From Vintage to Fashion Forward: Gain the Knowledge to Succeed in Jobs With a Fashion Design Degree

Develop your style and prepare to become a trendsetter for young designers in the region.

At Marymount University, our fashion design bachelor’s degree supports you as you think outside the box and push boundaries for a new age of culture and style. Your coursework combines design thinking with focused classes on garment construction, illustration, pattern making, quality standards, textiles, and more.

With a degree for fashion design, you’ll be ready to play a vital role in the fashion profession—whether it’s creating and designing, marketing and public relations, styling and production, and more.

Two fashion degrees, numerous paths to success

At Marymount, we’re known as a leading institution for aspiring fashion designers and fashion merchandisers. We’re the only Washington, DC, area university to offer both fashion merchandising and marketing and fashion design bachelor’s degrees.

Transform your fashion concepts and ideas into catwalk-worthy creations. At Marymount, our fashion degrees prepare you for purposeful careers throughout industry by helping you to:

Apply knowledge through hands-on learning

Fashion design bachelor’s degree students take part in a 120-hour internship during their senior year. Some of our recent students have interned with Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, and the Washington Opera. They also take on real-world projects with industry partners—whether it’s creating golf and tennis apparel, developing fast fashion or children’s wear, or designing bridesmaid dresses.

Take part in an annual fashion show

Produced by students in our fashion merchandising and marketing and fashion design degrees, our annual professional fashion show will introduce you to concepting a show theme, recruit and train models, design and showcase garments, market and publicize the event, and more. As a senior in our degree for fashion design, you’ll have your work judged by a renowned professional in the industry—further helping you to hone your skills before you land that all-important first job.

Study fashion design overseas

At Marymount, we offer a number of ways to take your learning beyond the classroom through study abroad opportunities. Fashion designing degree students can travel to Florence, Italy, for an entire semester. We also offer week-long study abroad experiences in locations spanning the globe.

What Can You Do With a Degree for Fashion Design?

When you pursue a fashion designing degree from Marymount, you’ll be taking on a purposeful training that prepares you to work for apparel manufacturers and for apparel retailers in product development. It’s also an industry that is both rewarding and growing, as jobs with a fashion design degree are expected to grow 3% over the next decade—according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jobs with a fashion design degree

Marymount’s fashion design bachelor’s degree graduates are now working as entrepreneurs—with their lines and their own businesses. They’re also working at:

  • Anthropologie
  • Macy’s
  • Tuckernuck

What You Will Study in Fashion Design

From garment construction to textiles, illustration to pattern making — and much more — Marymount’s degree for fashion design equips you with the tools and techniques to make a splash in the industry. You’ll combine design thinking with expertise in various subjects as you take coursework in:

  • Apparel Design
  • Digital Photography
  • Draping
  • Fashion Illustration
  • History of Modern Design or Survey of Fashion
  • User Centered Design

You’ll complete a research project and either an internship or fashion show production experience during your senior year. Through your hands-on learning — both in the classroom and beyond — you’ll be prepared for countless jobs with a fashion design degree.

View course descriptions here.

Fashion Design Bachelor’s Degree Faculty

At Marymount, our fashion degrees are led by experts in the classroom, and these educators are also leaders in their craft.

View our faculty here.

Programs Related to Fashion Design

Fashion Merchandising and Marketing