Fashion Designing is for You

Do you Have a Flair for Fashion, Sense of Styling and Passion for Fabulous Designs?
If you aspire to become a fashion designer then a creative and exciting career is awaiting you that many people can only dream about.

With big fashion houses like Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Valentino, Christine Dior or Jimmy Choo have become a big brand; it doesn't come as big surprise as to why, more and more people are inclined to make their career in the fashion designing. With distinctive style, hard work and proper training, you can carve a niche for yourself as a fashion designer.

Fashion Designing Institutes:

No doubt, you have the talent. But you can earn a great worth in attending a fashion institute. A Fashion Designing Institute is the best way to horn your skills and learn the basic instructions on pattern and clothes making, sewing, embellishing, cuts, colors, fabrics and body measurements.It empowers you with the proper and structured knowledge. A degree from a fashion institute gives credibility and reputation to your creative artistry when seeking an employment. It helps you gain expertise to achieve great heights in the fashion industry.

Enrolling in a well-renowned fashion school provides training to advance in the fashion career. It gives vision to your goals. Once your fashion takes off, you can even launch your own fashion clothing line in a big fancy store. You can actually rake in moolah by designing garments and lifestyle accessories like footwear, handbags, watches or jewelry.

Scope in Fashion DesigningFashion Designing is one of the most important areas of work in the fashion industry. It offers a promising scope for financial as well as professional growth. The fashion industry is booming and encompasses a vast field of studies. There are many fashion design career paths for you to choose from. You can get hired as a fashion designer, accessories designer, design production management, quality controller, fashion merchandiser, sketcher, patternmaker, color mixer, design director, marketing researcher or start your own fashion business. Fashion designing is a dedicated art that exemplifies the cultural and social influences. It makes and breaks the rules of the wildly creative fashion world. So take a plunge, unleash your artistic exuberance and create a design that makes a statement for millions of fashion frenzy's to follow.

A Day in the Life of a Fashion Designer

Ever wonder what Giorgio Armani, Betsey Johnson, Donna Karan, and Ralph Lauren do all the time? Work! Few other professions depend so much on keeping on top of fickle popular opinion and watching what competitors produce.

The life of a designer is intimately linked to tastes and sensibilities that change at a moment’s notice, and she must be able to capitalize on, or-even better-influence those opinions. Designers reflect society’s sensibilities through clothing design. “You have to know just about everything that’s been done before, so that you can recognize it when it becomes popular again,” wrote one respondent.

Fashion designers are involved in every phase of designing, showing, and producing all types of clothing, from bathing suits to evening gowns. Those with talent, vision, determination, and ambition can succeed in this difficult, demanding, and highly competitive industry.
Fashion design can be more glamorous than a 1940s Hollywood musical or drearier than a bank statement, but it’s always taxing. A designer’s day includes reading current fashion magazines, newspapers, and other media that reflect current trends and tastes. She looks at materials, attends fashion shows, and works with other designers on projects. A designer should be able to communicate her philosophy, vision, and capabilities clearly and comprehensively through sketches, discussions, and, occasionally, samples.

No matter what her personal style is, a designer must produce a creative, exciting, and profitable product line. As in most professions that produce superstars, it is easy for a competent but otherwise unremarkable designer to wallow in obscurity, designing small pieces of collections, generic lines (the plain white boxer short, for example), or specialties (cuffs, ruffles, etc.). The personality that raises itself above this level must be as large as the vision of the designer; perhaps that’s why the word “crazy” showed up in over 75 percent of our surveys as a plus in fashion design.Paying Your DuesThose entering the field should have a good eye for color, style, and shape, an ability to sketch, and some formal preparation in design. An excellent portfolio is a must for the job search. A two- or four-year degree in fashion design is helpful, as is knowledge of textiles and a familiarity with the quirks of a variety of fabrics, but no formal certification is required.

Candidates should have a working knowledge of business and marketing. Hours are long for a fashion designer and the initial pay is very limited. This is one of those hit-or-miss occupations where beginners work as someone’s assistant until, when they can muster up enough confidence in their abilities and sell that confidence to their superiors, they design a few pieces themselves. The superstar rise is an unlikely event, but it happens. Based on the number of “international star designers” in the last ten years and the number of people who have entered the profession, the estimated odds of becoming an internationally famous designer is roughly 160,000:1.

Associated CareersFashion designers who become unhappy with the lifestyle (low pay, long hours, hard work, low chance of advancement) leave to do a variety of things. Some use their color and design skills to become interior designers, graphic designers, or fashion consultants. Over one quarter of those who leave remain in the clothing industry, either on the production end or on the institutional buying end. Another 10 percent enter the advertising or promotions industry.

The Business Side of Fashion Design

Imagine for a moment that you are an up-and-coming fashion designer, and someone has given you the chance not only to have your designs featured in a retail store, but also to run part of the store. This is the opportunity four young New York City designers found in Forward, a retail incubator for start-up fashion designers.

Funded by the Lower East Side Business Improvement District (BID), Forward was created as a place where young entrepreneurs could combine their passion for fashion and clothing with the business side of retail. Forward's first four participants, chosen from among 60 applicants, each paid $4,200 to be part of the six-month program, which organizers dubbed "The Real World of Fashion."

Angela Kettler had already been designing a line of clothing from her home when she learned about Forward. And while she had a good feel for fashion and design, learning about the business side presented a challenge. "Doing business [at Forward] gave me better [knowledge] of financials and pricing," she says.

Getting in sync with the other three participants presented some logistical challenges, according to Kettler, 24. Coordinating four different schedules and ensuring everyone did their part in keeping the store looking good and running smoothly were just a few of the hurdles. After all, there weren't any employees to help with the workload. But, says Kettler, "There's a lot that working with [the others] had to offer-their skills, contacts and business information."

That's a sentiment echoed by Forward participant Franklin Rowe, founder of Franklin Rowe International. "It's great to work in an artistic environment where everybody is doing the same thing but has different interpretations," he says. "You have to leave [your] egos at the door and realize we're all after the same thing."

Rowe, who had a little more experience in the fashion industry, heard about Forward through a friend at BID. He'd always wanted to own a retail establishment-but up until then, he'd largely been designing custom pieces for clients.

Sharing a storefront with other hip designers brought in all sorts of clientele-including famous faces like actor Robert DeNiro and Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Fields. The Forward program itself also garnered a lot of publicity for the store, including an article in The New York Times that generated serious foot traffic and calls from customers worldwide.
From that, says Rowe, "I learned what people actually want and spend money on-what women buy and what the average consumer wants in terms of price, fit and fabrics." Rowe plans to use this newfound knowledge as he continues to build his business.

The store was originally slated to open at the end of 2001, but Forward delayed its launch until
January 2002 due to the terrorist attacks and troubled economic times. Still, the participants have learned a lot since then-and they all point to a noticeable increase in sales since opening the store. Jennifer Dwin, 26-year-old founder of Dwin Design Group Inc., is a graduate of the Pratt Institute of Art & Design in New York City (as is Kettler). In her last days at Pratt, someone at her senior show mentioned Forward. Of launching her company after getting out of school, Dwin says, "It was perfect timing."

And the fact that Forward hooked her and the other participants up with some entrepreneurship courses has certainly helped. "Working in the store has been a huge learning process," she explains. "Coming right out of school, I really had no clue in the beginning."
Cooperating with other designers benefited her as well-especially her collaboration with Siri Wilson, who had already designed the Sirius line of clothing before joining the Forward program. The two created a line of home accents to sell at the store. Wilson, 29, didn't have a fashion design background when she started her business; she had gone to film school and then worked as a graphic designer. "I was taking [fashion] classes at night and I started thinking 'I could do this as a real business.'" In addition, Wilson wholesales to other stores.

Luckily for the participants, Forward provides various avenues that let them continue to participate. At press time, Rowe planned to stay for another six months to grow his business, while Kettler had agreed to rent showroom space from the program. Forward also keeps an alumni rack in the store where former participants can sell their designs. "It's not like you're here for six months, then it's 'OK, bye!'" says Kettler. "[BID] is working with us to figure out our next steps."

Is Fashion Design For You?

want to be a fashion designer. How do I get started? What should I know and how will I find out? Should I go to school or try to get a job? Do I want to start my own company? So many questions in my head, where do I start and where will I end up? Sound like you? I remember the feeling exactly like that myself!

Where are your answers? After witnessing both success and failure, I believe that most importantly you must first discover if this is really what you want to do! Start by getting involved in this industry. Your local mall probably has someone on staff that's involved in fashion show production and fashion promotion. Make an appointment and let them know what you're interested in and volunteer to help on the next project. This is a great introduction to the glitz and glamour side of the business, however, you will still need to get a broader picture.
Look for a store in your neighbourhood that makes and sells its own clothes and see if you can meet the owner and a designer (often one in the same).

Try to talk your way into a tour of their studio or factory or ask for the opportunity to see what a typical day is like. Ask as many questions as you can from as many people as possible: this will help you gain a real sense of the industry. Ask about the hours they work, how long it took them to get their own store, if they went to school, what were their greatest hurdles, what is the toughest part of the job…you get the picture. Some may be too busy preparing for a show or new clothing line, but don't be discouraged. You really should make every effort to get a feel for the business-I assure you it's not all catwalks and photoshoots.

If you still want to be a fashion designer, then dig in some more. Go to your local fabric store and see if they offer any lessons, or try buying some fabric and making something for yourself. Contact your local community college to see what courses or programs they offer in fashion. Check to see if they have any visiting professionals that are willing to give a workshop or talk at your school. I know the International Academy of Design in Toronto offers an intensive two-week summer studio, perhaps your local school has something similiar. Check out books on fashion design at your local library. Don't forget the Internet: it is a wealth of fashion information waiting to be tapped into.

Alana Berry and Alexander Labayen, both former students of Toronto's International Academy of Design, have taken somewhat different approaches to world of fashion design.
Alana Berry

Before studying fashion, Alana pursued a career in business and feels it is the best thing she could have done. "When I look at the big picture now, I realize it's not just about being creative: fashion is also a business. If I didn't have a strong understanding of business, it would all be just a hobby."

Once she realized that fashion was calling out to her, she enrolled at the Toronto International Academy of Design. When asked about her experience there, Alana says, "I know that some people have been very successful with little formal training, but I would never pass up what I learned at the Academy-not to mention, that's where I met my partner, Diana. Developing a strong network of contacts in this industry is very important."

When Alana left school she almost immediately formed, 'Alana Berry,' her own fashion company and label. She has teamed up with one of her former Academy classmates, Diana Calma, and is designing elegant custom-tailored formalwear for her clients. Alana believes owning your own company can be very rewarding if you're prepared for "long hours and hard work!"
Alex Labayen

Instead of immediately heading out on his own, Alex Labayen decided to apprentice with one of Canada's hottest new labels, 'Misura by Joeffer Caoc'.
Alex feels that becoming an intern has been a valuable stepping stone to one day going out on his own. His experiences at Misura have already taught him some of the subtler aspects of fashion, "You have to remember it's not for you, the clothes I mean, you just can't design what you like - you have to adapt to what other people want."
Alex has realized that, "People have reasons why they purchase what they do. You have to know what makes people tick, what influences their choices, you really have to learn how to observe what is happening around you and be aware of the past and develop your own ideas of the future."
Working as an apprentice has become an extension of school. Alex says, "I have fun, but it's long hours and hard work (sounds familiar). I've been able to learn about the business side of the industry, things like production, distribution, custom laws, sourcing and marketing. I think this is a great route I've taken because I can learn from someone else's mistakes, learn the ropes, make great contacts and eventually go out on my own better prepared than ever!"

What is Costume Design?
Every garment worn in a theatrical production is a costume. Before an actor speaks, his wardrobe has already spoken for him. From the most obvious and flamboyant show clothing, to contemporary clothes using subtle design language, costume design plays an integral part in every television and film production. It is an ancient theatrical craft and the process today is identical to when Euripedes was writing long ago. Costume design is a vital tool for storytelling.
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When a costume designer receives a script, the process of developing the visual shorthand for each character begins. Costume sketches, fashion research and actual garments are used to help costume designers, directors, and actors develop a common language for the development of each character. Sometimes a glamorous entrance may be inappropriate and destructive to a scene. The costume designer must first serve the story and the director.

The more specific and articulate a costume is, the more effective it will be with an audience. Minute details loved by actors often enhance their performances in imperceptible ways.
Many actors credit their costume as a guide to the discovery of their characters. Actors sometimes need sensitive costume design for imperfect bodies. Flattering figures, camouflaging flaws, and enhancing inadequacies are part of the job description.

Costumes are defined and refined, and the process can be angst-ridden. Each frame of film is a canvas and has its own proscenium. Nothing within it is left to chance. Each choice of color, texture, pattern, and form is deliberate. Like the popular myth of actors improvising their dialogue: contemporary costumes are often taken for granted and sometimes seem to magically "appear." Every actor appearing in front of the camera is scrutinized like a child on their first day of school. Even the most sophisticated audience commonly overlooks some of the finest and most effective contemporary costume design in film and television.

Film is the great collaborative art. The design triumvirate -- the director of cinematography, the production designer, and the costume designer -- struggle to create an invented world to help the director tell his story. A film is one gigantic jigsaw puzzle. A movie is an enormous architectural endeavor of sets and lighting and costumes for one time and one purpose. This minutely crafted kingdom must sit lightly on the shoulders of the narrative.

Costumes have always had enormous influence on world fashion. When a star captures the public's imagination, a film or television role has catapulted him or her there. A style cycle begins as this role is recreated in retail fashion to the delight and demand of fans. The exposure this celebrity brings to a costume generates millions of dollars for the fashion business. When a film engages the public's psyche, it is a powerful selling tool for a clothing manufacturer. Costume designers receive tremendous pride from seeing their efforts reproduced on a global scale, but little recognition and no renumeration for setting worldwide trends.

Often the most successful screen imagery spontaneously becomes iconography. New "classics" feel like they have always been part of the culture. Yet, costumes never spring from the public "collective unconscious." Behind every costume there is a costume designer.

Costume designers are passionate storytellers, historians, social commentators, humorists, psychologists, trendsetters and magicians who can conjure glamour and codify icons. Costume designers are project managers who have to juggle ever-decreasing wardrobe budgets and battle the economic realities of film production. Costume designers are artists with pen and paper, form, fabric and the human figure.

Start Your Own Clothing Design Company

Of course, there are the horror stories. Like the times New York-based swimwear designer Malia Mills and her business partner, Julia Stern, spent long nights mixing kettles of fabric dye in Mills' studio apartment because they couldn't afford colored cloth. Or the time a factory breakdown forced them to construct 100 bathing suits by hand in two days.
Let's not forget the rejection. At the start of her career, Mills, now 32, offered to work for a top designer for free and was turned down.

And did we mention the money problems? Mills worked as a waitress while trying to get her business, Malia Mills Swim Wear, off the ground but wound up with $100,000 in personal debt anyway. She's still paying that off.

If tales like these don't scare you away--and you have a truly unique idea--you might be ready to start your own fashion-design company. But don't expect it to be all martinis and feather boas, honey.

The fashion industry demands penance from its novices. Count on long, stress-filled days; a battalion of competitors; and, at least in the beginning, very little payback in an entrepreneur's favorite shade: green. In fact, starting a fashion-design firm from scratch, with limited capital, is a lot like boot camp for your soul. Still, despite the many challenges--and sometimes because of them--a growing number of young entrepreneurs, equipped with little more than a sewing machine and a dream, are launching their own fashion lines.

Barbara Bundy, vice president of education at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, confirms that many students like the idea of running their own companies independent of the chains established fashion houses impose. Being the boss promises the possibility of complete creative freedom and control. Those most likely to succeed in the fashion industry start with an idea that will appeal to a specialized or niche market. Mills' sassy bikinis, in flirty prints like cheetah, are designed to fit like lingerie and come in mix-and-match sizes so women can choose the top and bottom that fit. Twenty-two-year-old Elle Hamm of Irvine, California, designs and sells form-fitting sportswear with an athletic edge that can serve as daywear or eveningwear. And 28-year-old designer Mario "Maji" Melendez is gaining attention with his Latino-inspired men's clothing, particularly his guayaberas, or traditional Mexican wedding shirts, which he adapts to American tastes.

"I've stumbled onto an interesting niche," says Melendez, owner of Maji by Melendez, in CITY, California. "Latinos make up a significant portion of the population, especially in Southern California, but this segment has been largely overlooked by designers and retailers. I hope to emerge as a leader in the design, production and distribution of clothing geared toward this demographic as well as consumers who are looking for more unique attire with a little attitude."
Many of Bundy's students have gotten a toehold in costume design for the entertainment industry. Others have found their niche custom designing clothes for individuals, a growing market, she says, because many people are tired of off-the-rack outfits that look alike.

Bundy strongly recommends young designers work for an established company before plunging in on their own. Mills followed that advice. After graduating from Cornell University and a Paris design school, she took a job as design assistant with San Francisco-based Jessica McClintock. Her college chum, Julia Stern, a fashion reporter, was working on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and remembered that Mills used to sew bikinis in college. She called her old friend and suggested Mills--who grew up in Hawaii, where she practically lived in a bathing suit--send some suits to the SI editor. Without hesitating, Mills whipped up six suits, none of which made it into the magazine. But feeling that she had found her true calling, she quit her job and moved to New York City.

Alas, the Big Apple wasn't waiting breathlessly for the arrival of yet another young swimwear designer. Mills spent the next eight months working as a waitress and hunting for a job as a design assistant while researching the swimwear industry. In 1992, she decided to start a homebased swimwear business, funded with $20,000 from her parents, her boyfriend and credit cards.

During that time, she visited manufacturers, introducing herself and her then-embryonic line. "I told them, `I'm too small now to use you, but someday I'll need you, and I want you to know who I am when I call,' " Mills remembers. "My philosophy is that the time to ask for help is when you don't need it."

A year later, things started happening. Mills' creations made it into the coveted Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, and her bikinis were featured in accompanying calendars and videos, where supermodel Kathy Ireland strutted in a Malia Mills charcoal-blue, long-sleeved bikini.
Soon after, Stern, now 30, joined as a partner, and the pair were featured in The New York Times and Harper's Bazaar, along with other publications. Celebs like Hugh Hefner's wife bought suits, and so did plenty of ordinary women. Too cash-poor to buy space at top fashion trade shows, where she could have gotten much more exposure, Mills rented a hotel room near the show sites and sent invitations to industry insiders, asking them to drop in after the shows to see her swimwear. "Necessity is the mother of invention," says Mills of her strategy. "A few people stopped by. We sat by the fax for the next week, and slowly, orders came in."

That year, 1993, Bloomingdale's featured the suits in its Christmas window, and Mills' profile went higher. Today the suits are sold by catalog, on the Web (http://www.maliamills.com) and in the new Malia Mills retail store in New York City. After many lean years, Malia Mills Swim Wear is headed for the $1 million mark.

Mario Melendez didn't apprentice as a designer with an established firm, although he did work as assistant production manager for a women's clothing label--a move that helped him make the manufacturing connections he would need later. Having his own design company "was all I talked and dreamed about," says Meledenz, who compares being a designer with being a symphony conductor who brings separate elements together to create a harmonious whole.
By age 18, he was making silk-screened shorts for friends in his parents' garage. After serving in the Persian Gulf War and earning a bachelor's degree in political science, Melendez used $5,000 of his G.I. money to make the first 500 of his guayabera shirts from home. By night, he worked as a waiter to fund the business; by day, he pitched the shirts to every store he could find. "I had no shame," he crows, "and it worked!"

His shirts, which come in a wide variety of styles and colors, are sold in 50 stores and on his Web site (http://www.maji-usa.com). In business for two years, he projects 1999 sales of $500,000. Maji by Melendez has been featured in the Spanish version of People magazine and in regional publications. Like Mills, Melendez used ingenuity as well as persistence to gain attention for his business. Along with participating in West Coast trade shows, he is co-sponsoring a Latin jazz concert and fashion show, with part of the proceeds going toward scholarships for fashion-design students.

She's only 22, but like Melendez, Elle Hamm--part-time rapper, full-time designer--already appreciates the power of persistence. Without any formal design background, she began her Beverly Hills-based company, Rudwear, with just the $40 she invested in fabric to sew hair scrunchies; two years later, her company earns $100,000.

Hamm began by selling the scrunchies to Los Angeles-area hotel and airport gift shops, then expanded into a simple line of accessories, which she tried to pitch to Nordstrom. The upscale department chain initially wasn't interested, in part because of Hamm's inexperience in manufacturing. But with the help of her father--who linked her up with a company willing to manufacture her accessories--and a self-made brochure copied at Kinko's, Hamm landed another meeting at Nordstrom, which agreed to carry her line of scarves and purses. They liked her work so much that when she later proposed her sports-inspired dresses to them, they bit.
Carmen Electra and Pamela Anderson Lee have worn Rudwear fashions, and Claudia Schiffer appears in a Rudwear piece in her new movie "Desperate But Not Serious." Rudwear now has come out with a line of jerseys for men. Some are simple; flashier versions decked with patent leather are intended for entertainers.
"I'm a competitive person," Hamm says, explaining her formula for success. "I get the inspiration for my designs from who I am."

Few young designers can expect a smooth ride. But, according to Mills, the view from the top is worth the climb. "When you have to struggle," she says, "you appreciate it more when you make it over the hurdle. Getting through it all makes the dark days worthwhile." Resources to help you get started:

Want to start your own fashion-design firm?
Here's the experts' best advice:

Find a niche or a unique specialty.
Get some formal education and/or real-life experience working with a designer.
Create a realistic business plan.
Make sure you have enough capital to keep going for one year.
Keep overhead low by working from home, if you can.
Get media attention by sending samples and press releases to members of the fashion press, industry movers and shakers, and celebrities.
Be prepared to meet many challenges.

If you're not near Manhattan or Los Angeles, be willing to move. A niche business outside these fashion hubs, such as designing cowboy boots in Texas, "could make a living," says Joan Volpe at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, "but your chances of becoming nationally recognized and picked up by the big chains aren't very good."