In a bustling part of downtown L.A., a high-rise is teeming with stylish young women in short skirts and full makeup wheeling small suitcases in and out of elevators on their way to class. They're students at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, where, down the hall from a flat-screen TV broadcasting a runway show, past a plexiglass case of high-fashion Barbies, two of their peers are consulting with Mary Stephens, the school's self-described "big boss."¶"This is a very new-looking shape here," says Stephens, FIDM's director of fashion design. She is talking to Alejandro Ortega, one of 11 students the school has accepted into its advanced fashion design program this year and one of the 8,000 students enrolled on FIDM's four California campuses.
Majoring in chic at L.A.'s fashion schools
L.A. has a vibrant fashion industry — and schools that feed it.
Like the hundreds of thousands of students enrolled in fashion programs across the country, Ortega has fashion in his blood. The son of a tailor in his native Mexico, he dreams of becoming a name designer and has moved several steps closer to that dream through FIDM, where he's learned how to sew and make patterns and design an entire collection.
The 31-year-old Ortega chose FIDM over schools in New York and Barcelona because of graduates such as Monique Lhuillier, Kevan Hall and others who've launched successful clothing labels and added to the $340 billion U.S. apparel and footwear industry. Even though Los Angeles may not have the same cachet as New York, it is home to a vibrant apparel industry — and several fashion schools that feed into it.
From $35,000-per-year Otis College of Art and Design to budget-minded, $36-per-unit, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, L.A.'s fashion schools cater to students of varying aspirations and income levels. Enrollment has remained relatively steady, even during the recession, and all of L.A.'s accredited fashion schools have boasting rights to well-known graduates or attendees. Eduardo Lucero and Rick Owens are among the big names who attended Otis. Los Angeles Trade-Tech spotlights "Project Runway" contestant Sweet P, who took classes at the school.
"I don't think a kid necessarily has an upper hand by going to Parsons or another New York school versus an L.A. school," says Steven Kolb, executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in New York. "L.A. has a very important fashion industry. It's just different than what New York is.
"New York is the fashion capital of the States," says Kolb. "It's where business transactions happen, where Fashion Week is, where editorial is.... But what you have in L.A. is a very strong manufacturing business that's a little bit more of a casual industry in terms of the product. It's more in line with the California lifestyle."
The fashion industry is one of the largest employers in California, encompassing everything from pattern making and sewing to design, marketing and retail. At Otis, located in downtown L.A.'s California Market Center, the four-year bachelor of fine arts degree program covers the spectrum of the industry.
Fewer than one third of the students admitted to Otis know how to sew when they start the program, says Aaron Paule, associate professor of fashion and design. But after a foundation year introducing freshmen to photography, fine art, fashion and drawing, students get into more of the fashion nitty-gritty with life drawing, garment dissections, pattern drafting, textile science and digital design.
In their junior and senior years, Otis students begin gathering real-world experience, working on so-called mentor projects with professional designers from top fashion companies in which they begin to design and construct garments from start to finish.
The designs shown at Otis' year-end fashion show last spring included a handcrafted Navajo dress created for Bob Mackie, a bra and panty set for Diesel, and a silk dress for Max Mara.
"We're very well connected with major companies, which excites the kids. That's one of the main reasons they want to come here is to work with the big names," says Paule, who lists Nike, Hurley, Cynthia Rowley, Calvin Klein and Armani Exchange as recent mentor companies for Otis students.
Seniors Laura Ogle and Linn Partee are working on a project with Cirque du Soleil, where they've been given the task of designing an outfit based on water and movement.
"Our process is to go out and buy a crystal stone and take the shapes from that and translate the shapes and colors into a 3-D garment. I'm excited," says Ogle, who appreciates the Cirque du Soleil exercise even though she hopes to find work with a children's fashion company after she graduates.
Ogle and Partee are on schedule to graduate this spring. Following the runway show where their Cirque du Soleil design will make its way down the catwalk, the school will assist with their résumés and portfolios, and the students will meet with 20 individuals from the industry for mock and actual interviews.
