Children’s Wear

Youngeun (Amy) Choi

Seoul, South Korea

My dream of becoming a fashion designer is closely aligned with the field of social entrepreneurship. Since I was young, I always paid close attention to style and color and enjoyed designing outfits with fabrics or old garments. I was a child who always enjoyed creating things and giving them to others, and I wanted to recreate some of my old outfits with a fashionable twist and donate them. That was the first time I gained an interest not only in fashion design, but also in children and philanthropy. This led me to choose fashion design in children’s wear. It is no surprise that I chose fashion as my career, as it has been a big part of my lifestyle for a long time. I wish to see myself stepping forward, realizing my dream of working in the fashion industry.

Kelly Clavin

Spring Lake, New Jersey

My journey as a fashion designer began at a very young age. My grandmother was a very skilled sewer and watching her sparked my interest in making clothes. Sewing, coupled with my interest in art, led to my decision to pursue fashion design as a career. While I have had a love for fashion for a long time, it wasn’t until I began designing children’s wear that I started to feel truly passionate about what I was doing. I feel my strengths as a designer are being able to come up with interesting, outside-the-norm fabric combinations, and designing kids’ clothes that are trendy without being too mature. I draw a lot of inspiration from musical periods and iconic musicians who popularized trends.

Taja Dove

Brooklyn, New York

My start in fashion design dates to my childhood. I remember crudely drawing and sketching clothes for my dolls that my grandmother would then sew. I used to watch her crank and reel that old machine and wonder how she managed to conquer such a thing. Since then, I managed to conquer the beast myself in order to bring my ideas to life. The satisfaction of making people feel comfortable in their body and skin is the most rewarding part of the design process. Inspired by bold colors, quirky prints, and modern silhouettes, I tackle children’s wear head-on as a frontier of fashion.

Leah Kim

Houston, Texas

For as long as I can remember, I loved to draw and create. Growing up, I was inspired by TV, movies, and comic books. When I was younger, I wanted to become a comic book artist and write comedy. But I became fascinated with how costume and appearance identified the characters I created, and my passion for comic book art turned into fashion design. People in real life are like characters in a story. They wear clothes that reflect who they are and how they are feeling. I design every piece of clothing with quirky and fun details, so that whoever is wearing the clothes I design can express their own personality and attract an audience.

Kuanling (Queena) Ko

Taipei, Taiwan

I was born in 1993. I come from Taiwan and I want to be a fashion designer. I have been studying art all my life, from my childhood scrawls to high school oil painting, and now, fashion design. I love art anywhere, in any form. However, I felt that the best way to transfer my love of art to people around the world is through apparel design: making something people love, something they wear, consider, look at and enjoy every day. I hope to share my definition of art and fashion and the pleasure of artistic living with people through my choice of color, fabrication and design. Four years ago, being a fashion designer was only a dream I used to dream but now I know that I am right on my way to becoming a designer.

Rosa J Lee

Salt Lake City, Utah

I have always had a passion and eagerness to study design. When I was building up my portfolio to apply to art schools, I found myself interested in fashion. I personally think fashion is a way of expressing yourself and your aesthetic into a visible and creative form. It represents who I am as a designer and keeps me inspired constantly.
I like how my aesthetic changes depends on what I like and how I feel. I concentrate on silhouette and colors. I love how my design comes out very delicate and soft. I will keep trying to widen my eyes to see more inspiration and create something new.

Sojeong Lee

Seoul, South Korea

As a “big sister” to many of my cousins, I always enjoyed choosing their clothes and accessories and arranging them according to their individual personalities and occasions. Doing that, I truly felt I was doing something that I really enjoyed and wanted to continue as my career. As a student at FIT, I was fortunate enough to have the invaluable experience of learning to become a designer and further following my passion. With my creative and detail-oriented designs, I love making my own prints, patterns, and fabrics, which show unique styles that are versatile in their use and applications. From being a 10-year-old big sister to a graduate of FIT, I have developed my own style and professionalism, and am ready to be thrown out into the real world.

Kassidy Reynolds

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Rock and roll has always been an enormous inspiration for me. But without any musical ability, I turned to design to express myself creatively. Music and fashion have always been beautifully intertwined, and creating clothing inspired by my favorite musical genre has always come naturally to me. I love meshing explosively loud prints and colors and making them clash in a way that works well together. I believe that clothing, much like rock and roll, should never be boring. I always strive to create exciting pieces that are full of life, energy, and attitude.

Annie Shin

Long Island, New York

Since childhood, I wanted to become a fashion designer, especially children’s wear. From an early age, I enjoyed designing and making clothes for dolls. Working at J. Crew in the children’s wear department not only helped me broaden my perspective and experience in designing but inspired me once more to pursue children’s wear. I love that in fashion, your creativity can be expressed freely and there is no limit. Every day I fall more in love with what I do, and am grateful that I am in the process of pursuing and accomplishing my aspiration.

Allyson Smith

Pennsville, New Jersey

I wanted to become a designer because I realized that design was an outlet for me to combine all of my different random interests into one and create something beautiful and occasionally functional. I grew up surrounded by inspiration; my mother and grandmother had gardens that always seemed like something out of a fairy tale. And my grandmother sewed the most beautiful dresses for every occasion. Anything she or I could think of, she figured out how to make. Somewhere along the line, I began to wonder how she did it. And years later, I find myself at FIT understanding it all and so much more.

FIT, State University of New York

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