“So what are you getting your degree in?” is a question I get a lot. This past weekend when I was explaining what I’m studying, it made me kind of realize how intense it can be. So, I wanted to explain it here too.
Let’s get started.
I’m just a girl majoring in Fashion Merchandising and minoring in Fashion Media.
The easiest way I try to describe Fashion Merchandising is that it’s basically everything involving the fashion industry besides actually sewing the clothes ourselves, which instead would be a design major.
But still if you did not know, Fashion Merchandising can involve product development which is still creating fashion lines from scratch. This includes coming up with the concepts and drawing out the designs. This is one of my favorite things. In my opinion, I still see this as designing.
Next to try and explain what I’m studying, I describe the classes I’m taking at the moment.
First, right now I’m taking Seminar in Fashion Merchandising for my senior capstone. That involves company research, market research, customer research, competitor analyses, mood, trend, color, and fabric research, line development, planning and buying. It is very intensive and can be a lot sometimes.
Second, I am taking Apparel in the Global Economy. This involves a lot of the business side. I am learning about topics like globalization, international trade, tariffs, imports, exports, sustainability, sourcing and supply chain management. All that fun stuff!
Third, I’m taking a class called My Story On the Web. I’m taking this for my Fashion Media minor. This basically involves learning how to successfully navigate website building. Sometimes we write, and sometimes we do some graphic design. This past week designed our own logos on Illustrator. I think we’ll also be creating our own podcasts and doing video editing.
Fourth, I’m taking Visual Media Design Advanced. This class is also very much graphic design heavy. We use a lot of InDesign and Photoshop to create layouts that on the other hand might be for print such as business cards, posters or magazine layouts.
Finally, I’m taking an entrepreneurship class. This is probably the most relaxed class I have, but sometimes the quizzes can still be perplexing. It does get the gears in my mind going about the possibilities of being your own boss. I kinda love that.
Every week seems like a race until 11:59 on Sundays, which is when most assignments are due. This semester, all of my classes are online. If you see college students seeming very overwhelmed about school right now, I can totally understand where they’re coming from from. Teaching yourself isn’t always easy. Look at the kind of content I’m learning.
Kent State has one of the top fashion programs in the world if you didn’t know. There are many different areas involved in what I’m studying. The possibilities of what I could do with this education are also extensive.
I also hope to break some of the stereotypes about fashion majors. Fashion majors do more than just shop. There’s more to fashion than just design. People who chase artistic careers can be smart.
There’s layers to this!
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