Deliberately or inadvertently, we all speak the language of fashion these days. The science of fashion and the art of actually creating it, is pretty much different. Some know the art, some learn it. But nearly everyone who takes it up professionally has to hone it for a fair while before they are ready to take on the world. That is where fashion schools come in. NIFT is the first name that strikes in our mind whenever we talk about fashion schools. It is sticking to the first rank from last 3 years.
Explore Fashion Designing Courses in India
Our dormant fashion industry got a boost in 1986 with the establishment of the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi. It was started by the Ministry of Textiles, in technical collaboration with FIT, New York. Since then NIFT has given us so many amazing fashion experts including Nikita Anand, Manish Arora, Ritu Beri, Gulshan Devaiah, Shivaji Dutta, Shantanu Goenka, Prabal Gurung, Tanya Gyani, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, and Neha Sharma.
For nearly two decades since the economic liberalization of the early nineties, NIFT made fashion chic and desirable to a wider segment. National Institute of Fashion Technology in south Delhi’s Hauz Khas has stood tall among the foremost fashion institutes in the country. The institute offer students the best in terms of faculty, a state-of-the-art campus, exposure to international collaborations and interaction with leading fashion designers from within the country, and has a highly equipped research and development team.
What’s so special about NIFT?
- The programs in NIFT goes beyond the boundary of classrooms and throws light on issues such as environment sustainability, ethical issues, human rights, and life skills.
- Academically NIFT is very strong and the whole curriculum is reviewed every four years. Input is also given from in-house research. NIFT takes feedback about its curriculum from industry and its famous alumni, visiting faculty and experts as well.
- They focuses on international exposure and because of this, NIFT has signed 30 MoUs and strategic alliances with leading international fashion institutes across the globe.
- NIFT facilitates student exchange program as well. And this have provided opportunities to number of students to reach foreign universities and grab international exposure. In 2014-2015, a total number of 12 students undertook full semester exchange in institutes such as Fashion Institute of Technology (New York), Glasgow School of Arts (UK), Mod ‘Art Inter-national(France), and ESMOD in Germany.
- The NIFT Resource center in Delhi has a vast repository of fashion information sources.
Academic Info
Talking about academics of NIFT, it offers a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. You can find 4 year bachelor programmes in fashion communication, leather design, accessory design, textile design and knitwear design. Also, there are 2 year master’s programmes in fashion management, design space and fashion technology.NIFT organizes its own entrance exam yearly in India. To get into these programs, you need to go through NIFT admission process comprisingthree stages. First you will be asked to appear for a written test. If you make it to the rank-list in that test, it means you are eligible to appear for the situation test. After both the tests, comes the last and final round of personal interview.
There is one unique feature of NIFT curriculum and that is eclectic learning. It emphasizes on the need for international stimuli and preservation of indigenous cultural identity through the Craft Cluster Initiative. This initiative provide students an exposure to crafts from all across India. In the 2014-15 academic session, 265 students visited craft clusters around the country and worked closely with master craftsmen.
Life at NIFT
You get many chance to work under the guidance of some of the most famous fashion designers of India and outside when you are in NIFT. Not just this, they organize some amazing brand seminars, organize different contests, celebrate various festivals, and much more. Life is pretty happening here! To name a few, NIFT organizes Tommy Hilfiger seminar, Dussehra Mela, Swach Bharat Abhiyan, Sabyasachi Seminar, Janmashtmi celebrations, Eid, essay writing, poem writing, and many more.
Adding more to the list, there are few clubs in NIFT as well. Those clubs are Social Club, Cultural club, the literary, film and photography club, sports and adventures club. All these clubs are governed by the Student Development and Activities Controller (SDAC).
If you also have this love for fashion and wish to create your name in fashion industry, get yourself enrolled in NIFT. This amazing experience of NIFT can help you to explore your talents even more and lifting them to new heights. 😀
