Evautive Report

Evaluative Report

I was expecting New York to be similar to London or any other English speaking city. What I didn’t expect was a complete culture shock. I will never forget my time in New York and all the experiences I enjoyed and skills I learnt.

            New York is different to anywhere I have ever been before. What struck me first was how tall the buildings were. So much so that on a sunny day, it is cold on the street because the sunlight doesn’t reach the pavements. Being in the centre of Manhattan, I completely benefitted from everything New York had to offer. In the Garment district you just have to walk down the street and every other shop sells fabrics, beads or haberdasheries. The fabric shops are like no other, with pre cut swatches hanging up and thousands of fabrics to choose from.

            During the months I spent in New York I feel I got to know the city very well. My favourite places include the High Line, the Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Williamsburg and many more. I visited the five boroughs, Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn as well as taking trips to Boston, Ithica and the Hamptons where I was able to see more of the country. In the first week in New York we evacuated the city to Ithica where my roommate lived as Hurricane Irene was predicted to pass through. This was a surreal experience and there really was panic in the city.

I feel that one of the main differences between living in London and New York was in how young people were treated. Through university life, as well as outside it, I felt younger than I do in England.

I chose to take 14 credits during my time studying. This was a lot and I would not have been able to take any more. My classes were four hours each and included, Draping, which I had twice a week, Accessory Design, Haute Couture Embellishment, Pattern Cutting, Screen Printing techniques and Adobe Photoshop with Fashion Studio. The way of teaching at FIT was delivered so you learnt in the lesson time and completed the tasks in your own time. This meant I was able to learn so many new skills, ones I would have never been able to discover back home. It is much more practice led.  It was great to experience an alternative way of teaching to Chelsea but I think the ideal education would be a mix between Chelsea and FIT, combining taught techniques with creativity. I was fortunate to choose classes such as Screen Printing where I could be creative. However it was hard when you had to limit your time on each class. My hardest class was Draping. I took extra sessions in Draping on Saturdays to make sure I kept up with the class. This class was incredibly tough, but I learnt so much and can now successfully drape. In Accessories I learnt how to make belts and bags, a skill I can see myself using and combining with my printing. For example having a printed bag or the lining printed. The Photoshop was probably most useful to me. We are never taught Photoshop in Chelsea so learning it was so much help and my abilities and accuracy have improved no end.

I am a much stronger person for having the opportunity to study abroad. My confidence has grown and I feel I am able to tackle hard circumstances better than I could before.