Demand for Fashion Degrees Booms

Demand for Fashion Degrees Booms

Published: Monday, June 23, 2008 11:06 AM CDT

(ARA) - With the popularity of fashion reality shows like Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, it's no wonder that interest in fashion-related careers is rapidly increasing. Fashion design, fashion merchandising and retail management are just a sampling of jobs in high demand in the fashion marketplace.

The fashion industry as a whole has always been an interest for Tory Krumenauer. "I think that spending a lot of time with friends at the mall as I was growing up really intrigued my sense for fashion and what the current trends are and what all the models are wearing. I loved going to see the new arrangements and styles that the stores offered every season. I knew I wanted to know more about 'behind the scenes' things dealing with retail," comments Krumenauer.

Like many prospective students, Krumenauer started researching colleges and discovered there were a lot of interesting retail, business management and design classes available. These types of classes can be taken in class at a traditional school or remotely via the Internet.

Online classes are not only convenient, but because the Internet connects people from around the world, students can study with some of the top teachers in the industry, whether they live in their hometown, or are working remotely in areas like Manhattan.

A great place to start learning more about top schools that offer education for fashion-related careers is FashionSchools.com. Part of the Monster educational network, the site features informational articles, school profiles and program details that can help make your dream of working in fashion a reality.

Employment rates are a good indicator of a school's success in equipping its students to compete for jobs. The numbers for The Art Institute Online and Academy of Art University point to job success for graduates of their programs, with 90.3 percent and more than 80 percent of graduates respectively working in the field they studied within 6 months of graduation. If you want a school with an international influence, schools like the International Academy of Design and Technology might be perfect.

ADVERTISEMENT

Qualified professionals in the fashion industry are in high demand and in 2011, when Krumenauer is set to graduate, she'll be one of them. Her recommendation for those interested in a career in fashion: "I would make sure you are able to keep up with lots of change and be very flexible. There are lots of tedious, long hours spent in this field. However if you are really interested by the realm of fashion, because it is such a large part of society, then you can make it work because there are so many fields within the fashion industry to explore," she advises.

Copyright © 2008, ARAnet, Inc.