“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” (Oscar Wilde)

Overview
A love for fashion is a wonderful thing. Fashion makes clothing much more than just a means to an end: it becomes an individual, unique expression of your personality! If you like working creatively with a variety of materials and fabrics, then take your love of fashion a step further, and make it your job! After three years at the MDC, you can graduate as “International Fashion Designer” – the ideal foundation for your dream job in the fashion industry.

 

The qualification as “International Fashion Designer” at the MDC gives you the possibility to begin your career in a variety of sectors within the fashion industry. You can be a fashion designer, stylist, costume designer, fashion journalist, product manager, modeler, cutting technician, quality controller or designer for visual marketing, depending on your skills and your interests, both in the domestic market and internationally.

 

In our training at the MDC we teach the required professional know-how to transform even your boldest fashion-ideas into reality. You will benefit from the creative and intensive training available at the MDC. With the right sense and instinct for aesthetic, silhouettes, colours and shapes, combined with your interest in fashion, you will be fully qualified for your dream job.

 

For more information about your application, please click here

Facts
The training course at the MDC is comprised of seven semesters. At the end of the course, students graduate with a qualification as “International Fashion Designer”.  The MDC is a state recognised vocational supplementary school in accordance to § 118 Abs. 1 SchulG NRW.

 

The minimum admission requirement is the German “Fachoberschulreife/Mittlere Reife” (vocational certificate/intermediate school-leaving certificate). In exceptional cases, other school qualifications may be admitted, e.g. if the student has special artistic aptitude or has completed a specialized vocational training program. Applicants from abroad are just as welcome, including students who are changing their place of study or training. The language of instruction is German.

 

The semesters begin on April 1st and October 1st. Classes take place 4 days a week, with a total of 32 hours per week. During the course of the year, there are three semester breaks: a spring break of three weeks, a summer break of seven weeks and a winter break, which lasts two weeks over the Christmas holidays.

 

For more information about the application process and funding possibilities, please click here.

Course Content
We will expand your graphic design skills and special imagination. You will learn the methodology of colours and form with us, and gain a detailed insight into the science of materials.

 

In order for our students to develop their creativity, our lectures take place in contemporary and stylishly furnished rooms. We only work with the most modern equipment in small and efficient learning groups. The familiar atmosphere promotes learning outcomes considerably.

 

After successfully graduating, you will have the following professional skills:

 

• You will have developed your own individual approach in fashion design and be able to put your ideas into practice.

• You will have the ability to realise your own designs and make the corresponding garments yourself.

• You will have a good command of the industry terms required to communicate your designs both orally and in writing.

• You will have the ability to illustrate and create presentations or documents on a computer.

 

For further information on your application to the MDC, please click here.

Curriculum
Our program at the Fashion Design College is divided into three sections, seven semesters, which are taken over the course of three and half years of training.

 

• In the first section you will be taught the basics of fashion design. At the end of the 3rd semester you will complete an interim examination, which will cover the practical knowledge and skills you have acquired up to that point, as well as the specialist skills taught in class.

• In the second section you will deepen your existing core skills and integrate these into your work-placement semester.

• In the third section, your training will focus on the conception and realisation of your final collections and their professional presentation in various media and, of course, in a glamorous fashion show! Your main focus here will be on specialising and individualizing the techniques you learn, in order to deepen your talents and skills as a designer, and to develop your own identity.

The Basics
With our international orientation, we will guide you on your way and lay the foundations for your successful career in the world of fashion.

 

At the MDC, training in practical “crafts” will cover:

 

• Modelling

• Draping

• Experimentation

• Structuring

• Cutting

• Sewing

• Forming

• Fit optimisation

• Cut Modification

• Tailoring

Training in “techniques” at the MDC will include:
• Communication

• Presentation Techniques

• Illustration

• Experimental Drawing Techniques

• Intuitive Drawing

• Quick Drawing

• Perception and expression of the line

• Digital Collage and Montage

• Digitalisation of manual cuts

• Textile Manufacturing process

• Production Techniques

 

Training in “design” at the MDC will cover:

 

• Colour Theory

• Fashion Theory

• Creativity

• Aesthetics

• Art

• Inspiration

• Design

• Conception

• Specification

• Visualisation

• Reflection

Topics for the future
Besides the traditional skills such as crafts, techniques and design, the MDC also focuses on teaching modules designed to provide participants with a comprehensive knowledge of the current, job-market requirements.

 

In addition to that, you will gain additional language skills, which cover specialised competencies like Business English and Fashion English.

 

What’s more, you will gain an insight into the most common programs used in the textile and clothing industry. These include introductions to CAD (Computer Aided Design), programs for computer visualization, as well as the methodology and application of vector-based drawing programs. You will learn, for instance, how to create objects, and develop them further, using image processing and photomontage, as well as combinations of colours and print samples, and the design of special layouts. We will teach you the functions of these tools, as well as the best ways to use them.

 

A special focus at the MDC is our new subject “Sustainable Design Strategies”. This leading-edge topic addresses the main problem areas within the global fashion industry and its worldwide production facilities. We analyse the different fabric and clothing manufacturing processes in terms of their sustainability, with the goal of encouraging ecological awareness. For this purpose, we develop critical thinking and encourage our students to critically question the different production stages and processes in the fashion industry.

 

We have also developed a new subject “Product Development” at the MDC. This in-depth, supplementary subject deals with the development of initial samples in accordance to production specifications, which also has a very strong practical relevance.

 

Inspiration from practical experience
Besides the traditional skills such as crafts, techniques and design, the MDC also focuses on teaching modules designed to provide participants with a comprehensive knowledge of the current, job-market requirements.

 

Here at the MDC we really attach great importance to the practical application of your training program. Therefore, on a regular basis, we offer guest lectures by designers, marketing-experts and fashion specialists from the industry to ensure you are provided with up-to-date information at first hand.

These include workshops covering various topics, for instance:

• Screen Printing

• Visualisation

• Shoe Design

• Green Fashion

• Fashion Clip Production

• Fashion Show Organisation

• Fashion Marketing

• Creating your own brand

• Job Applications

• Business Modelling Starter Kit
In addition to that, we also offer excursions to fashion fairs and exhibitions, as well as professional events like fashion-shows. This is facilitated by our excellent contacts to fashion companies. These field trips will supplement your professional training by adding practical experience to prepare you for your future fashion career.

 

For further information on the MDC and its lecturers/teachers, please click here.

 

Our open workshop
Our workshops are open for young designers outside of our normal lecture periods. You can stay at the college in the evenings and at weekends to do your homework.

 

Internship
In order to gain a deeper insight into the fashion industry, your training program will include an 18-week internship, which will take place in the 5th semester. With our wide range of contacts in the fashion industry, for example, design departments, fashion agencies, fashion publishers, styling offices, media agencies, fashion labels, cutting departments in the fabric- and fashion industry or costume designers for movies and television shows, we can help you find your optimal internship position.

 

For further information about your internship application and funding opportunities, please click here.

 

Excursions
We frequently offer our creative young designers at the MDC the opportunity to participate in field trips. We think this also is a highly relevant part of practical training. These trips include visits to fashion fairs, for instance, the Berlin Fashion Week, the platform Fashion Düsseldorf, the shoe fair GDS Düsseldorf or the fabric fair Premiere Vision in Paris. In addition to that, we promote excursions to exhibitions about fashion and photography, as well as art exhibitions focussing on the topics related to fashion design. We also tour industrial facilities and attend other interesting fashion events, for example, the Fashion Clash in Antwerp, the Dralon plant tour at the Chempark, Dormagen or a fashion weekend in London.

 

These Excursions, especially during trade fair periods, give our young designers the opportunity to establish important contacts and to expand their network. These trips are posted on social media frequently and attendance is voluntary.

 

For further information about your application, please click here

 

Customised Clothing
After the successful completion of your training at the MDC as an “International Fashion Designer”, you will be offered interesting opportunities to deepen your knowledge and broaden your professional perspectives. In addition to studying for a Bachelor’s degree at one of our partner universities (for more information, click here), you can also take the journeyman’s examination as a tailor at the Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce.

The craft of customized clothing is a historic art and skill. In this profession you are confronted with the challenging, but also varied task of designing and customizing clothes according to your own designs, or the wishes of your client, individually made to order.

 

What makes this job so interesting, but also demanding, is the variety in your everyday working life: from the first customer meeting to the last fitting, your knowledge and skills are required in every step of production – from choosing the right fabrics to cutting and tailoring them.

The German title “Maßschneider/in” (journeyman´s tailor certificate) is a state-approved training profession in Germany in accordance to the German crafts code (§ 25, no. 19, appendix B, section 1). After successful completion of the examination, the tailor’s guild in Düsseldorf will award the journeyman’s tailor certificate.
The Düsseldorf Chamber of Crafts has confirmed that the training to become an “International Fashion Designer” at the MDC conveys skills and knowledge that are also provided for in the training regulations for tailoring. Therefore, our graduates can also be considered for admission to the external journeyman’s examination in accordance with the journeyman’s examination regulations (article § 10, section 1). The examination board decides in each individual case whether the admission requirements are met.

 

If you are interested in this path, we recommend that you attend the inter-company training offered by the tailor’s guild in Düsseldorf in preparation for the examination. Of course, we at the MDC will be happy to support and advise you in the selection and registration process.
Please do not hesitate to contact us.