Just Accepted Visual Communications Student Wants to Organize Runway Shows

Full Name: Akriby M. Lopez

Age: 17

Year in School: Senior

Hometown: Tijuana, Baja California

Major: Visual Communications

FIDM Campus and Start Date: San Diego, July 2012

Admissions Advisor: Arti Martinez

Tell us a bit about yourself. I consider myself to be full of creativity: creative mind, creative personality, and creative ideas. From this creativity come my fashion skills. My love for photography, art, fashion, blogging, and interning, defines about 90% of the person I am today. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think outside of the box. I'm constantly researching new trends, blogging my crazy styles of clothing, taking pictures, and talking to my friends about my next collage idea.

Personality wise, I am a very social person. I love going out and meeting new people, which is one of the reasons I think I would fit in the fashion industry. I consider myself to be funny and spontaneous, in other words, at times it's hard for my friends and families to know what I'm coming up next.

What are your proudest accomplishments so far? Just imagining myself as part of the FIDM community makes me as proud and happy as I can be. Of course small accomplishments got me to where I stand now which are being able to carry my life long dream and passion of fashion and being able to develop and work with it on a daily schedule. Examples would be blogging, interning at a studio, being involved in three art classes at my school, photography, and being able to make a friend happy by choosing an outfit for them.

What made FIDM right for you? Every single event, course, characteristic, activity, and opportunity that FIDM has is a dream come true. I can't see myself anywhere else and I haven't even started my first year at Visual Communications College. FIDM, I truly believe, fits me perfectly from head to toe. One specific jaw dropping fact about FIDM is its support and involvement with each individual student. The application process was so different, and by different I mean amazing.

Arti, I have to say is an exceptional advisor. The campus is so welcoming, and I consider myself a very social person so it feels right. Again, FIDM is so creative, artistic, and fashionable, and that compliments me as well. Let's not forget all the opportunities it gives hard working students: the job fair, internship offers, events, student body and MODE magazine. I really want to be able to contribute as much as I can to this school.

Describe your entrance project. For my circle/triangle/square project I drew a model in a red sweatshirt. The model's face was covered with the three specific shapes assigned and so was the background. The face was colored in different shades of peach and the background was colored in black, white, and grey. I always tend to go outside the box when it comes to drawing and or designing.

Arti showed me all the examples she had from past years and I knew I had to come up with something no one had ever come up with before; so once I got home I Googled my favorite model (Francisco Lachowski) and saw a picture of him wearing a sweatshirt, and that's when the creativity started to flow. I was so proud of myself when I finished it especially when my little brother said, "You should sell it, it's amazing."

For my window display, I decided my crazy side should contribute. I used wood to trace the store window, newspaper for the background/wall paper, magazine cut outs for the clothing items, and a hand drawn lamp to emphasize the shoe being displayed. My window display inspirations come from the Bergdorf Goodman store in New York City. This display was advertising hipster and trendy clothes; clothes you would see in New York streets or Paris streets.

Finally, for my interior display project, I advertised women's spring trends. I used wood as well as stairs where I positioned two mannequins facing each other. I used orange patterned origami paper for the background and two racks of clothing on each side. One side had a navy blue dress and the other a long-sleeved green shirt. The mannequins had light colored clothing to create a contrast. The reason I had the mannequins facing each other was to make people passing by actually take a closer look to the store entrance. I think people get tired of seeing mannequins standing up, or at least people who have an eye for window displays.

What are your career goals? Post graduation, my plans and goals presently are to do a Master's Degree in New York City. Like I mentioned in my essay, I want to be someone in the fashion world. I will work for the leading fashion designers and stores and organize runway shows and photo shoots. I've always trusted myself when it comes to my passion. Since 8th grade these have been my exact same expectations and I know they will remain until I succeed in all my career goals.

What do you expect to learn from FIDM? I expect to learn every single bit of information FIDM offers me. I plan on working diligently in all my courses and taking in every opportunity that the Fashion Institute has to offer me. I will learn about the staff itself, the advisors who will guide me along the way, and the students who I will be working with for the next two years -- and maybe beyond.