Win a future in fashion design
Portland Fashion Institute announces its annual Fashion Design Scholarship for Teens
Portland, Ore. – Ever dream that you could be a famous fashion designer? Here’s your chance to get your start.
Portland Fashion Institute today announced its fashion design scholarship contest for teens. The contest is open to Portland area high school juniors and seniors.
Students have until Tuesday, July 10, 5 pm to submit applications. The winner gets $2,000 worth of fashion design classes and a summer internship at a local apparel company. The goal: To build a portfolio so the student can gain entry into a fashion design college of their choice.
The contest is open to full-time students in Portland area high schools who have a GPA of 2.5 or more. Each contestant submits an original apparel design idea with sketches, interviews of influential people and an essay on fashion design. Judges are leaders in Portland’s apparel community from such companies as Nike, Columbia Sportswear and Fred Meyer.
The winner will be announced Tuesday, July 17. To apply, go to Fashion Design Scholarship Application.
Stephanie Linn of St. Mary’s Academy won the first contest. After completing her classes at Portland Sewing and her internship at Nike, she studied at Parsons in New York and Central St Martins in London.
The second winner, Gillian Nash Miles, studied at CSM. More recent winners Katy Piwonka, Stephanie Hutton and Nicholas Curzon went on to study at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Eva Boryer went on to study at Savannah College of Art and Design.
Prestigious fashion schools such as Parsons, CSM, FIT and SCAD expect a fashion portfolio as part of the application process.
PFI is a sewing and apparel design school in northeast Portland. “We offer a range of classes from beginning sewing and patterning to how to start your own apparel business,” says owner and founder Sharon Blair.
“We see ourselves as a prep and finishing school for those seeking jobs in fashion design and the apparel industry.”
Blair studied in Paris, has a bachelors and masters, and advanced studies in apparel design and construction. She also owns two clothing lines, Studio SKB and SKPDX.
More than 20 of her students have gone on to study at Parsons, FIT, SCAD and Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Eleven have competed on television’s Project Runway. One of them won season 8.
###