How to register for a fashion course.

Step 1:

Find the top 10 fashion schools in SA! Make NWSD your number one destination.

iFashion rates NWSD as one of the best fashion schools in SA. Click here to see more.

Step2:

Get the prospectus from NWSD. Once you have worked through our course offerings and you have established that you wish to apply for a Fulltime course, make sure to go through the course prospectus so that you are familiar with our admissions criteria, class schedules, subject structures and examination procedures. NWSD offers 3 full-time courses:

Fashion Design

Fashion Communication & Buying

Licentiateship in Fashion

Step3:

Request the Fee structure. You can click here to request the fee structure.

Step4:

Apply for registration. Now you can fill in the online application and submit it to us on our website. Once submitted, we will contact you telephonically. Click here for the online application.

Step 5:

Payment of Registration fee. Once your application has been approved, it is vital that you pay your registration fee right away as your seat is only guaranteed once you have a NWSD student number.

Step6:

Complete the offline aptitude test (entrance exam). No to worry, this is not an exam you need to study or prepare for. If fashion is your passion, you’ll ace it!

Step7:

Registration Contract. Documents will be sent to you via email that you can complete and send back to the administration of NWSD.

Step8:

Enjoy your fashion education with NWSD! Now your dream is starting to become a reality, and you are part of the NWSD family!

GJC bursary students - Red carpet experience

GJC bursary students - Red carpet experience 

The Gert-Johan Coetzee Bursary winners were given the opportunity to design and make red carpet dresses for local celebs to be worn on the red carpet at the 2015 Royal Soapie Awards

here are some pictures of their experience 

 Fabric shop road tripping

 fabric shopping

 sewing

 pattern planning

 pattern tracing

 some more sewing

 patterns, patterns and more patterns

 Fitting (Christopher Gill)

 sewing

 Fitting (John-Wayne Keyser)

 Fitting (John-Wayne Keyser)

 Fitting (Christopher Gill)

 Fitting (Prudance Kau)

Final Garments on the red carpet 

 Dorette Potgieter Dressed By Christopher Gill

Fulu Mugovhani Dressed By John-Wayne Keyser

Working on our Platinum Fashion Festival collections

We all know that is not easy to plan any event and it's even harder to design and make collections that are of high standard, on trend, sellable and that shows the fashion student's innovation and technical abilities.

Our students are dedicated to their work and they always have fun doing it! Here is a look at the steps the students of NWSD take to get to the end result.

Concept to Collection Presentation

Assessments of the 2nd year concept to collection for the upcoming Platinum Fashion Festival.  Presentations included preliminary design ideas based on market and trend research, fabric choices, inspiration boards and theme motivation.  

Production Planning

Each 3rd year’s collection is based on thorough trend and market research.  The final year fashion students also studied the different price point categories for fashion retail merchandise before they came up with designs for their own collections, ensuring their fabric choice, styles and price points all align well with the relevant price point category and retail market. 

Pattern Making

Pattern making plays the most important role of designing a well structured garment
and the NWSD students know exactly how to use the award winning X!act Patternmaker.

Fittings

In the final days before the Platinum Fashion Festival, all the models have to

come for a fittings to ensure every dress looks and feels amazing on the runway.  The garment is first tested in calico fabric before the final pattern is cut in the end fabric.  

Work Through The Night

The Annual Work Through the Night is tradition here at NWSD.  It is hard work, but

gives the students extra time for layout and cutting.   

Garment Construction

"Do it right the first time, then you won't have to unpick!", Marlene Oosthuizen 

Quality Assessments

Each garment is thoroughly inspected by lecturers and students are constantly advised on techniques to be used to ensure that all garments are sewn to meet the NWSD quality standards.  

Next up

So this is where we are at for now, next up we have final fittings where each look is assessed for styling, thereafter is the dreaded final submissions and finally rehearsal time on Friday 7 November!

PLATINUM FASHION FESTIVAL WEBSITE

BOOK YOUR TICKET

Alumni - Convert your Certificate/Diploma to City and Guilds

NWSD Alumni can now convert their national qualification to a  City & Guilds International Fashion Qualifications. 

Why convert your existing Diploma or Certificate? 

NORTH WEST SCHOOL OF DESIGN is now accredited as an International Fashion College and our courses now lead to a Foreign Qualification.   All previous fulltime students who have completed their one year or two year fashion training with NWSD can opt to submit their portfolios for verification in order obtain this International Fashion Certificate or Diploma. 

Is it Compulsory to convert?

It is not mandatory, only optional.  Our market research has shown that current, future and past students have a preference for International Qualifications over National SAQA Certificates or Diplomas and this is why we opted to have our college and course accredited with the internationally recognized City & Guilds of London.  Whilst interviewing a number of graduates, we realized that we should include previous students when our current students complete their first City & Guilds exam. 

Why City & Guilds and not SAQA?

Accredited qualifications, also known as regulated qualifications are those that are reviewed, recognised and monitored by a regulatory body in order to make sure that they meet specific criteria and quality standards.
According to the South African regulating body, SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) Qualification details, the Bachelor of Arts:  Fashion Design Programme has not been assessed internationally and it is for this reason that our students have voted for the option to apply through City & Guilds for international approval.    Fashion is global, so according to our students, is vital that our training is internationally recognized, as more and more of our graduates are employed globally and have ventured into the global arena with supplying their collections to global stores.

City & Guilds London Institute was founded in 1878 and is a well known and respected name worldwide in vocational education and training and commands respect from candidates and employers alike. This aligns well with North West School of Design’s mission to ensure our curriculum caters for future designers and fashion professionals who are globally competent in terms of quality, price and supply chain management.

Because NORTH WEST SCHOOL OF DESIGN offer diploma and degree equivalent courses that ultimately lead to Foreign Qualifications, we are accredited with City and Guilds, and not with a SETA, SAQA, CHE or Department of Education. 

City & Guilds International Qualifications are not categorized in the same way as SAQA qualifications such as one year Certificate, two year Diploma or three year Degree. The City & Guilds framework makes use of Awards, Certificates and Diplomas and each of these are furthermore categorized into various Levels from Level 1 to 4.
City & Guilds Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) system foresees awarding qualifications on the basis of achievement rather than the years of study completed.
City & Guilds is however a registered provider with SAQA, therefore students who have successfully obtained City & Guilds qualifications through NWSD can establish the equivalent SAQA stature through City & Guilds. 
This means that SAQA (South African recognized qualification) is not the conferring body that confers or awards your final qualification, but the qualification is conferred and awarded by City & Guilds, which means the qualification is both nationally and internationally recognized.  

  
How do I convert my Certificate or Diploma?

Firstly, you will send the principal an email to request the C&G exam guide.  You will then receive a detailed guide and video recording which explains the units that you will need to submit for the City & Guilds verification.  This is referred to as your POE (Portfolio of Evidence).  Most of the items for your POE are garments, samples, sketches, storyboards and patterns that you already have.  There is however some of the work that you will have to make additionally.
You might want to complete the Level 2 Certificate unit this year then complete the Level 2 Diploma level next year.  This is entirely up to you.  Should you opt to go ahead and submit a POE for the Diploma level, you will automatically also add the Certificate POE units with this exam.  This means the Diploma POE is more work than the Certificate POE.  Once you have received the Level 2 Diploma, you can opt to submit a POE for Level 3 in 2015. 
Once you have reviewed the guide and you have established whether you will submit a POE for the Certificate or Diploma, you can then register with the principal for the exam. 
Exam Registration is R2000 for the Level 2 Certificate and R3 000 for the Level 2 Diploma.  Level 3 exams will only be available in 2015 once you have obtained the Level 2 Diploma.  Once this is paid, you will be registered as a student on the City & Guilds Walled Garden to receive your exam number. 
You will then submit your POE on or before 24 November 2014.

To apply, and for more info please email nwsd@gds.co.za

Trend Report by Marvin Masike

So I went to a fashion seminar held by the fashion expert of course Mrs Marlene Oosthuizen presenting the latest information on various subjects that I’m going to elaborate on today, so without any hesitations let’s dive into it.

So what is a trend report you ask? Good question considering the fact that these days the term is used a lot and the fact that it`s just so complicating. A trend report is different for different organizations that take part in the usage of it, basically it`s feedback reporting on a specific event, garment or a range of a specific designer.

A trend report consists of visual displays plus written text explaining the make-up of it and the subject in matter. I’m certain you have seen these in magazines a lot where they inform you the consumer on the latest things you can buy. You would ask yourself but why would I need to know this, well having to search the latest trends (what`s hot or not)

WHAT you`re doing what we call trend sourcing – analyzing what is currently trending, what are people wearing, the latest run-ways and other events and collecting the information for future use.

Now she also spoke about different fashion terms like what is a fashion cycle, fashion curve, fashion movement and fashion adoption. 

A fashion cycle is a combination of different stages where a trend or a fashionable item goes through from being new (introduction) to being known by the masses (peak) to lastly considering it to be out of fashion (decline). 

A fashion curve is basically the shape or outline at which that fashionable item is represented within the cycle.

Fashion movement is how or the way in which that particular item moves in the cycle, there are factors that contribute to how fashion moves obviously like political and economic factors.

Fashion adoptions are the theories drawn up of how does fashion exactly move or rather say how people acquire fashion. 

Trickle down is the oldest theory where 

the masses emulated 

the elite`s way of dress in order to be perceived fashionable.

Trickle up is where fashion comes or is inspired 

from sub-cultures or say the streets then adopted 

by designers to be showcased in the latest runways.

Trickle across is the mass production of a trend element or 

item to every retail store, the fashionable item may come from either trickle down or up, recognised by 

what we call gatekeepers (journalists, bloggers and the media) signalled to be okay then marketed and produced to the masses.

The theories are a bit confusing because in the fashion industry today the success of a product takes a combination of two or all the theories as a fashion innovator it is important that you realize this, as it was highlighted during the seminar. To finish off the day Mrs Oosthuizen explained the different consumers in a fashion aspect. We have what we call a fashion leader – this is an individual who part-takes in the adoption of fashionable items earlier than other people, there are two individuals 1st a victim and 2nd a motivator. 

A fashion victim is the individual who participates in the adoption of fashionable items because he/she is the first to choose that item and is not influenced by anything, such as Lady gaga she is usually the first to go for items that no one would or even didn't think of wearing.

A fashion motivator is the individual who adopts fashionable trends because he/she was influenced by something, a group or movement of association.    

Fashion leaders purchase high fashions that are expensive and exclusive as these create an individual need and want, they want to be trend setters.

Then there are fashion followers, these individuals at most will adopt fashionable items when the trend(s) are already recognized by the masses, the will wear something because they've seen it somewhere.
They buy mass fashion as this might be because they are affordable or rather they`d rather be sure that what they are wearing is right (everybody is wearing this) or just... well they don’t think about it.

Lastly fashion laggers, individuals who wear the fashionable items when they are already considered out of trend, for them this item is only now an interest whereas everybody followers and leaders are on the next big thing. 

Laggers buy mass fashions that are later referred to as knock-offs that are much cheaper; it differs as there are many reasons why. By definition they buy from thrift shops but as we know even people who buy from these shops are or can be fashionable. Basically fashion laggers are people who are not interested in fashion...at all!

As a fashion innovator it is important to realise these different segments of people as this will help you in the marketing and positioning of your business. It will help to know who your target market is, how to market various products or easily if your an ordinary consumer a closer step to being a smarty pants on the fashion industry.