Ever since I was young, I used to fill countless sketchbooks and journals with fashion illustrations. I was excited to come to Syracuse University to explore the creative arts of fashion design and push my creativity to the brink. But stepping into the Visual and Performing Arts building, it became clear that learning fashion design comes at a cost that I was not aware of.

I was ecstatic when I received my design supply list before beginning my freshman year because I was finally entering the fashion world and learning to take unconventional classes. My first shopping trip to Joann’s Fabrics put a damper on this excitement when I saw that the price of my supplies came out to $300. Then, the first-year design student supply bag that I had to purchase from the SU bookstore came out to $200.

While non-VPA classes can have expensive textbooks, an initial investment of $500 before even attending a class was a steep price to pay. This is only the beginning of the uphill financial battle that accompanied me as a fashion design major.

As deadlines and projects were released, I watched classmates formulate systems to split supplies in order to avoid breaking the bank. Some of my peers spent their last $200 on each fabric run while simultaneously dealing with student debt.

Fashion design students need five rulers each and three pairs of scissors: one for fabric, one for paper and a pair of snips, or smaller scissors. As first-year design students, we pay $200 to learn how to use the Adobe suite. As we proceed into the fashion design major, we wonder when the price will be less of a burden to bear.

Everyone in the design and fine art fields knows there’s no money in art. The pressure to succeed monetarily is a heavy burden to bear while chasing your dreams. Due to this assumption, I never thought that I would be where I am now: pursuing my dreams in a highly competitive field.

Academic advisors, professors and peers encourage fashion majors to increase our odds of success after college. The fashion milestone, which allows VPA and Newhouse students to take classes in either college, would be a great resume builder, making yourselves competitive in a field where those with money are already ahead. It’s the little things like a $50 pair of Gingher scissors that can last your whole life. Yet, many might not get the chance to continue to use them after graduation.

The unpaid internships and the commodification of life in a big city get in the way. We are encouraged to work during New York Fashion Week, another “competitive edge” that does not consider the cost of transportation, lodging and basic necessities like food. Parents urge students to take a business class or add on minors, just in case this fashion design business does not work out. These negative forces in combination with the financial burden are enough to create self-doubt in students’ abilities to succeed before they even start.

Students should be well-equipped for their future, not set up to fail. The School of VPA has attempted to remedy the situation with the “Materials Exchange” which is a space for students to trade supplies for ones they no longer need. Yet, I find myself clinging to every scrap and shred of fabric in case I might need it again. The crucial items, like a bobbin case or needles, are held close to students’ chest, as they’re not ready to throw money away.

The supportive and close-knit nature of the major means people search their peers’ lockers looking for fabric. I find myself heading to second-hand stores in search of finding cheaper alternatives to the pricey and bland Joann’s Fabrics options. We sift through racks and racks of bedding, shower curtains, and blankets for hours to turn up empty-handed. Before I construct my designs, I spend three hours seam ripping apart a jacket to only end up with five one-foot by one-foot scraps.

As SU is a private institution that offers countless scholarships and grants, you could only hope that VPA students would receive the same funding and opportunities as everyone else. But at the end of the day, we have a long way to go. Making students invest hundreds of dollars in fabric perpetuates the idea that fashion is not accessible, leaving students unable to experience mobility in their fields of study.

Zoë Miller Boise, Class of 2024

Published on September 27, 2022 at 1:08 am