More of Alexa's Work

Photo taken and styled by Alexa Winner

Winner loves beautiful, bright colors and sparkles. What attracted her to this dress is the bright blue hue, the intricate beading and classic fabric.

Alexa's Work

Photo taken and styled by Alexa Winner

This is a photo from Alexa Winner's senior thesis portfolio, consisting of photographs that were all taken by Winner. She picked the models, hair, makeup and styled every shot. Each photo tells a story and has meaning to her.

Winner loves playing up juxtapositions in her stylings and designs. For example, a flirty, glittery dress, with a rocker, motorcycle boot as seen in this photo.

How to Get a Fashion Internship

For those who don't have access to a career services office at their respective colleges, certain websites can be accessed in order to get information about internship opportunities. One such website is http://dailyfashionjobs.com/. Here, there are job and internship opportunities listed weekly in New York, Los Angeles, and other areas around the US. These internships and jobs are in the fashion industry, whether they be in retail, sales, production or design. Internships are a valuable asset to becoming a successful designer, especially in the US.

Project Runway No More, Emmett McCarthy Achieves Success

Emmett McCarthy was competed in the second season of "Project Runway." After being kicked off the show, he went on to open his own shop called EMc2 in the Nolita area of New York City.

Why did you want to become a fashion designer?

I wanted to be in a creative field that had both art and commerce.

Do you have any formal design training?

Yes, I attended both FIT where I earned a Associates Degree in Fashion Design and Parsons, The New School for Design where I earned a BFA.

Do you believe that aspiring designers today should go to design schools such as Parsons or FIT?

Yes, I think it is a good idea to intern with a company as well as attend design school to learn the fundamentals.

What advice would you give to a young aspiring designer today?

I think that business school before design school is a suggestion I would give to an aspiring designer. You can always apply business to another field but you can't always move the skill sets of fashion into another business.

Tim Gunn's Tour of Parsons

Parsons School of Design is the home of Lifetime's hit television show Project Runway. Watch Tim Gunn - cohost of the show - give a tour of the school and set of Project Runway.

Meet Jasmin Larian

Jasmin Larian is an aspiring fashion designer who is currently attending the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. She is the prime example of a fashion design student in Manhattan - hard working, determined, persistent, and completely obsessed with designing. Hopefully, one day, all of her hard work will pay off.

Were you creative as a child?
Absolutely, I always knew I wanted to design clothes- I was never on the fence in terms of what I wanted to do.

Did you always know that this is what you wanted to do?
Never a doubt.

Do you feel you have worked really hard to get to where you are today?
I have much more work ahead, all the work that I’ve done so far is fueled by my passion for designing so I wouldn’t call it work.

How has FIT helped to shape you as a designer?
I think going to design school has without a doubt given me a huge advantage. At the end of the day you need to know what goes in to executing your designs. You need to be able to understand the vocabulary of garment production in order to oversee a luxury product that is all your own.

What specific things has FIT taught you?
I always used to drape the garments I made because I didn't know how to make patterns before. I used to drape arbitrarily and FIT taught me how to be more technical about it. Patternmaking was completely new for me, and now I utilize a combination of both in my designs.

Creating a Fashion Label

"The Fashion Designer Survival Guide" is a how-to book by author Mary Gehlhar, with a foreword by renowned fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg. The book guides the reader on how to make it in the fashion industry, from developing a business plan, to creating a successful fashion show. The fact that the foreword is written by Diane Von Furstenberg, who is commonly referred to as DVF, is the best part of the book. She gives excellent insight into being successful in the fashion industry. As well, her classy and elegant voice shines through, just as it always does.

A Brief Interview with Alexa Winner

Alexa Winner pictured above

Alexa Winner is a fashion design student at Parsons the New School for Design. She has already achieved some success after having sold her beautiful headbands at well-known east village shop "Blue and Cream."

What made you want to be a designer in the first place?

The term "designer" really encompasses so much. I don't think I ever sat down and said to myself "I want to be a (insert specific) type of designer," more than I just always knew that I loved to create and my destiny was to find someplace where I could flourish as a creator. I think that I always wanted to be a creator because I had such an insane imagination as a child. I remember always having a fascination with people and, from a very young age, designing outfits inspired by the people around me. When I was five or six I remember I worked on this one drawing in particular called "the earring people" for at least a few months. I was, and am, insanely addicted to detail. All of the people in the picture had multiple ear piercings - something which i thought was so cool at five years old.

How do you feel about your success?

Am I successful? I dont think ill ever know because my glass is in a perpetual state of half-emptiness - not out of pessimism, but out of the ability to see beyond the glass for the potential which COULD BE. Success is super relative too. Ask me that question again in twenty years.

What’s your favorite part about being successful at a young age?

I will give myself credit for half a minute and say that I have definitely accomplished many and most things that have always been on my trajectory checklist of things I want to accomplish by 22. It's really nice to know that if you put your mind to something, it can happen. I believe in karma and have always been really lucky with the universe working in my favor towards professional goals. Personal goals, not so easy, but professionally speaking, I work my ass off and i think that its paid off.