International Student Hanae Yaskawa is a shining star at The Cut Fashion Design Academy! This young American came to Canada to study Technical Apparel Design at a Lower Mainland design school, and once completed, decided to take her pattern-making skill-set to the next level with additional courses at The Cut. It is so important when entering the workforce as a young person to create a wide-open door for opportunity.

Let’s ask Hanae a couple of questions to learn more about her decision and what it means for her career moving forward.

Why did you decide to apply for admission to The Cut?

A friend and mentor, fellow alumni of the Technical Apparel Design program at the Wilson School of Design who worked at Arc'teryx, recommended looking into The Cut for pattern-making classes. He had really enjoyed his instructor for part-time pattern making, and the instructor moved to work at Arc'teryx.

I wanted to supplement my degree at WSD with more in-depth pattern making, and I was drawn to The Cut because of the flexibility to cherry-pick courses to build very specific skills. The full-time technical pattern-making course, in particular, caught my eye, because of the focus on technical fabrics and athletic wear.

Would you encourage others to apply at The Cut and why? What are the advantages that you have experienced?

Whether one is a novice looking to learn about fashion or is more experienced and wants to build specific skills, The Cut is a great place to start or continue learning. There is a vast array of part-time and full-time classes that cover all facets of fashion, and some feature really fun special topics like technical and activewear, couture, costume, and even 3D design. Each class is kept to 6-8 students, which means our instructors have the time to give us feedback one-on-one and take care of our progress.

It's really neat that our instructors continue to work in the industry while teaching, so they advise us on industry-wide practices as well as relevant and current standards. For the technical pattern-making course, one instructor owns her bridal business, and the other is a senior pattern maker at Arc'teryx who created the pattern for my technical apparel graduation project at WSD!

If you are interested in registering for the Fall/Winter session or need advice on how to move forward with your career in fashion, visit our Admissions page for Program Requirements, Scholarships, Homestay Options, Tuition & Fees, and take a Virtual Tour!