At Pratt, we define fashion as cultural messaging through clothes. As a student here, you’ll contextualize fashion within a social framework, forming a strong point of view on the issues we face today and challenging them through your craft.
Elie Romero, winner of the Christopher Hunte "On Point" Award, at the Pratt Fashion Show, 2019
The Fashion Design curriculum fosters development of individual identity within a collaborative environment, informed by self-reflection and engaged critique. Students are expected to apply an informed understanding of materiality, fashion history, theory and contemporary culture to their design decisions, producing collections that engage with issues of sustainability and social responsibility.
Student Work
Watch our annual fashion show and imagine what you might do here at Pratt Fashion! Through rigorous attention to production, technique, and contemporary aesthetics, you’ll develop your design practice and with it, agency to create change.
The design studio is at the core of your educational experience at Pratt. We consider the design studio a creative space and a community. The culture of the design studio is one of creativity, experimentation, and exploration. Students are encouraged to take risks and push the boundaries of what is possible. The studio is a community to find support, encouragement, and inspiration.
Maker Spaces and Labs
Sustainability and material exploration drive our passion for making. To prepare students to become leaders within the creative community, Pratt Fashion offers a wide variety of resources including access to Shima Seiki 3D knitting machines and Framis NOSO technology, as well as a dedicated Textile Research Library within the department and a Textile Dye Garden on campus. Explore facilities.
Fashion Internships
Students have the opportunity to explore different aspects of the New York fashion design industry through their choice of internships at top design companies including Thom Browne, Zero Maria Cornejo, The Row, Altuzarra, Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Oscar de la Renta, and Creatures of the Wind. The internship provides them with hands-on experience and professional networking skills, as well as practice in how to write a resume and present their portfolio. Pratt students are required to complete three credits of internship during their course of study. A Pratt faculty adviser guides each student throughout the experience, making sure the students’ learning objectives are met.
Fashion Competitions
All Pratt Fashion students participate in annual design competitions including the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Design Scholar Awards, the Gucci Changemakers Scholars Program, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Student Fashion Design Competition. Integrated into the curriculum, these competitions provide avenues for scholarship support and exposure within the fashion community.
Study Abroad
Immersing yourself in another culture is an incredible experience that can extend the boundaries of creativity. Study abroad programs are an integral part of the college experience, and Pratt has deep connections with university partners around the world.
Learning Resources
We develop disciplinary fluency in our program of study and we celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of design critical to address the plurality and complexity of the environments in which we operate. Learn about resources.
Our Faculty
Pratt’s distinguished faculty of outstanding creative professionals and scholars share a common desire to fully develop each student’s individual potential and creativity. The faculty come from diverse educational and professional backgrounds representing the breadth of fashion complexity. This multiplicity of views and experiences provide for a tailored education that is as unique as each of the students. See all Fashion Design faculty and administrators.
Pratt’s distinguished alums are leading thriving careers, addressing critical challenges and creating innovative work that reimagines our world, at a diverse selection of companies and institutions. They also go on to become entrepreneurs and principals leading their own studios and businesses.
Thinking seriously about Pratt? Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.
Building your portfolio can be daunting. We’ll answer your questions and help you feel confident about the portfolio you submit with your application. Start building your portfolio, now.
Find yourself at home at Pratt: our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighbors. Check us out.
Our Contextualizing Fashion I students recently visited the @metcostumeinstitute to experience the powerful exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.
This show explores the significance of style in shaping Black identities across the Atlantic diaspora, particularly in the U.S. and Europe. Spanning from the 18th century to today, the exhibition brings together garments, accessories, paintings, photographs, and more, interpreting Black dandyism as both an aesthetic and a form of resistance that opened up new social and political possibilities.
An inspiring and essential look at fashion as a tool for self-expression, empowerment, and change.
#PrattFashion #MetMuseum #Superfine #TailoringBlackStyle #BlackDandies #FashionHistory #DesignEducation #FashionAndIdentity #ContextualizingFashion
@prattinstitute @prattfashion @metmuseum @metcostumeinstitute
Our Design & Materiality class had an amazing visit to the @textileartscenter to experience the Artists in Residence Final Exhibition, a true celebration of creativity craftsmanship, and material innovation.
They also explored the @tatterbluelibrary, which hosts an impressive collection of books and objects about local and global textiles, rich historical and traditional techniques, as well as unique items that deepen our understanding of textile traditions worldwide.
We hope this trip sparks inspiration for each student’s personal projects!
@prattinstitute @prattfashion
As part of the Local Threads course, grad students are engaging weekly with the NYC Garment District, exploring its rich history and innovative future.
Last week’s visit took our grads to @nyembroiderystudio, where students discovered the incredible range of over 60 embellishment services that merge artistry with cutting-edge technology.
From precision embroidery and laser cutting to intricate hand-beading, pleating, and even 3D printing, it's where bold concepts come to life.
@prattinstitute @prattfashion
#NYCGarmentDistrict #LocalThreads #EmbroideryArt #PrattInstitute
Our Fashion Design undergrads and grads recently had the opportunity to explore the Pratt Archives & Special Collections, immersing themselves in decades of stories stitched into the fabric of Pratt’s fashion legacy.
From vintage lookbooks and archival photos to hand-stitched embroidery, garments, and creatively crafted yearbooks, students engaged directly with the rich history that defines Pratt’s place in design.
This journey through the archives bridged past and present, sparking fresh inspiration and honoring the innovation that continues to shape the future of fashion at Pratt.
@prattinstitute @prattinstitutearchives @prattlibraries
Exploring the Garment District, the Heart of NYC’s Fashion Industry!
As part of their work in the course Local Threads, our grad students recently visited New York City’s historic Garment District, a pivotal experience in understanding the interconnected worlds of craft, design, sustainability, and labor.
Local Threads invites students to explore local fashion practices as a microcosm of the global fashion system. Through this immersive field visit, they engaged directly with artisans, designers, and sustainability advocates, gaining insight into both traditional techniques and contemporary innovations shaping the industry today.
This is where learning meets lived experience, right here in the city that never stops creating.
@prattinstitute
#LocalThreads #FashionEducation #GarmentDistrict
We’re Back!
Welcome to the Fall 2025 semester!
To kick things off, Contextualizing Fashion I students were invited by Professor @brookeagarner to bring in a favorite piece of clothing and share its story. Each garment was traced and its details sketched onto a shared bedsheet canvas. Students also answered personal questions reflecting on their relationship with the piece.
Using colored tape, they created visual connections between garments based on shared meanings—like “makes me feel confident,” “purchased secondhand,” or “I wear it daily.”
This powerful exercise, developed by Elisa van Joolen, encouraged us to see how clothing, while deeply personal, can create meaningful connections among us.
Here’s to a semester full of creativity, reflection, and community.
@prattinstitute @prattfashion
Fashion BFA, Fashion Show 2025
ATTACHMENT WOUNDS by Kalen Whitehead | @_kwhitehead
Attachment Wounds explores Kalen Whitehead’s relationship with her mother through the lens of psychology and attachment theory, a subject that has deeply informed both her academic and personal journey.
Rooted in John Bowlby’s theory, the collection reflects on how early relational strains leave lasting impressions. But rather than focusing solely on rupture, it also honors reflection, growth, and enduring love.
Through knitting, felting, macramé, and weaving, Whitehead constructs a visual language shaped by techniques and symbols passed down from her mother. The collection contemplates attachment, womanhood, and inheritance, examining how identity is formed through, alongside, and in contrast to the women who raise us.
@prattinstitute @pratt_sod @prattfashion
Fashion BFA, Fashion Show 2025
WITHIN THE GROVE by Amelia Yetter | @ameliayetter
Within the Grove reflects on the generational bonds between the women in Amelia Yetter’s family, honoring what they have done and what women continue to do through craft, care, and connection over time.
Motifs expressed through hand knitting, cross stitching, hand sewing, and medieval patterning form the foundation of the collection’s visual language. These traditional techniques serve as a bridge across generations, illustrating how the labor and experiences of past women have shaped the designer’s own path.
Within the Grove is a quiet celebration of legacy, of memory held in stitches, stories passed through thread, and the enduring strength of women’s work.
@prattinstitute @pratt_sod @prattfashion
Fashion BFA, Fashion Show 2025
SERAPHIM SLIDING BACKWARDS by Henry Hitchcock | @polarist.live
Seraphim Sliding Backwards reflects on the nature of loss and the quiet beauty of the obscure.
To be lost is to be assimilated into obscurity, yet in the fog of antiquity, there is meaning to be found in the lack of form. There is comfort in the thickly woven blanket of loose ends that entraps this world of the forlorn.
Meaning emerges amongst the flock of the unimportant; there is value in the desire to wander through the vale of the obscure. In that wandering, one may find serenity amongst the dry leaves of meaning, leaves that have fallen so far from the branches they once rested upon.
@prattinstitute @pratt_sod @prattfashion
To prepare students to become leaders within the creative community, Pratt Fashion offers a wide variety of resources including access to Shima Seiki 3D knitting machines and Framis NOSO technology, as well as a dedicated Textile Research Library within the department and a Textile Dye Garden on campus. Advanced courses and electives, as well as study abroad opportunities, offer students pathways to explore critical topics including gender, race, size inclusivity and activism through the lens of fashion.
INTERNSHIPS
Pratt students are required to complete three credits of internship during their course of study. Students have the opportunity to explore different aspects of the New York fashion design industry through their choice of internships at top design companies including Thom Browne, Zero Maria Cornejo, The Row, Altuzarra, Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Oscar de la Renta, and Creatures of the Wind. The internship provides them with hands-on experience and professional networking skills, as well as practice in how to write a resume and present their portfolio. A Pratt faculty adviser guides each student throughout the experience, making sure the students’ learning objectives are met.
COMPETITIONS
All Pratt Fashion students participate in annual design competitions including the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Design Scholar Awards, the Gucci Changemakers Scholars Program, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Student Fashion Design Competition. Integrated into the curriculum, these competitions provide avenues for scholarship support and exposure within the fashion community.
Upon completion of their studies, students:
Students will exhibit fluency in 2D and 3D construction processes that are innovative in cut, shape and silhouette using diverse embodied approaches.
Students will analyze and use properties and principles of materiality to make design decisions informed by sustainable practices.
Students will communicate design philosophy with evidence of fashion history, theoretical underpinnings, and contemporary culture that addresses issues of justice, equity and social responsibility.
Students will design, produce and present cohesive, contemporary and authentic collections that demonstrate their active engagement as collaborative leaders of the creative community.
