New York City and fashion have long been synonymous. When you think of New York, images of leggy, reed-thin eastern European models come to mind along with the designs of the world's most esteemed fashion legends like Tom Ford, Dolce and Gabbana, and Miuccia Prada. So why wouldn't any aspiring fashion design student want to attend fashion school in a city that's home to untold numbers of boutiques, models, designers, and trend setters?

Besides being able to glean inspiration from hipsters serving coffee at your neighborhood cafe or fashion forward urbanites thumbing through used LPs at your local record shop or plucking up vintage finds at a nearby boutique, your experience as a fashion student in New York City comes with many advantages. Many opportunities avail themselves by happenstance--being in the right place at the right time. Such events may include attending an AIDS fund raiser sponsored by MAC, volunteering at the annual Bryant Park fashion show, or attending the opening of a fashion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Events such as these are routinely held in New York City and offer fashion students a rare opportunity to move in circles that may overlap with those who define New York--and the world's--sense of fashion.