All the Fashion Programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

A resource for prospective students and employers alike.

At Fashionista, we center much of our content around fashion and design schools, which tend to be located in and around big cities like New York and Los Angeles. But there are still plenty of viable options for those who are interested in fashion but are unable or don't want to travel across the country and pay hefty tuition or go into massive debt for their education. While they may not offer as many specific concentrations as a fashion or art school might, many larger universities and colleges have fashion programs of their own. Today, we're taking a closer look at the programs offered by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

Students at these schools are known for having amazing on-campus style, yes, but a few of these higher learning institutions — defined as those established before 1964 with the mission of educating Black Americans — also have dedicated fashion programs. Many of the administrators we spoke with told us interest in their fashion programs has even increased in recent years, but many of them are not getting enough attention from the industry (yet). They are also particularly vulnerable right now in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

So if you're a high schooler interested in fashion and wanting to go the HBCU route, or a recruiter looking to expand your hiring pool in the interest of targeting the industry's diversity issues directly, let this be a place to start.

We've created individual pages for each school (as we do for all of our school listings), so click each school name to find tons more information.

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Bowie State University
Location: Bowie, Maryland
Program(s): Fashion Design

Clark Atlanta University
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Program(s): Fashion Design, Fashion Merchandising

Delaware State University (DESU)
Location: Dover, Delaware
Program(s): Textile & Apparel Studies

Howard University
Location: Washington, D.C.
Program(s): Fashion Design

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT)
Location: Greensboro, North Carolina
Program(s): Fashion Merchandising and Design

North Carolina Central University (NCCU)
Location: Durham, North Carolina
Program(s): Apparel Design

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB)
Location: Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Program(s): Merchandising, Textiles and Design

Virginia State University
Location: Ettrick, Virginia
Program(s): Textiles, Apparel, Merchandising and Management

University of the District of Columbia (UDC)
Location: Washington, D.C.
Program(s): Fashion Merchandising

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