It caters to an extremely talented (well mostly) artistic set of people; of course the intellectual preps at Seiei Academy only see them as a bunch of weirdos, but who are they to appreciate art anyway?
The school offers courses is everything that is liberal arts: designing video games, painting, sculpture, pottery, music, theatre, photography, interior design- and, of course, fashion design.
Yazawa-san's manga mostly revolve around the fashion design aspect of the Yazawa School, which is the main theme in both Paradise Kiss, and her earlier work, Gokinjo Monogatari- which features Miwako-chan's identical but much older sister, Mikako, and her husband Tsutomu (a photographer).
Many Gokinjo characters make appearances in Paradise Kiss, including Mikako, Tsutomu, and the president of Yukari's fashion agency, Kozue Shimamoto - giving Paradise Kiss an almost Degrassi High vs. Degrassi Junior High feel- if you know what I mean.
Mikako graduated from the Yazawa school to become a very famous and popular fashion designer- the creator of Happy Berry Designs; and Tsutomu has become a famous photographer; Shimamoto, once a model, has become the president of her very own modeling agency, 'TreeTop.'
In Paradise Kiss, George (Jouji), Miwako, Arashi, and Isabella are all taking the fashion design course, however, of the four, George is the designer, and a talented one at that.
The fashion design instructor, Ms. Hamada, can seem pretty strict, and... well, insane, at times, but she tries her best to help her students succeed.
Seiji is another instructor there, and a very famous make-up artist, well respected- and obviously well known among the Paradise Kiss set. He remains very mysterious, and both George, Miwako, and Mikako seem to have strange ties to him. Yazawa Arts holds a very special, annual fashion show each year for the different fashion design 'years' (classes).
It serves kind-of as a final project, and the winner is voted on by whoever is in the audience- just random people who walk in off the street, so the designers must strive to make something that everyone can like and relate to.
Each group is only allowed on outfit, and it is extremely important, since the winner of the senior fashion show, (being the one that George and the parakiss group are entered in), wins a chance to study fashion design abroad.
The competiton is extremely stiff, and each group spends enormous amounts of time working on and perfecting their creations.