FIDA - THE SCHOOL THAT FASHION BUILT

 

I’ve seen more and more individuals strutting around Davao looking like they stepped straight right out of a fashion magazine. Some of them are semblance of living mannequins, while some of the other fashionably anonymous walk the talk by sharing style instincts in their blogs. Learning about fashion and design comes easy nowadays with social media and style bibles printed here and there, sharing good news from dictators in the fashion capital. Some people, however, opt to learn the basics by getting hands on experience in school to study more on fashion, one stitch at a time.

 

Fashion Institute of Design & Arts opened in Davao in late 2009. It began with a mixed curriculum offering short seminars and workshops, and later on introduced their first batch of full-term graduates in January 2010.

FiDA boasts of its top-notch facilities. The campus is equipped with a spacious fashion laboratory with full-sized pattern drafting tables and a complete set of rolling dress forms which allow for a one-to-one student use of these in a typical FiDA class or workshop.

 

 

The lab, lecture room and sewing rooms are air-conditioned for a comfortable learning atmosphere. The sewing room has 10 industrial sewing machines and an edging machine for each student’s hands-on training requirements. The school library is composed of the latest fashion education textbooks and other supplementary materials gathered from attendance in fashion classes and workshops all over the world.

The school’s Director of Academics, Christine Munda, is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, USA.  The Misha Boutique in Makati City was her first venture in the fashion industry. She then taught at the University of the Philippines, St. Benilde-De La Salle Taft, and the De La Salle College International. Christine was also instrumental in the creation of the SOFA- Manila where she developed the school’s curriculum as its academic director.

 

Under Christine’s leadership, FiDA’s population of talented students continued to grow over the years. The school is now on its 5^th trimester. FiDA offers a full fashion curriculum on design, merchandising and clothing technology.

Other programs offered at FiDA are the following:  2-year Associate Arts Degree course on Fashion Design & Merchandising, 1-year Diploma courses on Fashion Design & Apparel Technology, 1-year Diploma course on Fashion Merchandising, 6-month certificate courses on Fashion Merchandising, Fashion Design, and Apparel Technology, 3-month Introductory Course on Fashion Business, and 12-session Modular course on Sewing & on Pattern making. They also have workshops on makeup and hair styling.

FiDA is located at 544 Manga st. cor. Ricardo st. Juna Subd. Matina, Davao City. For more information, please visit their website at www.fidarts.com or call (082)304-3007 / 0922-811-9696. You may also email them for inquiries at fidadavao@gmail.com.

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Story published on my newspaper column, Metro Mom.
A1 to A4, INdulge section, Edge Davao, Vol. 5 Issue 192, 28 November 2012.