Fashion Design Major
Create unforgettable wardrobes from innovative designs, connect with fashion trailblazers and build a portfolio that speaks for your style.
Fashion Design at Moore equips you with the skills to craft garments that command attention on runways, in editorial spreads and across retail markets.
You’ll sketch, drape and construct pieces across couture, ready-to-wear, streetwear, eveningwear and more, developing a sharp sense of style and the technical precision to nail every detail. You’ll immerse yourself in New York Fashion Week, execute your biggest ideas and deliver garments that impress editors and buyers, all with support from seasoned instructors and mentors.
As part of our collaboration with Philadelphia Ballet, you’ll design costumes that move seamlessly from studio to stage for a live performance with professional dancers. As a senior, you’ll present your thesis collection before a crowd of industry insiders and legendary designers at Moore’s annual Fashion Show. You can also compete in Philly Fashion Week’s Next Up Student Competition and embed yourself in Philadelphia’s fashion scene, with New York City always nearby.
Internships That Launch Careers
Every Fashion Design student pursues a guaranteed paid $1,000 internship between their junior and senior years. Moore puts you in the field early, allowing you to grow your toolkit and make connections that lead to career opportunities.
Fashion Design students and alumni have landed internships and jobs at places like...
Anna Sui
Badgley Mischka
Nieman Marcus
Network with Industry Leaders
Through special events, you’ll meet guest speakers and critics who’ve walked the path you’re on. Ask questions, gain valuable feedback and build relationships that open doors in fashion design. Here’s a glimpse of some of our recent visitors:
Renee Hill
Alyssa Mapp ’14
Christine Rucci
“Through my courses at Moore, I found that I really enjoyed patternmaking and the technical side of fashion. I decided while I was here that I want to become a full-time patternmaker—that’s where I really see garments come to life. It all aligned perfectly, and I’ll be able to start doing what I want to do as soon as I graduate.” ERIN PARTLOW ’25, FASHION DESIGN
Fashion Design Student Work
Our students transform original ideas into garments that are imaginative, impeccably tailored and always runway-ready.
Erin Partlow ’25
Trinity Alexander ’24
Tania Anez Crowell ’24
Kieu Tieu ’24
Nina Bonaduce ’21
Erin Partlow ’25
Megan Ryan ’22
Technology and Creative Spaces
Explore advanced tools and workspaces for Fashion Design students, including a digital embroidery machine, a blind hem machine and a professional shooting studio
Fashion Design Studios
All Fashion Design majors have access to our Fashion Studios, which feature industrial sewing machines as well as versatile serger and overlock machines. There are also specialty product development machines like a reliable buttonholer, essential for flawless fashion creations. Students also learn to elevate designs with precision hemming from a blind hemmer, and coverstitch machine.
Professional Shooting Studio
Fully equipped with a Hasselblad H5D-50 50MP camera, colored backdrops, green screen, strobes, hot lights and other accessories
Equipment Cage
Fashion Design majors can rent the same equipment the pros use, such as professional Canon SLRs and mirrorless cameras up to 45 megapixels, Prosumer DSLR and point-and-shoot cameras, film SLR cameras, 4 x 5 film cameras, HD video cameras, tripods, and audio accessories like digital audio recorders, boom mics, gimbal stabilizers, and more
Computer Labs
Everything you need for digital work: 27” iMacs, Epson P800 17”x22” inkjet printers, Epson V750 scanners for film scanning and neutral color temperature viewing booths. Using CLO3D in the computer labs for fashion designers to enhance the creative process by allowing students to visualize, simulate, and refine their garment designs in a 3D and virtual environment.
Print Center
For wide-format work, including multiple 44”-wide photo-quality inkjet printers
FabLab
Your future favorite place on campus, featuring a laser cutter/engraver, 3D scanners/printers, CNC Router, ceramics decal printer and a digital embroidery machine
Fashion Design Core Curriculum
Year 1
- 2D Design
- 3D Design
- Foundation Drawing I
- Drawing for Visual Communication OR Creative Design
- Color Theory
- Introduction to Fashion Design
- Writing Workshop I & II
- Art History I & II
Year 2
- Fundamentals of Sewing
- Introduction to Apparel Textiles
- Fashion Illustration I & II
- Design Sustainability
- Apparel Drafting
- Apparel Technology
- Modern Art History Course
- Non-Western Art History
- Gender, Race, Class & Power
- Studio Electives
Year 3
- Apparel Design Studio
- Apparel Modeling
- Fiber and Textile Design
- Production Apparel Design
- Apparel History and Context
- Professional Development I
- Humanities and Studio Electives
Year 4
- Senior Thesis I & II
- Business of Fashion
- Portfolio Design
- Professional Development II (Internship)
- Creative & Critical Studies Electives
- Open Electives
Choose from electives like...
- Hand Knitting
- Retail Value and Fashion Market
- Art to Wear
- 3D Apparel Design
- The Art and Design of Virtual Reality
LAND YOUR DREAM JOB IN FASHION
Moore's Fashion Design alumni build careers at internationally-recognized companies and continue to shape the future of the fashion industry.
Aerie
AnaOno
Anthropologie
Bloomingdale's
Burberry
Capelli New York
Oscar de la Renta
Wear to Wall
Take the next steps!
We're looking forward to meeting you and telling you more about the undergraduate Fashion Design program at Moore-the only independent art & design college in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.WHY CHOOSE A FASHION DESIGN MAJOR AT MOORE?
- FUTURE-FOCUSED: Get ready for the future of Fashion Design by learning on state-of-the-art software and equipment that the pros use, which will give you a leg up in the field.
- HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE: Thanks to our exciting collaboration with Philadelphia Ballet, Fashion Design juniors work with real-life ballet dancers on fittings for costume designs, and our Senior Show will give you industry-level experience working with models and producers on your stunning runway debut!
- CAREER: All Fashion Design majors get a head start with a paid internship in the field between your junior and senior years, and make connections with guest speakers and critics who work in the field.
IN OUR OWN WORDS
"The Fashion Design curriculum checks all the boxes. When I go into my field, I can say I'm multifaceted and I have knowledge in a little bit of everything. I feel like I know what I'm doing, I'm enjoying it and I'm ready to keep going."
MEET YOUR FASHION DESIGN MAJOR
Watch our Meet Your Major: Fashion Design video to take a deeper dive into everything this program has to offer!
FASHION SHOW & CAREER-FOCUSED OPPORTUNITIES
Do you dream about showing off your own creations on the runway or stage? You’ll get that chance as a Fashion Design major at Moore!
As a senior, you’ll prep your final collection for our annual Fashion Show and get real-world experience, working directly with runway show producers, models, and hair and makeup professionals. Then in May, it’s showtime! You’ll debut your collection to an excited and supportive audience of fashion designers, professionals and influencers, as well as your own family and friends. It’s one of our biggest and most popular events of the year.
Plus: Get valuable client-facing experience as a Fashion Design junior through an ongoing collaboration between Moore and Philadelphia Ballet! Work on your own and in teams with other students to design real costumes for the stage, meet with costume designers and tailor your work through live fittings with working ballet dancers.
Check Out Some Recent Fashion Design Events
Senior Fashion Design students pose together at the 2024 Fashion Show.
Jane Likens ’66 and Arianna Baback ’23 speak at the opening reception of Bundle Up! Outerwear from the 19th–20th Centuries
Junior Fashion Design students pose with dancers from the Philadelphia Ballet at the opening reception of the Reimagining a Holiday Classic: Costume Designs Inspired by The Nutcracker exhibition.
Models walk the runway at the 2022 Fashion Show.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Click the plus buttons below to get an overview of our Fashion Design courses and core curriculum, and also choose from a variety of exciting electives like:
- 3D Apparel Design: Students will learn essential skills and techniques to create realistic virtual garments in using 3D software
- Art to Wear: consider the human body as a point of departure for creating forms of ornamentation
- Hand Knitting: discover hand-knitting techniques and skills, including knit, purl, moss, ribbing, cables, bobbles and lace work
- Fashion, Editorial, and Lifestyle Photography: create a brand and learn to work with clients
-
PostedNow in its third year, the annual collaboration between Philadelphia Ballet and Moore College of Art & Design culminated in a stunning live performance and dynamic panel discussion.
-
PostedFashion Design students Ensaam Farraj ’26 and Greta Hartman ’26 wowed judges in Philly Fashion Week’s Next Up Student Competition.
-
Fashion Design Juniors Design and Create Costumes for Annual Collaboration with Philadelphia Ballet
CategoryPostedJuniors in Moore’s Fashion Design major created costumes, inspired by Maurice Ravel’s "Boléro," for a special performance with Philadelphia Ballet dancers on February 27, 2025.
-
PostedFashion Design students collaborated with professionals and dancers from Philadelphia Ballet to create costumes and gain firsthand industry experience, culminating in a presentation and performance on Thursday, February 27, 2025.
