Fashion Marketing

Fashion Marketing is an art and a science. Social, economic, psychological and technological factors all steer marketing trends. You will develop an understanding of the various types of market research, methods of gathering data for analysis and strategies of use. You will create your very own fashion marketing project that you can be proud of; something you can include in your digital portfolio used when applying to fashion marketing positions.

Visual Merchandising & Store Concepts   

Businesses communicate their brand and increase revenue through effective visual merchandising. Apply your creativity and imagination in this hands-on exploration of store layout, retail design, window displays and interior/exterior design concepts. Learn how to understand the needs of the customer and the store’s retail environment through the study and practical application of merchandising layouts, store traffic patterns, lighting design, store fixtures, signage and more.

Current Fashion Designers (Fashion Awareness II)

Learn about contemporary fashion on a virtual journey to the global fashion capitals of New York, Paris, London, Milan and Tokyo. We’ll study established designers and couture fashion houses, and discover the emerging designers who have caught the attention of leading editors. You’ll learn how to identify designers’ signature touches and recurring themes, inspirations and constructions.

Fashion Elements & Vocabulary

The language of fashion is a vital part of any career in the fashion industry. Whether you are writing copy and reviews, preparing your portfolio, buying and selling, producing a fashion show or working with a designer, you’ll need to become fluent in this language. Learn how to properly identify and critique elements of design and garment construction including basic silhouette, necklines and collars, sleeve styles, pants and skirts, prints and patterns, garment details, treatments and beyond.

Art & Technology

Fashion meets the digital age as you learn to use the technological tools that will open doors in the fashion industry. Master the basics of Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to develop an e-portfolio as part of your graduate materials. Create effective layouts and design promotional materials, advertisements and brochures. Develop your own business marketing materials and website in our state-of-the-art Apple computer labs.

Fashion Styling

Learn the multifaceted role of a Fashion Stylist through lecture, research, practice and demonstration. Your expert instructor will guide you through each step of the fashion shoot – from inspiration, adaptation, casting, and garment sourcing to the finished photograph. Learn the essential skills of art direction and discover how to collaborate with photographers, models, hair and makeup teams, creative directors and commercial clients. You will have the unique opportunity to build your portfolio, style your own fashion photo shoot and work with a professional industry photographer.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media is the fastest growing and most exciting brand-building tool available today. Learn how to create a social media strategy with a cohesive and effective message that will build brand awareness. Understand the fundamentals of blogging, Hootsuite, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Learn about content management, navigate analytic and tracking tools, and gain the knowledge and confidence to provide social media services in a rapidly growing field.

Fashion Buying

Turn your eye for style into a business as you learn how to effectively manage a department or boutique through selecting and buying merchandise. Learn how to buy the appropriate merchandise assortment, manage inventory, and keep in line with consumer demands. You will develop a retail buying plan which includes calculating markups and markdowns and an open to buy. Master basic business concepts to best to meet your target market’s demands and desires.

Fashion Promotions & Public Relations

The ever-growing Public Relations and Events Industry is now one of the most in demand fields in Fashion. Learn how to create, promote and execute small scale, large scale and corporate PR events with a range of budgets. Your expert instructor will show you how to seek funding and sponsors, manage a budget, run a publicity campaign, engage the public, and generate media attention for fashion shows, product launches and other special events.

Professional Practices

We will identify your personal and professional life goals, review your marketable employment skills, education and experience, and match them with potential career opportunities. Learn practical job search skills including designing and producing a professional resume and cover letter and utilizing online resources like LinkedIn and Monster. Discover how to best present yourself to prospective employers as you hone your interpersonal and communication skills. Learn how to build confidence, communicate effectively, and understand the value of networking.

Every single person who walks through our doors has a unique story. They come from different worlds, from all walks of life, from diverse backgrounds that speak of a global community. In our classrooms you may be sitting next to a former lawyer or surgeon or a professional dancer; you may encounter someone from Argentina, Taiwan or Morocco. These differences make up the beautiful mosaic of our diverse, dynamic culture. Yet we are all united in a passion for the creative world.

At Blanche Macdonald we will greet you with open hearts and open minds ready for collaboration. Within our walls you’ll find a community of creative peers. Your classmates today will be your colleagues tomorrow, the first links in the professional network you’ll start to form even before you graduate. Group assignments will prepare you for the collaborative industry you’ll soon join.

We celebrate diversity and difference, and hold creativity as your most prized possession. In the embrace of our caring community, you will connect with mentors and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. Walk through our doors and you will gain more than an education. You will gain a family for life.

The trillion-dollar Fashion Industry is exploding, creating a constant influx of careers for the creative and business-inclined – and everything in between. The professional possibilities are endless. So is your potential. Our Career Services Team will help you discover how you fit in, and set you up for success.

Our outstanding Career Directors are connected to all areas of the fashion industry, from luxury retail brands and glossy magazine offices to prestigious PR firms and leading talent agencies. They will work around the clock to connect you with employment, internship and volunteer opportunities that complement your unique talents and professional goals – even after you graduate.

Our instructors are more than teachers – they will become your mentors, entrusting their wisdom to you and sharing their experience to help advance your career. Often they become professional advocates who can open doors to exciting opportunities and introduce you to important contacts in the field.

These dedicated individuals will help you develop your network, boost your confidence, and prepare you for the competitive fashion industry. With endless options in the Canadian and global marketplace, there’s no limit to where you can go.

Fashion Marketing Careers

Where will your fashion journey to take you?

Tell compelling visual stories as a Fashion Stylist. Coordinate a team of professionals to realize collective visions for commercial projects, luxury retailers, celebrities and the high art of editorials.

Take on the exacting and exulting life of a Fashion Editor, working with vision and diligence to coordinate your team of writers, photographers and advertisers to create an engaging print or online platform.

Take your readers through the rush of Fashion shows and gloss of events to the springboards of fresh Design talent, in captivating narrative and interviews as a Fashion Journalist.

Be a Fashion visionary as a Creative Director of a magazine or brand, envisioning new concepts and executing new directions for your team.

Curate a dialogue of Fashion, product and space by becoming an Entrepreneur. Open your own business, whether it be a brick-and-mortar boutique, a thriving e-commerce site, or an independent artisanal e-shop.

Employ your keen eye for emerging trends, a head for figures and dexterity of mind in the creation of a balanced and lucrative inventory, as a Retail Buyer.

Engage on a global scale as a Social Media Marketer, developing and strengthening the voice of a brand through content curation, outreach strategies and community connection.

Not into following the trend? Call it! Use your keen intuition and in-depth industry knowledge to anticipate demand as a Trend Forecaster, and have a say in where the Fashion curve will head.

Commandeer the public image of a design house, figure, or brand as a Public Relations Executive, forging new relationships and promoting your client’s message through special events.

Arrest, entice, and immerse shoppers in the retail worlds of your imagination as a Visual Merchandiser.

Immerse yourself in the gripping rush and light of showtime to create powerful seasonal narrative as a Fashion Show Coordinator.

Shape the editorial platform of print and online magazines as a Marketing Editor, curating product and liaising between brands and publication.

Take to the backstage of centre stage drama as a Costume Designer for TV, Film or Stage, working with Directors, Producers and actors to make characters come to life.

Be the liason between manufacturer and retailer as a Wholesale Agent or Manufacturer’s Representative, building mutually lucrative relationships with buyers by connecting them with fabulous product.

Embark on a global hunt for inspiration and reference while sourcing findings and fabrics as a Product Developer.

Make your voice heard in the potent arena of independent opinion and critique as a Blogger or Vlogger, lending your online personality and aesthetic to pertinent fashion topics and brand ambassadorship.

Discover, groom and propel the next big names of runway and print – whether they be models, stylists, makeup or hair artists – as a Model and Talent Agent at prominent international, and top local agencies.

Help realize fashion fantasies as a Personal Shopper. Connect one-on-one and tune into the unique needs and wardrobe whims of your client, whether they are a red carpet celebrity or an on-the-go style lover.

Rule the online realm as an Ecommerce Specialist, working with the Technical, Buying, Merchandising, Editorial and Marketing teams to deliver an engaging online experience and drive conversion.

Write copy that sells and communicates brand vision as a Copywriter for fashion and online sales sites.

Lend your marketing expertise to shape the industry’s biggest and emerging names as a Brand Consultant.

Go global as an International Market Director, building connections between your brand and the global community through the creation and management of international initiatives.

Help bring brand to narrative as a member of a Fashion Advertising team, conceptualizing, realizing and managing arresting campaigns with measurable results.

Drive the click and draw in the global online audience as a Digital Marketing Manager, working through analysis to create enticing pathways to your brand’s website.

Balance inventory with customer need and aesthetic brand vision, leading the lifecycle of product from receipt to visual display as a Merchandise Manager.

Combine your love of connection with your passion for the shopping experience as a Customer Care Specialist, helping your company meet sales goals and develop positive relationships with customers.

Pilot the logistics of moving product from warehouse to sales floor as a Retail Distribution Manager, balancing supply and demand through vendor liaison.

1. CONNECTIONS, CAREER PLACEMENT AND INTERNSHIPS

From extensive industry connections and partnerships to onsite employment fairs and local and international internships, your success is our business. That’s why we have a dedicated Careers Director offering their lifelong support and one-on-one attention to help you find employment and opportunities in Canada and beyond. Whether you’re seeking experience in styling, PR and events or merchandising, we can help you find an internship to expand your exploration of the industry outside of the classroom. Our Fashion Careers Director has forged relationships with design studios, manufacturers, agencies, production companies, retailers and more. They will work with you to help you find opportunities – locally or farther afield – that will catapult you head first into the fashion industry. An internship is an amazing doorway into fashion, allowing you to gain access to the industry straight from school, and giving you real work experience straight away. For many of our students these internships lead to exciting opportunities, and are the start of professional relationships and important connections that are instrumental to their success.

2. GRADUATE SUCCESS

They’re styling celebrities and creating looks at global Fashion Weeks. They’re jetsetting from executive boardrooms to exclusive red carpet events, opening their own businesses and styling the covers of global fashion magazines. They’re our grads, and they’re leading lights of the Fashion world. Our graduates consistently rise to the top of the Fashion business, bringing their artistry to every corner of the industry, garnering international recognition and making us proud. We want you to reach these same heights. So we have lovingly crafted Programs that will train you for the industry, coach you in professionalism, and prepare you for a successful career in Fashion once you graduate.  

3. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL IMMERSION

The International Fashion Marketing Program features the same exceptional instructors and curriculum as our other Fashion Programs, but with one important difference: it has been specially designed for International Students who wish to improve their written and spoken English. You will be encouraged to speak English only, in the classroom and on campus. Interacting with native English instructors, guest speakers, industry experts and fashion professionals will strengthen your language skills and improve your confidence. Living in Vancouver, Canada, you will be immersed in Canadian Culture and have the unique opportunity to learn directly about North American fashion and customs. This rich immersive and cultural experience goes hand-in-hand with your worldclass education, ensuring that you develop not only your knowledge of Fashion, but your English Language and cultural fluency as well. These extra skills are transferable to any job you take on, whether in Canada, North America or beyond.

4. MOBILITY AND DIVERSITY

Our Fashion Marketing Program will prepare you for a flexible, dynamic career where you can leap from one area to the next. Look at graduate Nikki Dindo, moving from special events to PR with the top firm in New York, working with the ferocious Kelly Cutrone, into social media marketing and then becoming a Partner in high flying firm. Or graduate Jennifer Dott, who started in wholesaling, moved from merchandising to Retail Manager for the ultra prestigious Hermès, and became Accounts and Marketing Director for the oh-so-hip Westcoast brand, Erin Templeton. In Fashion Marketing you’re not locked down. You can flex, morph and flow into a variety of in-demand roles. It’s about mobility and diversity, about keeping it fresh, about braving something different and rising to new challenges. You can be a chameleon, a nomad and a specialist at the same time – all while staying true to your love of fashion.

5. COLLABORATIVE, CREATIVE PROJECTS

Throughout your program you will collaborate with fellow students and industry professionals on a series of projects. You’ll style a shoot with a professional photographer and model, leading a creative team of makeup, hair and nail artists. You’ll create your own marketing materials and digitally enhance your images, ready for your professional portfolio. With a team of classmates you’ll design, write and produce your own fashion magazine. You’ll start a blog, create a collection of fashion swatches, merchandise a storefront, and much more. Your school projects are more than assignments – they are real-life experiences, the dress rehearsals for the industry you will soon be joining. They will provide you with essential practice for the real world of fashion, and help you build the collaboration and team-working skills that are fundamental to any fashion career.

INTERNATIONAL FASHION MARKETING

Full-time Diploma program (480 hours)
Duration: 6 months; 5 days/week

For International Students: the lowest Tuition payment plan option is $13,500 for the entire program length.

INTERNATIONAL FASHION MARKETING CO-OP

Full-time Diploma Program
Duration: 1 year – International Fashion Marketing Program (6 months) + 6 months of Co-op Work Experience.

Co-op Tuition is $2,000 (in addition to International Fashion Marketing program tuition)

Following your program acceptance, the following fee payments totaling $950 (exclusive of tuition) are required on the day of enrollment:

1. An assessment fee of $150
2. A $950registration fee of $250
3. An administrative fee of $550

Tuition Grants may be available for specific programs and start dates. Please ask your Admissions Advisor about any available Tuition Grants.

Class sizes are very limited. Early registration is required to guarantee a seat in a class.

To learn more about our various payment plan options and upcoming start dates, please fill out our info-request form or connect with your Admissions Advisor.

Making an Application is simple and easy. This is our way of getting to know you. Please fill out the Application form and then an Admissions Director will arrange a time to connect with you. This is a wonderful way for us to share information and insights about the program, the industry, career development, job opportunities, potential tuition grants and financial aid options. And this is our time to learn about you, what your career goals are, what you would like to achieve with your career training, what questions and concerns we can help you with. There is no enrolment deposit made until you have been formally accepted into the program. Please submit your Application here.