For anyone looking to reimagine a new career in the fashion industry, online education provider Yellowbrick has teamed up with the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Center for Continuing and Professional Studies and WWD to offer an online certificate course, “Fashion Styling Foundations.”
Yellowbrick, which offers education courses to empower people in the creator economy and across various creative fields, said this online program “offers a comprehensive introduction to the fashion styling industry and explores its many related career paths.”
Click here to learn more and sign up for the course.
The program is composed of five modules: Storytelling With Style; The Elements of Personal Styling; Career Paths and Professional Practices; Photo Styling and the Test Shoot, and Self-promotion and Marketing. The program is designed for adult learners and highly motivated young students, and will “build aspiring stylists’ portfolios through expert-guided exercises,” Yellowbrick said, noting that participants will also “develop the introductory skills needed to commence working in styling while earning a non-credit certificate of completion from FIT.”
Jacqueline Jenkins, the interim executive director of the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies at FIT, said FIT has “the knowledge and resources to prepare adult learners for both traditional and emerging careers in fashion and myriad industries. By working again with Yellowbrick, along with the experts at WWD, we’re able to introduce those looking to become stylists to the foundational knowledge of how to style while also learning about key industry trends and business-related opportunities.”
“Fashion Styling Foundations offers a practical view of the industry,” Yellowbrick, FIT and WWD said in a joint statement announcing the program. “The course addresses what it means to be a stylist today, while digging deep into more tactical concepts like the basics of fit and tailoring for all body types, creating mood boards to illustrate a vision and tell a story through style, and how to implement a social media strategy to launch a styling business.”
Similar to other Yellowbrick courses, the program features dynamic and engaging video instruction that offers industry insights and advice from leading experts. The contributors include: WWD style director Alex Badia; Sadia Seymour, fashion stylist and CEO of Behind the Rack; Fairweather Faces founder and chief executive officer Andrea Fairweather, and Dalia Strum, CEO and founder of Mommy’s ToolBox and CozyWallet, former vice president of Army Navy USA overseeing digital marketing strategies, and a current member of the advisory council for FIT’s Entrepreneurship program.
Amanda Smith, president of Fairchild Media, which publishes WWD, described styling as a crucial element of the fashion industry. “After all, it’s one thing for designers to create looks that work on the runway, but it’s quite another to make those same looks work in a variety of other contexts,” Smith said. “With the reach of today’s social media and the importance placed on personal style, it was important for us to help create Fashion Styling Foundations with FIT and Yellowbrick, educating the next generation of aspiring stylists.”
“Our team at Yellowbrick has a proven track record in developing successful programs around fashion, beauty and style. FIT and WWD have been two of our strongest partners in this space,” said Rob Kingyens, president and CEO of Yellowbrick. “Fashion Styling Foundations represents the next chapter and we’re excited to bring this fast-paced industry to life for the next generation of style-focused creators.”