Work by Li Yichen
Fashion Design
Fashion Design Department
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's (SAIC) Department of Fashion Design provides a unique, interdisciplinary experience that challenges students to bring an artistic and theoretical approach to the work, and benefit from rigorous artistic and professionally oriented training.
Summer at SAIC
Join us on campus on July 26 to learn how to research undergraduate art programs, prepare your portfolio for admission and merit scholarships, tour our campus and residence halls, and much more.
Take a Campus Tour
Explore our campus by taking a student-led in-person or virtual tour.
In its 89th year, the Fashion department has evolved into a unique place to train the next generation of designers, artists, and thinkers. Our mission is to develop 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
Master of Fine Arts 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.
Fashion Design Students Exhibit Internationally
Isabel Weiss
Isabel Weiss showed her junior collection as part of the Arts Thread Global Fashion Graduate fashion show in Mexico City. Weiss was part of a group of students from 16 schools from around the world, including Milan, New York, Mexico City, São Paulo, and Rome, who showed their collections at CENTRO University.
Jules Gourley
Jules Gourley showcased their designs as part of the Supima Design Competition in Paris, which was hosted by internationally acclaimed fashion designer Phillip Lim. Gourley was among six finalists competing for the $10,000 prize.
Madison Nelson
Street Style: Around the World with the Fashion Resource Center
Fashion Resource Center
Faculty News
Follow Us
Department of Fashion Design
Sullivan Center
36 S Wabash Ave., Floor 7
Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: 312.629.6713
Fashion Service Center (FSC)
Sullivan Center
36 S Wabash Ave., Room 713
Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: 312.629.6720
Sage Foundation Chair in Fashion Design
Abigail Glaum-Lathbury aglaumlathbury@saic.edu
Graduate Coordinator
Katrin Schnabl kschna@saic.edu
Assistant Director of Fashion Design Facilities
Dolly Robertson drober2@saic.edu