Fashion design colleges spend a lot of money on fabrics and other necessary supplies to teach their students the art of fashion design.
In high schools where funding doesn’t come from tuition and grants, fashion design classes that help students make decisions about future career moves have to cut corners when possible.
That is why some high schools are taking fashion design classes to a new, much more affordable, level of “practice” by giving students the chance to design apparel using more readily available supplies. Some high schools are getting creative in their fashion design classes and it seems to be working out. Students need the opportunity to learn how to practice the basic principles, for example pleating and darting, but need to do so without the costs of materials.
Enter the world of paper and tape fashion design; we are talking about real, wearable designs and not paper dolls. At one high school, students were tasked to create a skirt using only paper and duct tape. Teachers were surprised by some of the results when the skirts actually turned out to be quite good.
The purpose of the paper and duct tape exercise was to teach students about the fitting process, so they were asked to create a skirt fitted to their own waist and hip, using techniques such as gathers, pleats, darts, and tucks to make them fit properly. In the end, the students learned the lessons and came out on the stage in front of an audience at the school to show off their handiwork.
One student used post it notes to create a checkerboard mini skirt while another student made us of tissue paper to create a ballerina skirt. During the fashion design classes, students were also taught about cat walk shows and were provided instruction on proper posture and presentation of their designs.
