The Bottom Line: This school in the heart of San Francisco has an impressively wide range of fashion concentrations from design to journalism to styling at both the undergraduate and graduate. Style journalism uniquely crosses boundaries, effectively uniting areas of art and social culture under one umbrella banner. As with any specialist journalist the necessity is to be first on the scene to identify, meet, report, interview, then distil, craft and write a story choosing words and meaning to bring the moment to life. The Academy of Art Library offers current students the opportunity to view previous students' master's thesis projects for research and review. The library retains thesis projects for 10 years. Thesis projects competed prior to 2012 are stored in physical format and are available for viewing upon request.
You’ve seen Stephan Rabimov’s story in Grammarly’s commercial spot, “Translating Fashion Into Story.” (If you haven’t seen it, watch it below!) Read on to learn more about Stephan’s career in fashion, how he’s teaching the next generation, and how he uses Grammarly to write his own future.
What steps did it take for you to become a published writer?
I founded my first magazine, DEPESHA, in 2007. During that time, social media wasn’t as popular as it is today. Capitalizing on the market gap for a bilingual English and Russian fashion magazine, I launched it and produced most of the content online. After about a year, I was able to expand to print with a global network of talented contributors. However, it was my Master’s program that nurtured my interest in emerging markets. Over the years I published a series of research papers, opinion pieces, and other expert reports on the topic of emerging markets, including its intersection with fashion. To date, my research consistently ranks in the top 10% of authors at the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).
Combining two of my passions together—fashion and international affairs—has helped me become one of the leading scholars and voices on the topic of ‘Fashion Diplomacy’. Over the years, I was invited to become a contributing fashion editor for Forbes Life, Huffington Post, The New York Observer, Haute Living, FourTwoNine, and many other prominent international publications.
What role has Grammarly played in your experience as a writer and communicator?
I embrace all kinds of interesting technologies as they arise. I see opportunities in improving my work and lifestyle through innovative products. I added Grammarly as an essential new tool in the ever-evolving journalistic toolbox.
Over the months, my appreciation for Grammarly has continued to evolve as an indispensable writing companion. It has helped to speed up and improve my writing process overall. Although some critics argue against relying heavily on such tools and calling them an electronic crutch, the benefits greatly outweigh any risk of dependence. In fact, Grammarly nurtures my interest in learning new words and expanding my vocabulary.
When innovative new tech products emerge, offering some potential in supporting our work as fashion journalists, I’m always up for a test drive. I also encourage my students to follow suit. It’s exactly why Grammarly and many other relevant professional journalistic tools are embedded across Academy of Art University’s Fashion Journalism AA, BA, and MA courses.
Inspiration From Academy Of Art Fashion Journalism Students 2020
How do you feel about the perception of journalists and writers being hesitant to use technology to improve their writing skills?
Frankly, it is a very old stereotype that doesn’t apply to modern-day journalists. Technology is furthering and empowering journalism’s visual storytelling capabilities and it significantly improves basic fact-checking speeds. As a professor, I can check with a click of a button if a student’s story is plagiarized. With a different click, I can quickly amplify published stories across social media, thus expanding audience reach. Then there are the digital self-publishing tools, allowing our graduate students to create magazines for circulation within their own distribution networks.
In fashion journalism, one must systematically discover new tools and experiment with new content to stay ahead of the digital curve. In the age of technological evolution, ignoring such innovation is not only shortsighted, but it’s also dangerous.
What are some of your favorite aspects of Grammarly’s product that help your writing and messaging?
It is a fact that even leading editors and reporters make occasional gaffes; think of “it’s vs its,” “whom vs who,” and other common mistakes that Grammarly easily detects.
As a seasoned journalist, I tend to over-correct my stories. Grammarly helps improve my writing to keep it concise and digestible.
Inspiration From Academy Of Art Fashion Journalism Students 2017
What is your advice for Grammarly blog readers who are passionate about pursuing writing opportunities?
To rephrase the famous quote, “I write, therefore I am,” I feel reconnected with the world every time I publish a new story.
If you are a passionate storyteller, a good listener, and love fashion—then, combining these interests, along with the right training, can lead to exciting career opportunities.
Academy of Art University rises to the technological challenges of the future; the University and its leadership recognized the path of the future early on and established a one-of-a-kind Social Media Center (SMC) in 2015. Today the SMC features six unique courses that help educate and train our students to become social media specialists, ready for one of the fastest growing career paths.
We believe that strong reporting, social media fluency, cross-platform visual stories, immersive design, and, developing a creative eye, are some of the skills that are, and will be, required across print, digital, and mobile media of the leading fashion journalists of tomorrow.
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Inspiration From Academy Of Art Fashion Journalism Students Video
Inspiration From Academy Of Art Fashion Journalism Students 2019
- American Apparel and Footwear AssociationRepresenting more than 1,000 world famous name brands, the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is the trusted public policy and political voice of the apparel and footwear industry, its management and shareholders, its four million U.S. workers, and its contribution of $361 billion in annual U.S. retail sales.
- California Fashion AssociationThe California Fashion Association (CFA) is the business-to-business network and forum for California’s Apparel and Textile Industry, established in 1995, as a tax exempt public benefit corporation.
- Fashion Group InternationalThe Fashion Group International is a global, non-profit, professional organization with 5000 members in the fashion industry including apparel, accessories, beauty and home. The FGI mission is to be the pre-eminent authority on the business of fashion and design and to help its members become more effective in their careers. To do this, FGI provides insights on major trends in person, online and in print; access to business professionals and a gateway to the influence fashion plays in the marketplace.
- Fashion Industry AssociationThe Fashion Industry Association is an organization devoted to helping fashion industry professionals to network and work together towards success. Our visions is to see independent fashion designers, retailers, manufacturers, models, stylists, photographers, hair and makeup artists, and media building their local markets and creating a culture of cooperative business. We believe that cultivating independent talent is in the best interest of consumers and the industry as a whole.
- International Textile and Apparel AssociationITAA is a professional, educational association composed of scholars, educators, and students in the textile, apparel, and merchandising disciplines in higher education. ITAA welcomes professionals employed in those fields who wish to join with members of the Association in the pursuit of knowledge, interchange of ideas, and dissemination of knowledge through meetings, special events, and publications.