Kent State’s School of Fashion is marking 20 years in New York City with its New York City Fashion Program.
The program immerses about 150 students a year in real-world education alongside working industry professionals for a semester-long, education-away experience. The program is offered in the fall, spring and summer. Students have the option of spending one semester of their junior or senior year at the studio, located on 39th Street in the Garment Center.
Students learn from industry-based instructors, participate in hands-on internships, volunteer at New York Fashion Week and network with successful alumni and industry professionals.
Based in Kent, Ohio, Kent State is marking the milestone with a two-day celebration in New York City on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday the Portfolio Showcase and Reception will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at The Joyce Public House at 315 West 39th Street. The event will feature portfolios from recent fashion design and fashion merchandising graduates and the work of emerging alumni designers. On Friday, “An Evening of Style and Support,” an exclusive philanthropic dinner, will take place at Queensyard in Hudson Yards. The event will focus on expanding the NYC Fashion Housing Fund to make studying in New York City more financially accessible for students. Fern Mallis, president of her own consulting firm, who was recently inducted into the Kent State School of Fashion’s Hall of Fame, will be in attendance.
“Twenty years in New York City is a testament to the strength of this program and the dedication of everyone who has contributed to it — our faculty, our alumni, our industry partners and, most importantly, our students,” said Mourad Krifa, Ph.D., Margaret Clark Morgan director of the School of Fashion at Kent State. “Our NYC Fashion program embodies what makes Kent State’s School of Fashion distinctive: a commitment to rigorous academic preparation combined with real-world experience at the highest level of the industry.”
Tatee Sakr, center, a faculty member at Kent State University’s New York City Fashion program instructs fashion design students.
Rami Daud, Kent State Univesity, courtesy shot
Established in 1983 as Kent State University’s Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising, the school is a research-led teaching institution that fosters industry excellence and is grounded in real-world industry experience. Graduates of Kent State’s School of Fashion have a 93 percent job placement rate.
In addition to New York City, the school offers several education-away program in Florence, Paris and Hong Kong.
