IAN JACKSON
New York, NY
2022-2023 Scholarship Fashion Institute of Technology
Scholarship 2019-present
Ian Jackson is pursuing a BA in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in NYC. He graduated from New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and St. Augustine High School in 2018. He set his sights on studying fashion at FIT as a sophomore in high school, and focus and drive led to the fulfillment of his dream. He spent a year assisting Tommy Hilfiger with the execution of the Tommy Jean and Zendaya collaboration. He also spent time working at New York Fashion Week and for New York-based designer Christian Cowan. He has his own clothing brand, Category 5, and plans to use the profits to fund the construction of new homes for displaced citizens one day.
Jackson came home to Louisiana and transitioned to virtual learning during the pandemic. “With all of my interactions with my peers and professors being online, I formed a new relationship with technology and I am now exploring ways to implement more of it into the process of my work,” he says. “I’ve ventured into the metaverse and decided to mint and sell my editorial photos as NFTs. I've also decided to teach myself Blender and Clo3d which are programs that allow me to make fashion show sets, animations, clothing patterns, and full-blown embellished garments without paying for all of the materials and actual human labor to pull it all off in person. Even though I want my clothes to be real and tangible, this is a way for me to get it off of my heart and into the eyes of others.” He looks forward to returning to New York City, “my fashion-filled utopia to roam the streets and be inspired by everyday life once again.”
Ian Jackson is an active member of the YAYA young artists’ guild, which he joined in 2012.