If you’ve been thinking of becoming a fashion designer, you are in the right place! Fashion designers are known to create different kinds of styles and designs for people.
Let’s look at all you need to know to become a successful fashion designer.
1. Who is a Fashion Designer?
A fashion designer is one who is tasked with the responsibility of creating clothing garments, designs, and outlines. Fashion designers are not those that make the clothes but rather, they apply aesthetics to their designs.
They also work hand in hand with other people in the fashion designing field like seamsters, costume designers, merchandisers, design firms, modeling agencies, and magazine editors.
You should know that the fashion industry is a billion-dollar kind of business where there are different career paths which includes sportswear, handbags, footwear, accessory design, outerwear, and fashion merchandising.
2. The Role of a Fashion Designer
Fashion designers are responsible for designing clothing and accessories . These also include evening wear, mass-market clothing, footwear, and ready-to-wear clothing.
Most fashion designers make research on the trends to be able to create cool and stylish designs. Most of these designers make use of design software to create their designs. They begin by making a sketch or a prototype of the proposed design before they start designing.
You should know that fashion designers also make fashion lines with the aim of showcasing fashion trends. These designs can be displayed at fashion events held in London, Paris, Milan, and New York. There are some designers who prefer to work for top brands by pitching their design ideas to creative directors.
Business and marketing skills are additional skills most fashion designers learn to help expand their business to a larger audience.
3. Becoming a Fashion Designer
You should know that you can go about becoming a fashion designer in different ways. You can either begin by taking up a course in fashion design or just follow your passion.
You do not necessarily need a degree or diploma certificate to become a fashion designer. Still, it’s important to have more than the basic knowledge to excel in this line of business.
There is, however no particular formula you must follow, but here is what you need to know to become a fashion designer:
3.1. Advance Your Skills
There are different skills you’ll have to harness as a fashion designer. These skills include the ability to see concepts in 3D, drawing, and a good eye for the texture and color of fabrics. You should be able to sharpen your sewing skills.
When you learn the basic techniques, it will make your sketching stress free and easy. As you aspire to be a fashion designer, you should be able to sew and cut different types of fabrics.
You should know that with sewing, no knowledge is wasted. It doesn’t matter if you’re already an exceptional seamstress, make sure that you practice and sharpen your skills by trying out different patterns, designs, and fabrics.
You will thrive in this career path once you know how to maneuver difficult fabrics under unfavorable situations. You should also be interested in learning how fabrics react, drape, and move when worn.
You should also know the source of these fabrics. Understanding all you need to know about these fabrics will help you the perfect design for each fabric.
When you learn from other professional designers, you will become a better designer. You should also learn how to create product ranges and storyboards. When you learn every day, you’ll understand the fashion industry better.
3.2. Designing
To become a fashion designer, you must know how to design. There are fashion design programs you can enroll in where you’ll be able to learn to sketch and all the technical details that come with designing. There are however processes in designing that you should follow so that you can be an exceptional fashion designer.
1. You will have to draw out a rough sketch of whatever it is you want to design. A mockup of your actual design will help serve as a guide in your design process. This is also a very important first step in designing because it is a way to improvise.
2. Next, selecting the fabric you want to design is important. You should put on your creative cap with the patterns and prints available to you. You should know that the right colors and shades will go a long way in promoting your designs. Playing with colors and patterns is a way designers used to bring out fantastic designs.
3. Paying attention to technical details is very important. This is where you bring your rough sketch to life by applying the necessary technical details.
3.3. Get a Degree in Fashion Design
Getting a degree in fashion design will help you a great deal in your fashion journey. This gives you access to professional expertise that would help sharpen your skills.
You will also get to meet your mentors or top fashion moguls in the industry that you can benefit from. These degree programs are mostly three to four years. There, you will be able to learn how to draw, make patterns, learn about color compositions, and everything you need to know about fashion design.
Being exposed to professionals in this field will help you in the future as they can give feedback and advice on your work when the need arises.
3.4. Choose a Niche
It is very important that you choose a niche based on where your interests lie. There are different niches you can choose from. Here are some of them:
3.4.1. Ready-to-wear
You can decide to focus on making ready-to-wear clothes as it is what is trending right now in the industry. This is where designers have the opportunity to show off their works on red carpets, exhibits, and runways. The outfits made for these events are usually exclusive and ready to wear.
3.4.2. Haute Coutre
This particular niche began way back when dresses were made for a particular person. Here, you’ll have to pay keen attention to the fabrics, techniques, colors, and even the pricing.
In time past, it was only people of nobility that had access to the designers who made this type of dress. With the way the world has developed and changed, anybody can now have access to designers who make haute couture dresses.
3.4.3. Mass Production
Unlike how haute couture involves making clothes for elite people for runways and the likes, this is the direct opposite. The clothes are made in bulk without restrictions on the class of people that wear them. They are also very economical.
Here, brands choose a model, make findings on the trending patterns and then make the dresses. There are different fields you might be interested in:
- Bridal wear
- Women’s wear
- Men’s wear
- Knitwear
- Costume design for the film industry
- Boys and girls wear
- Sportswear
- Outdoor wears
- Accessories
3.5. Have a Passion for the Craft
Becoming a fashion designer is not a day job. You should know that it takes time, effort, and hard work to be successful in this field. There are some designers whose aim is to see their designs on celebrities while some make the average customer their topmost priority.
Those who make dresses for the average customer will earn more because these customers pay for the dresses. On the other hand, the clothes worn by celebrities are mostly gifts.
It is very important that you give priority to your craft than wanting to become famous. This will help you succeed in the long run.
3.6. Do a Market Survey
It is good that you make findings on what your customers like to wear. If you reside in a place where the climate is always very warm, it will be difficult to sell ski jackets there.
You need to be aware of your environment and pay keen attention to what people wear then you’ll be able to know the kinds of designs and clothes to make.
It is very important that you keep it simple and pragmatic. It is always good to make cute extravagant dresses but a simple top and jeans will sell more than those dresses.
3.7. Merchandising
It is very important to make findings about the pricing of the design industry before you venture into this business. You should know about what it will cost for the production and everything involved in designing.
This will help you understand the consumer behavior and pricing. You will also get to know how to run a business.
3.8. Understanding Your Target Audience
Before you venture into the fashion business, it is very crucial that you understand your target audience. You can visualize yourself as your target audience to get a clear picture of what you would want from your brand.
When you understand branding and how to build a good portfolio, will help you know the kind of target audience you would be designing for.
4. Types of Fashion Designers
There are different categories in the fashion industry you can choose from:
- Sportswear Designers
- Footwear Designers
- Evening Wear Designers
- Prêt-à-porter Designers
- Kidswear Designers
- Limited Edition
- Sustainable Fashion Designers
4.1. Sportswear Designers
You should know that sportswear designers are designers that design sportswear using the right fabric. The fabric used for the production of sportswear is chosen based on high intensity and sweat resistance.
4.2. Footwear Designers
Footwear designers are tasked with the responsibility of designing different types of footwear for various occasions. These type of shoes ranges from athleisure to formal wear. They sometimes join forces with clothing designers to make footwears that match the clothes made.
4.3. Evening Wear Designers
They are responsible for designing evening wear for parties. This can include ball gowns for women and tuxedos for men. Most of these outfits are worn for special events and parties.
4.4. Prêt-à-porter Designers
They are referred to as the ready-to-wear designers who make ready-to-wear clothes. Their target audience is larger than the Haute couture. They got out of their way to create unique designs that would satisfy their customers.
4.5. Kids wear Designers
These designers are tasked with making accessories, clothes, and shoes for kids of different ages. They make sure to use the right materials and fabrics for production.
4.6. Sustainable Fashion Designers
There are some brands whose center of attraction is feasibility. The designers of these brands create designs by using eco-friendly materials and ethically sourced materials. This is done to help raise awareness about the environment.
5. Skills a Fashion Designer Should Have
Here are the skills fashion designers should have:
5.1. Creativity
To make it big in this industry, you have to be creative. An artistic eye is very important as it will change over time during your journey. It is also very important that you have an outlandish kind of thinking. Keeping up with the trends will also help to boost your creativity.
5.2. Business Sense
Combining creativity and a good sense of business would help your career thrive. This will help you implement the right marketing strategy and manage your budget. You should know that having business skills will help scale your business to the next level.
5.3. Passion
If you know you are one who easily gives up, the fashion business is not for you. If you want to be able to be successful there, you must have passion and drive for the fashion world.
It’s not always about the glamour. You should know that you must put in the work and creativity to succeed. It would be best if you always were willing to learn more about the industry.
Your quest for knowledge will take you places. If you lack motivation, rest assured that it will be difficult to attain the height you desire.
5.4. Inquisitiveness
You should be aware that the fashion trends of ten years ago are not the same as today. You must have an understanding of what the fashion world was all about some years ago so that you can come up with creative ideas for this present age.
5.5. Competitive Spirit
Do you know that the fashion industry is highly competitive? Now you know. You need to push yourself out there to be able to thrive successfully in this field. A competitive spirit will also help improve your craft in the long run.
5.6. Sense of Style
It is good to have a good eye for the best fabrics and colors to use when making clothes for your customers. Someone with a good sense of style will do great in this industry.
5.7. Computer Skills
There are some computer skills fashion designers can learn that would help them improve their designs. There is also software that can aid these designs.
6. Benefits of Becoming a Fashion Designer
Here are some of the importance of being a fashion designer:
6.1. Decent Income
Fashion designing is one way to earn a living. The competition in the market does not really affect the income flow. You should know that people would always wear clothes, hence, you’ll make a good amount of money in the long run.
6.2. Gives you Satisfaction
The fact that you’re doing what you love and earning money while at it gives you a sense of satisfaction. It is also satisfactory to see your designs on your customers.
6.3. Build Your Own Brand
You should know that becoming a fashion designer will help you build your brand from scratch. You can own a good start-up brand by combining photography with your online fashion store. Technology has made it stress-free and easy to start up your brand. You can also build a community and client base via social media.
6.4. Meeting Different People
Fashion design will give you the rare opportunity to meet and interact with people from all walks of life. You get to meet up with celebrities and top fashion icons in the industry.
You also get the opportunity of traveling to different countries for shows and events.
7. In the End
The fact that you are a talented fashion designer doesn’t mean that you will succeed in the field. You have to keep in mind that a degree in fashion design would help boost your skills and take your craft to the level.
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Last Updated on by Sathi
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