Young Fashionistas get a Practical Look into the Fashion World

If interested in the booming world of fashion, it pays to start young.

Fashion accounts for six percent of the total business activity in New York City, according to NYC.gov. And while that alone might not seem like an enormous number, that percentage generates $10.9 billion in wages for employees involved in the industry.

Creativity and imagination are a hallmark of the fashion industry and a core part of the New England Fashion and Design Academy FashionLab summer camp in Norwalk, CT, now celebrating its 17th year in operation.

Irina Simeonova got her MFA in Costume and Stage design from The National Art Academy in Bulgaria before moving to Manhattan, in 1991.

She has worked with such renowned designers as Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Cynthia Rowley, Betsey Johnson and many more, and even held her own fashion show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in 2000.

But even with those successes, her heart drove her to apply for a teaching position at the Parsons School of Design at The New School.

After moving to Connecticut in 2003, while still teaching at Parsons, she founded the New England Fashion and Design Academy and found a quirky studio space adjacent to the Norwalk Metro North Train station.

Today the Academy is a robust operation, catering to students of all ages, but her summer intensive camp is open to seven to 17-year-olds. Campers are guided by four instructors from some of the most prestigious fashion schools in the world, from Parsons and F.I.T. to Bunka College in Japan. Capacity is limited to twelve per session so they each receive focused individual attention from world-class instructors and the freedom to express their individuality.

The curriculum includes everything from design sketching to how to use a sewing machine, pattern making and tailoring. There is a lot of value packed into each session, which are one-week long.

This summer’s theme is The Little Prince, a whimsical French tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and each week specializes on a specific quote from the book to inspire and offer guidance. By the end of the week, students will have made a unique creation of their own design, and the whole session culminates in a fashion show to flaunt the finery. But it’s a lot of fit into a single week, so many campers opt for multiple week-long sessions.

Each week’s session begins on a Monday, which focuses on creative design and basics on the sewing machine. Tuesday is pattern making and transferring into muslins. Wednesday begins fitting and construction and by Friday they’ll have made their own garment.

Camp begins at nine o’clock in the morning and goes until one p.m., so those taking Metro North in from the city (the train literally drops off in the very building within which camp is held) can pack a breakfast for the ride in and a lunch for the ride home. Everything else is provided by the Academy except for the final fabric for Friday’s creation.

Registration has already begun, so sign up your budding Yves St. Laurent or Coco Chanel for this unique kick-starter into one of New York’s signature industries.

NEFDA Fashion Lab Summer Camp

4B Monroe Street Norwalk, Connecticut 06854

www.nefda.studio/membership-subscriptions/fashion-camps