Fashion Reader, A History of Men’s Fashion. She has also been a freelance bridal designer since 2005.
Education
- BA in Fashion Design, Kent State University
Current Practice
I’m pursuing a master’s in education with a concentration on global training and development.
On Columbus
It’s a city that’s full of life, and there’s so much to do, whatever phase of life you’re in.
Inspiration
It’s everywhere. It can be as simple as a detail on someone’s blouse or going to a park and seeing a really great color story.
Find her Online
Education
- MDes in Design, University of Cincinnati
- BS in Family Consumer Services, The Ohio State University
Current Practice
I'm a freelance bridal designer.
On Columbus
We have so many good restaurants, and from a fashion perspective, there’s so much industry here
Inspiration
I tend to look at fashion history for inspiration. And there are some artists, mainly painters, who appeal to me.
Find her Online
DOWNLOADS
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