Why I Want to Study Fashion

Fashion is a miraculous world of fantasy and hard work that I would be thrilled to enter, and the studies at the XXX could open the gate to this exciting world for me.

I opted for fashion design as a major as I have always been attracted by the power of transformation that trendy clothing gives a person. I enjoyed inventing clothing for my dolls when I was a child, and enjoyed seeing the same old plaything take on a different look each time I gave her different apparel. I also loved to see my mom and aunts put on trendy things and turn into fabulous-looking princesses.

When going to in high school, I most of all enjoyed drawing and painting. I love using a rich palette of colors in my works. My skills were often awarded with prizes in high school. Among the various courses we were offered at school, my favorite ones were the two fashion classes I took in one of my school years. I scored well in both of them. Overall, I used to be a good student, and the school administration always placed my picture in the lobby of the school.

I have a multi-cultural background that combines very different experiences. I first came to the US when I was three years old. Later I went back to China when I was in junior high school. Thus I combine two different backgrounds, supported by the knowledge of the two languages: English and Chinese.

In China, I kept pursuing a career in fashion that is my priority dream and aspiration. I had a course in drawing. In the US I added to my experience working in a fabric company in Manhattan. This was a great experience too, sharing the vibrant life of the New York City fashion world.

My dream is to become a professional fashion designer and be able to say a new world in apparel making. At the moment I enjoy designing my own clothing, as it gives me the possibility to stand out from the crowd and differ in style from my peers. I am bored by the people who would always wear the same style and fashion and enjoy adding fresh ideas to my wardrobe.

I believe in my ability to be creative and to produce the garments that will be unique in their own style and trend and will grab the attention of the most famous designers in the world. A good imagination is my personal strength, and the one that will lay the foundation for my professional expertise. In my view, the value of the designer’s works lies in their originality, their difference from others. I dislike seeing the works of the artists who merely copycat other people’s styles.

On the other hand, my weakness is the lack of skills in seaming and remote idea of handicraft, but I believe these drawbacks can be overcome by hard work that I am ready to put in as I am really determined to pursuing a career path in fashion.

I am following what the New York designers are working on now, my favorite being Honk Kong-born artist Vivienne Tam. She has received quite a multicultural upbringing as she was born in Canton, brought up in Hong Kong, and eventually settled in New York. She has made a name in the fashion world by being innovative, and having her own distinctive style. Vivienne first became famous with her signature collection of Eastern inspired clothing with a modern edge on the New York stage in 1994. After that, East-meets-West style became her trademark and distinctive feature. Pieces of her now classic Buddha collection of 1997 ultimately became part of the permanent archives of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Like Vivienne Tam, I want to single myself out from the rest of the designers, and establish my own style that will win acclaim in the fashion world.