Purpose

[textileowl]

Savannah College of Art and Design MFA Fashion Program

 

 

Statement of purpose. The statement should be a 500- to 750-word overview of the applicant's academic and professional accomplishments and should demonstrate a high level of interest in and a highly developed understanding of the discipline. The applicant should describe qualifications for graduate study and should state intended focus, as well as personal and professional goals.

 

 My love of fashion began through books. I began reading at an early age and novels such as “Little House on the Prairie” were my first forays into the historical aspects of fashion. It was not current fashions that interested me then, not until college was I able to connect the two into something more cohesive. Like many children in rural Ohio, I was in 4-H, where I learned how to sew and put outfits together. Every summer for ten years, I sewed precisely one outfit –usually right up to the deadline- and never really explored more than getting the pattern correct. There are some projects where I am still not satisfied with how they turned out. The last one was a Renaissance faire style gown for Halloween. The Simplicity pattern was simply too large, requiring quite a bit of modification to fit properly. After that, I decided that I was done with mass marketed patterns and needed to learn how to make my own.

           

I started out at the Ohio State University as a freshman Anthropology major. About halfway through my first year, I discovered that what had intrigued me about anthropology was the discovery of what people wore, how they wore it, and why. I was also beginning to notice how trends were being cycled through faster than earlier in history. With that in mind, I began to wonder how modern fashion would be seen by future anthropologists and costume historians.   I felt that I could get a better education of what I wanted by changing majors, so I did. Once I was seriously taking textile and clothing classes I found out that the program focused on marketing, merchandising and design with an emphasis on computer aided design. There were no practical classes of pattern development or even basic sewing. The program which had developed from home economics in the fifties and sixties was now a simplified crash course for retail fashion design.

 

During my first year I joined a student group devoted to keeping alive a 30 year old renaissance festival held on campus every spring. This close knit group quickly became my social network and I found my niche in taking over for the graduating Costume Coordinator. He taught me the basics of pattern drafting and draping which I would continue to build upon for the next several years. As Costume Coordinator I oversaw 10 – 20 people at a time during day long workshops where they learned how to pattern and cut out basic costume pieces such as shirts, skirts, and pants.  The more difficult items such as bodices that needed to provide support and create a period shape, I patterned from measurements and duct tape doubles and then provided instruction for the construction. These weren’t well organized or structured workshops, though after three years, I had a system that involved encouraging the people who knew what they were doing to help instruct those who were new to sewing. Our group knew who was good at certain things, which helped keep the balance of power spread throughout, and this was useful at the workshops because I could delegate some of the easier tasks and concentrate on the more difficult, such as helping someone alter a commercial pattern to fit them and what they envisioned their character wearing.

 

During my final year of college, my aesthetics and design aspirations started to fully flesh out. I realized that what I enjoyed was making clean lines on well – fitted garments with a nod to historical silhouettes and fabrics. I had the chance to take a draping workshop with my favorite professor and I jumped at it, committing myself to another quarter of class in the process. There I learned the basics of draping, and made two dresses for our student fashion show. The amazing diversity of the talent and experience of my fellow students made me realize how much I appreciated well constructed garments that are tailored.

 

Before College

            10 years of sewing in 4-H, single projects every summer to complete an outfit. 2 first places and various other rewards

            Good solid base in technique, very little in creative or fitting troubleshooting.

            Early focus of historical and fantasy costuming through classic novels

 

During College

            Anthropology major, discovered interest wasn’t quite that early and mostly in why and how people wore their garments. Maybe a sentence about wondering how modern garments will be seen by future fashion anthropologists?

            Medieval and Renaissance Performers Guild – could make my own garb and teach others as well. Learned pattern drafting and a little draping.

            Textiles and Clothing program focuses on marketing, merchandising and design, has no opportunity to learn actual physical sewing – which wasn’t an issue for me. Theatre program has a few classes in basic costume building, as well as designing costumes for shows.

 

Grad School

            Hone and master pattern drafting

            Tailoring techniques

            Explore more creative side of design.

            Updating historic designs into fashion make sure to emphasize that it is updating them for a modern audience.