【Los Angeles,】What is the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Like?

The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) was founded in 1969. Its earliest campus is located at Los Angeles International Airport in California, USA, serving as the main campus, which offers more choices in terms of major offerings and class schedules. Subsequently, three additional campuses were successively established in Orange County, San Francisco, and San Diego. FIDM’s students come from approximately 67 countries worldwide, and students can choose their campus based on their personal preferences and needs.
FIDM is one of the top four fashion design schools in the United States. The college adopts a small-class teaching model, with the teaching objective focused on cultivating students’ fundamental skills. In 1975, the college established the FIDM Resource Research Center, which serves as a fashion resource library for the western United States. It houses over 10,000 books on fashion design, manufacturing, and sales; more than 160 international periodicals, trade publications, magazines, fashion trend reports, and visual design material collections on various categories such as art design and popular fashion; over 4,000 collections of international costume film and video materials (including tapes, CDs, DVDs); and textile fabric sample resource collections.

Digital Media: Digital Media is a comprehensive discipline spanning natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, embodying the concept of “science, art, and humanities.” The term “digital” in this art form reflects its technological foundation, “media” emphasizes its grounding in the communication industry, and “art” clearly targets the application areas of artistic work creation and digital product art design. This field currently belongs to the interdisciplinary domain, involving knowledge in areas such as plastic arts, art design, interaction design, digital image processing technology, computer languages, computer graphics, and information and communication technology.
Fashion Design: The Fashion Design master’s program is an internationally renowned course. The course design aims to expand and deepen students’ existing knowledge and provide them with the necessary experience and confidence for high-level work in the international fashion industry. Against the backdrop of the global industry, the course will stimulate and consolidate students’ imagination and creativity. A prominent feature of the course is its close connection with the industry; students have direct opportunities to participate in high-end design projects and work alongside world-renowned designers. Many graduates have already collaborated with world-famous fashion leaders and critics, engaging in eye-catching fashion careers.
Graphic Design: Students in the Graphic Design major will infuse life and meaning into text and images. This program emphasizes the principles of design, aesthetics, and craftsmanship, cultivating students to focus on graphic design in a specific area or continue exploring other areas of communication design. Through this educational approach, students achieve outstanding results in national competitions. Traditional manual arts, such as engraving and drawing, as well as complex graphic software, are the tools of contemporary graphic designers. While experimenting with various media, including product packaging, books, magazine layouts, interactive communication, 3D graphics, virtual environments, and brand experiences, the challenge students face is proposing design solutions. Through interdisciplinary studios, students can apply their skills in commercial and non-profit fields, collaborating with students from other majors. Courses in design history, popular culture, dynamic imagery, and design research supplement the education in the Graphic Design major. By establishing innovative, coherent, artistic, and attractive solutions, this major prepares students for the future, whether they join other companies or establish their own studios.

Interior Design: Students in the Interior Design major are creative thinkers who can use innovative solutions or adapt existing environments to solve problems. Students learn about space, form, color, and lighting aesthetics and study human factors. Building codes. Construction methods. Materials and business practices. Students work in studios, building upon the foundation of interior architecture. Students learn and apply various forms of aesthetics; they investigate human factors, building codes, materials, construction methods, and documentation. This major also emphasizes the history of interior environments, design theory, business processes, and current industry trends.
Students learn from teachers with diverse backgrounds in interior design, architecture, and landscape design. Our active relationships with many architectural firms in the region mean rich professional lectures, guest speakers, internships, and international research trips. This major is accredited by CIDA. In 2012, in DesignIntelligence’s national ranking of interior design majors, VCU ranked tenth nationwide.
Jewelry Design: This major covers all aspects of design, creativity, manufacturing, and social responsibility in jewelry. Its teaching team consists of highly qualified professionals who are also award-winners, bringing diverse knowledge and experience to students. The interdisciplinary nature of this major enables students to continue in-depth study, enter the workforce quickly, or even start their own businesses.

Language Requirements: IELTS 6.5; TOEFL 76
Application Materials:
1. A complete application form, fee $25, non-refundable.

2. Official transcripts.
3. Three letters of recommendation: from an instructor, advisor, or employer.
4. Personal statement.
5. Proof of funds.
6. Copy of passport.
7. English Proficiency: TOEFL minimum computer-based 183 or internet-based 65; TOEFL computer-based 207 or above or internet-based 76 or above exempts ESL test. ESL test requires 180 points.
8. Portfolio.