About the Fashion Department

In it’s 85th year, the fashion department at SAIC has evolved into a unique place to train the next generation of designers, artists, and thinkers. Our mission is to develop and alarm our graduate's voices to participate in the global discourse. Our multidisciplinary approach to fashion is grounded in teaching technical, digital, artisanal and visceral ways of making, pairing artistic exploration with concept development and skill-building.

The faculty’s national and international professional experience offers unique opportunities for student learning, travel and global internships.

The Department of Fashion Design supports the following degree programs:

Bachelor of Fine Arts: Fashion Design Pathways
Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Fashion, Body and Garment

SAIC’s Fashion department offers one of the most intense, interdisciplinary fashion design programs in Chicago. You emerge not only as a skilled designer, but with an awareness of the social, political, and technological forces shaping the 21st century.

Within our Fashion program, you will explore the most progressive achievements in the world of dress and fashion through our Fashion Resource Center, a hands-on collection of late 20th- and 21st-century designer garments representing extreme innovation. The world-renowned art exhibitions and research facilities of The Art Institute of Chicago are located one block from campus.