What You Will Learn
Studying design at CCM gives you a platform to express yourself, explore your imagination and develop a unique artistic voice. You learn how to approach challenges from multiple angles, experiment with different solutions, and make informed decisions about aesthetics and composition.
Fashion merchandising requires a combination of creative and analytical skills. Studying fashion merchandising at CCM helps you gain insights into how this multi-billion-dollar global industry functions, from design and production to marketing and retail, and the role it plays in culture, economy, and self-expression. You’ll learn fashion trends as well as consumer preferences and behavior to create visually appealing displays and merchandise assortments.
Curriculum
The fashion merchandising track at CCM includes a combination of a 27-credit design core and a 13-credit fashion merchandising core.
Fashion core courses feature an introduction to fashion merchandising, principals of marketing, intro to sewing and textiles and an independent study.
Design courses consist of the history of design, drawing, color theory, 2D for designers, design rendering, drawing for designers, design concepts and a final portfolio preparation course enabling you to finalize your design portfolio for future education or professional job applications.
Careers in the Field
With an Associate of Fine Arts (AFA) degree in Design you can feel confident to gain a job any of the following and more:
- Fashion Merchandising Intern
- Fashion Sales
- Fashion Show Assistant
- Retail Manager
- Trade Show Assistant
- Visual Merchandising Assistant
If you choose to further your education at a four-year college or university, the program at CCM is designed for you:
- To transfer and major in fashion merchandising or many other design disciplines; and
- To gain employment as a:
- Catalog Production Manager
- Fashion Buyer
- Fashion Director
- Fashion Editor
- Fashion Events Coordinator
- Fashion Forecaster
- Import/ Export Specialist
- Internet Retailer
- Market Researcher
- Merchandise Display Artist
- Production Development Manager
- Retail Store Manager
- Textile Manager
- Visual Merchandiser
Upon graduation from CCM, the majority of fashion merchandising students do transfer to earn a bachelor’s degree, including a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and have continued at the following institutions, based on their grade point average and portfolio:
- Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM)
- Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
- Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University)
- LIM College (Laboratory Institute of Merchandising)
- Montclair State University
- Marist College
Why Study Fashion Merchandising at CCM?
- Average class size of 12:1, which fosters a mentoring relationship between the student and professor.
- Studio classrooms with state-of-the-art equipment, software and supplied with materials and resources enabling extensive opportunities for creative exploration in research and process.
- Dedicated and highly accomplished faculty that maintain professional practice, bringing real world problems to the design curriculum and classroom.
- Diverse and interdisciplinary studio environment whereby students gain insight to multiple areas of design and their influences within industry, society and profession.
Opportunities to join the student-run Fashion Club or one of 50 other campus organizations.
Paying for Your Fashion Merchandising Education
Earning an associate degree in design is a powerful investment that will pay off over the course of your life, in both increased earnings and job satisfaction. But what is the upfront cost, and how do you afford it?
There’s good news: Money is available to help you pay for school! Our Financial Aid staff can provide lots of information about the process of finding funds to help pay for your education.
Featured Courses
Introduction to Fashion and Visual Merchandising
This class explores the interrelationship between the consumer and the various sectors of the fashion industry. Students learn the principles and techniques that fashion merchandisers use in making key decisions on buying and product sourcing, store planning and layout. Students review actual case studies and take on projects that engage the merchandising planning and decision-making process.
Fashion Construction Technology
This course takes a hands-on approach to the design, construction and presentation of fashion apparel, custom made clothing and costuming for stage and screen. Construction techniques, fabrics, tools and equipment are explored in detail in the classroom and the community. Draping as a means of design and basic pattern drafting are explored. Students develop the skills necessary to construct and present projects of their own design to a panel of peers and professionals.
2D for Designers
Learn to use elements and principles to achieve a synthesis of form, space, composition, and content in this lecture and studio lab course. Emphasis is given on communicating ideas for realization as architectural and interior spaces, consumer products, packaging, and fashion design. The course is designed to address the range of formal issues, processes, and material practices students will encounter as they move into the more specialized areas of design.
Your Fashion Merchandising Faculty Advisor
Kelly Whalen Design and Media Studies Department Chair, Special Project, Design AFA, Associate Professor
Email: kwhalen@ccm.edu
Office: Design and Media Studies – Emereti Hall Room-106
Office hours: Monday: 9:30-11:30am, Wednesday: 1:30-2:30pm
Phone: 973-328-5416
Specialization: Design Special Projects Leader
Department: Design and Media Studies
Natalie Holmes-Mitchell Instructor of Design
Email: nholmes-mitchell@ccm.edu
Office: EH-106
Office hours: Monday: 12:40-1:30pm, Tuesday: 10:20am-12:30pm
Phone: 973-328-5437
Department: Design and Media Studies