Teenagers who are passionate about fashion have a certain kind of ambition. Not the laid-back type, not the one who appreciates a nice outfit, but the one who, at sixteen, reads trade reports about the industry and studies magazine layouts in the same way that other children study game strategies. It appears that Vogue Summer School has managed to locate those students and place them in the same room for two weeks in New York City. The brochure doesn’t adequately describe what happens after that.
Supported by Condé Nast and administered by Vogue College of Fashion, the program bills itself as a pre-college experience for high school students between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. Fashion Communication, Fashion Business, Fashion Media, and Fashion Styling are the four tracks that are offered. They run over four distinct two-week terms starting in early June. Pace University’s Financial District campus, which is located in one of Manhattan’s denser, busier areas, offers students the option of living on campus or commuting as day students. It’s the type of setting that either sharpens or completely overwhelms your instincts.
Day students pay $6,195 in tuition, while on-campus residents pay $7,695. It’s worth pondering that figure for a while. For a fourteen-day program, it’s a substantial financial commitment for many families, particularly those from outside the United States. Nevertheless, applications continue to come in from students in Kazakhstan and throughout Asia who have obviously done their homework and determined that this specific door is worth knocking on.
Even though the Vogue name is obviously working, it’s not the only thing that attracts them. It’s the particularity. Before coming here, Azhar, a student from Kazakhstan who attended on a partial scholarship that covered 80% of her expenses, talked about looking far and wide for fashion media-focused programs. She discovered courses on layout design, article writing, magazine structure, and fashion history. She attended a lecture given by former Chanel president Arie L. Kopelman. That’s the kind of access that truly shapes a young person’s understanding of how an industry actually operates; it’s not a detail you manufacture.
It is worthwhile to bring up the scholarship question because it is subtly important. Vogue Summer School asserts that it is the only fashion-focused program that provides international students with financial aid. Eleven scholarships were awarded to 106 accepted students during Azhar’s session. It’s not quite competitive. However, the fact that the funding is available at all sets this program apart from most others of a similar nature, which are still only financially available to students from more affluent families. The effort seems sincere, but it’s still unclear if that gap is large enough.
A school transcript, a brief essay of about 200 words, and a portfolio are required for applications; however, the portfolio need not be formally accredited. Azhar practiced writing for Harper’s Bazaar by submitting two articles that she had written on her own. Interviews are not necessary. Letters of admission arrive in about three weeks. Students who have been quietly honing their craft without formal training or support from a prestigious school are rewarded through this process.
Observing this program from the outside, it seems to be tapping into something that the traditional college pathway still hasn’t figured out: how to give genuinely curious teenagers a real, textured introduction to an industry before they commit four years and a substantial amount of debt to studying it. Depending on the student in the room, Vogue Summer School may or may not fulfill that promise. However, the room itself appears to be worthwhile.
