What do; Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Steven Meisel, Donna Karan, Narciso Rodriguez, Alexander Wang and Thakoon have in common? They are all among the prestigious alumni of Parsons – The New School for Design. This school has inaugurated the world’s biggest talent into the fashion industry and shows no signs of slowing down with more emerging talent than ever before.

The school is located on New York’s Fifth Avenue, resonating its importance in Manhattans fashion district. It houses thousands of talented students pursuing careers in fashion, design, media, film and architecture- and will soon be expanding to facilitate drama, music, social research and urban policy.

Marc Jacobs graduated in 1986 and was awarded three of the schools biggest honors; The Perry Ellis Golden Thimble Award, The Chester Weinberg Gold Thimble Award and Design Student of the Year. In that same year Tom Ford graduated with a degree in interior architecture, and then went on to complete his formal fashion training. In fact 1986 was a huge year for Parson’s, after failing in home-ware design 1968 Donna Karan returned to the school to complete her remaining credits. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2004 and is expected to soon be on the board of directors. In 1982 Narciso Rodriguez graduated from Parsons, he then went onto work at Anne Klein under the creative direction of fellow graduate Donna Karan.

Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui both studied at Parsons School of Design

In the late 70’s Anna Sui moved to New York from her home in Michigan and enrolled at Parsons. She quickly became friends with a fashion illustration student, by the name of Steven Meisel. They collaborated artistically with Sui styling his shoots and became part of the New York club scene hanging out at Studio 54. Meisel is the undisputed king of fashion photography. He was the man behind the lens for Madonna’s SEX book, and has shot every cover of Italian Vogue since 1988. The careers of Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista were forged by Meisel’s testament. More recently he has shone his light on Lara Stone and Coco Rocha now formidable forces in the fashion industry. Meisel collaborated with Marc Jacobs to shoot the 2009 Spring Summer campaign for Louis Vuitton using his muse of 20 years- Madonna.

Alexander Wang and Erin Wasson

Alexander Wang still relatively new on the circuit and has quickly acquired a cult following. After just one year at Parsons he launched his first collection, immediately catching the attention of the fashion industry, he then interned at both Marc Jacobs and Teen Vogue. His ‘model off duty’ look has become his signature, along with having the most desired handbags of the moment.

Thakoon Panichgul attended parsons from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 he revealed his first ready to wear collection- it was quickly picked up by Sarah Jessica Parker, Demi Moore and Rachel Bilson. His explosion onto the international fashion scene came when he was featured in the Anna Wintour documentary ‘The September Issue’, which followed the success of his clothing line for GAP.

Designer Thakoon along side model Carmen Kass wearing his designs

Parsons is the breeding ground for artistic talent, making it the most esteemed fashion school, not just in New York, but possibly the world. With its pending expansion and rapid growth, we are sure to see a whole lot more of the students and their extensive capabilities. The fashion industry will forever be in the debt of Parsons, for giving us so many influential people that have changed the way we view design, clothing and the limitations of wearable art.