So yesterday night, I found out (via Instagram) that Bunka Fashion College was having their school festival! I went out to go take a look, but unfortunately, didnt stay for too long because it was not an English friendly event. (no English on the program and, even with my translator, it would have been hard trying to get around unless someone would sit and chat with me for like....10-20 minutes explaining everything)
SO I peacefully enjoyed my time and watched the fashion show and ate some snacks.
While I was in my first year of college, I had really wished I could attend Bunka. Their fashion programs seemed a lot more advanced and, after watching countless youtube videos and reading up on their different courses, I soon realized that their programs were just a LOT more amazing and offered so much!
Unfortunately, in Canada (well George Brown College to be exact), it felt like our creativity is very limited in the 2 year Fashion Design course. As much as we do get some creative freedom, I feel that we are still forced to stay within the "North American standards" of whats fashionable. (What I mean by this is nothing costume like and nothing that doesnt seem like it'll work in NA.) I dont think it got much better since I've finished. It sucks because it makes it seem like the educational quality is a lot lower in comparison to other places around the world. I also feel like.....you get the easy way out of things instead of bringing a challenge for students. I think that may be because a lot of students who attend school dont care enough to put in effort. So they probably dont care enough to make some assignments more challenging. I really wanted to push the limit and work hard. I did work hard all the time...but...it was just lacking that little extra push (hope that makes sense!)
For our end of year fashion show, your garments must "get approved" and all the garments go on the catwalk pretty much at the same time (nothing really gets separated by specific student/designer). They get put into categories. Only "some" students get to show a full collection because, in the design program, our final project is NOT to create a full collection. No where in our curriculum is there an area for us to create a full collection to showcase at the end of the year. (If we want to do that, we have to do it in out own time)
I know at Ryerson University, the program is 4 years long and, at the end, you get to make a collection. I dont know too too much about the program itself, but I didnt go to Ryerson because I had heard some horror stories from a friend of my cousin who went and had a horrible time.
The fashion show at Bunka Festival really showcases the fact that students can really be creative with their final collections and that it takes a really good team to put things together that WOW the crowd. Not to mention that the whole festival is run by students. From the lighting and sound, to the models and make up. All the students participate. There was a food area run by different school clubs, a mini stage for performances, and a tent area where I believe fashion management/business students were showcasing their "store concepts" (creating a store, but not necessarily creating the clothing.....retail!)
Here are some photos from the fashion show (My apologies if the photos arent the best! Figures my phone was giving me a hard time during a cool event......no videos saved onto my phone T.T)
Click left and right to view photos
After the fashion show, I went into the RE-TENT (Retail Tent) to look around! One store specifically caught my eye with this giant furry purple scarf (shown in the photo) . I also bought a cute ring because it was cheap!
Before leaving, I went to the food area and bought a waffle and some soup dumplings! Yummy~!
Im sure I still have time in life to attend more schooling and could probably go to Bunka if I really wanted to (after learning Japanese of course), but I believe that I've reached a point where I'd rather learn things in life without the demands and specific timelines of a school schedule/school life.