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Your Career as a Fashion Designer PDF

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CAREER AS A FASHION DESIGNER In sti tute Re search Num ber 99 ISBN 1-58511-099-X DOT Num ber 142.061-018 O*Net SOC Code 27-1022.00 CAREER AS A FASHION DESIGNER Tommy Hilfiger Norma Kamali Ralph Lauren Donna Karan Mark Jacobs Betsey John son THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE FASHI ON DES IGN ERS BEH IND EACH SEAS ON’S hot test looks. Their names are stamped on our clothes, in side and out. Their log os are splashed across scarves, sweatshirts, and handb ags. Their names carry so much weight, they de sign ev ery thing from socks to bed line ns to car int e ri ors. 2 These fa mous fash ion de sign ers and many more not-so-fa mous de sign ers in flu ence ev ery thing we wear from un der wear to over coats. We see their cre ations in fashi on maga z ines, in the mov ies and on telev is ion, in dep artm ent store wind ows, in cata l ogs, on mann eq uins in fancy shops, and on the racks in lowly dis count stores. Most peo ple as so ci ate fash ion de sign ers with the kind of high fash ion seen only on the run way. But fash ion de sign ers range from the hand ful of haute cou ture de sign ers who cre ate ex clu sive de signs for high fash ion sa lons (where most of us can’t af ford to shop) to those who work in the gar ment in dus try cre at ing cloth ing for the mass mark et that will be worn by mill ions of Amer ic ans. The fact is that ev ery piece of cloth ing we wear – steel-toed work boots, flan nel bath robe, plain white boxer shorts, or sparkly eve ning gown – has to be de signed by some one. That some one, fa mous or not, is a fash ion de signer. Fash ion de sign ers cre ate the fash ions for men, women, and chil dren to wear morn ing and night, at work and at play. Most spe ciali ze in one part icu l ar type of clothi ng, such as bridal gowns, swimw ear, ling e rie, inf ant’s clothi ng, unif orms, or men’s suits. They work for fash ion sa lons, tex tile man u fac tur ers, big chain de part ment stores, and pat tern man u fac tur ers. Some pre fer to free lance and build their own cli en tele of in di vid ual cus tom ers, spe cialty shops, and man u fac tur ers. A fash ion de signer stays on top of cur rent fash ion trends the same way we all do – by readi ng maga z ines, checki ng out what the act ors are wear ing on tele vi sion, and win dow-shop ping. Only the top de signe rs get to be fashi on leade rs and crea te comp letely orig i nal de signs. Most de sign ers adapt ex ist ing de signs ac cord ing to well-es tabl ished guidel ines and trends. Any one in ter ested in this ca reer should be able to draw, have a good eye for color and form, be able to sew, and have an ob ses sion for fash ion. It is pos si ble to en ter the field with just a high school di ploma, but it is not reco mm ended. Fashi on des ign is cons id ered by many to be a glam or ous ca reer and it at tracts many tal ented peo ple. The com pe ti tion is stiff for be gin ners. You should have at least a two-year de gree in fash ion de sign and a good port fo lio packed with ex amp les your great ideas. 3 A car eer in fashi on des ign has a lot goi ng for it. It is ex citi ng, crea tive, and chall engi ng. The edu c at ional req uirem ents are mini m al and the earn ings are good, and for some very succ ess ful de sign ers, ex traord in ary. The job mark et is small, but grow ing steadily. There are op por tu ni ties for in ter na tional travel. And if you have the tal ent, there is al ways a chance for fame and for tune. WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW HIGH SCHOOL STU DENTS INT ERE STED IN FASHI ON DES IGN SHOULD TAKE AS MANY art classes as poss ib le. Bei ng able to sketch is ess ent ial, but don’t limit yours elf to drawi ng class. A course in art hist ory might seem irr el e vant now, but what you learn there will be very use ful in your ca reer. Nat u rally, any fash ion or de sign courses are a must. Even if you al ready know how to sew, take any avail able sew ing classes. Other help ful courses inc lude math, busin ess, speech, Eng lish, and for eign lang uage – es pe cially French or Span ish. Read. Foll ow the trends by read ing all the fashi on mag az ines you can get your hands on. Sub scribe to the bi ble of the fash ion in dus try, Women’s Wear Daily. Pro fess ional fashi on des igne rs (and ev ery one else in the fash ion in dus try) read it re li giously to stay in the know about what’s go ing on in the in dus try and to keep up with ev ery-chang ing trends. Experiment Even if you aren’t sure what you’re doing, try your hand at designing and making some clothes. Pick up some cheap clothing at the nearest thrift shop or yard sales. Take them apart and redesign them into new shapes with different trims. It is a great way to exercise your creativity. Plus, you will learn a lot about how clothes are constructed. Explore Visit art galleries, attend fashion shows, pay attention to what trend setters are wearing on TV, and make regular trips to the mall to check out what’s new. If there is a garment factory in your city, ask your school guidance counselor to help you arrange for a tour so you can see the pros at work. Work A job in the summer or after school in a clothing store will give you an education in fashion merchandising. A job in a fabric store would provide an excellent opportunity to learn about textiles, notions, trims, and patterns. 4 HISTORY OF THE PROFESSION PEO PLE HAVE BEEN WEAR ING CLOTHI NG SINCE THE BEG IN NING OF TIME, BUT AT first putti ng on clothi ng was solely a prac ti cal matt er. Tod ay, ani mal prints are the rage and no ward robe would be com plete with out a leop ard print dress or faux fur jacket. But cave men and women had no idea how styli sh they were when they wrapped thems elves in real ani mal pelts – they just wanted to stay warm. Clothi ng rem ained pri mari ly util i tar ian for thous ands of years, with most garm ents be ing hand made at home. Per haps the first fash ion maven in his tory was Cle o pa tra, but it was her makeup and ac ces so ries that made a state ment, not the shapel ess fabr ic draped like cur tains. Nonet he less, the Queen of the Nile set a his tor i cal pre ce dent – po lit i cal fig ures, roy alty, and other cul tural icons have since in flu enced what we wear, set ting fash ion trends through out the cen tu ries. Fashi on des ign as a prof es sion started in the 1600s and it beg an right where to day’s fash ion cen ter of the world is – in France. Around the mid dle of the cen tury, it was the fa mous French King Louis XIV who said that “fash ion is a mir ror.” Louis was re nowned for his style, which inc luded heavy use of ext rav ag ant laces and vel vets. It was an ind ulg ence only the exc eed ingly rich could aff ord. For a while at least, fashi on seemed dest ined to be res erved for the ari st oc racy and priv i leged classes. But by the 1700s, fashi on mag az ines were publ ishi ng the late st styles so even comm on folks could see what was go ing in in side the French Court – though they could only dream of wear ing such fin ery. The first cele brated fashi on des igner was also French. She was Rose Bert in, a French mill in er who dressed Mar ie Ant oin ette in the late 18th cen tury. Women’s fash ions dur ing the French Rev o lu tion were heavily in flue nced by Ber tin’s de signs. Wealthy women and pro fes sional dress mak ers paid big bucks to any one who could pro vide sketches of the royal ward robes be fore the pop u lar press got them. Soon af ter the turn of the cen tury, fash ion de sign came to be def ined by eras. The Georg ian Era, named aft er George III, lasted from 1800 to 1820. Fash ions from this era were known as Re gency Fash ion. It was based on class i cal princ ip les; only the or nam en ta tion changed. Greek in spired bord ers evolved to more exo tic Egypt ian, Spani sh, and orie n tal de cor ins pired by Nap ol eon’s ex pe di tions. Near the end of the Geor gian Era, Gothic inf lue nces dis solved the clas si cal lines, maki ng way for the Ro man tic Era. The ro man tic spirit lin gered un til 1850. 5 All garm ents were made by hand unt il 1846 when Elias inv ented the sewi ng ma chine. Soon, fash ion houses were set ting up fac to ries where fashi ona ble clothi ng could be pro duced quickly and in large quan ti ties. For the first time, even or di nary peo ple could af ford to be fash ion able. Up unt il this time, fashi on des igne rs were al most all women. But in 1858, an Engl ish tail or named Charles Fred er ick Worth opened a fashi on house in Paris. He had im pec cab le ref er ences, hav ing been the cout u rier for Em press Eugenie (cons ort of Na po leon III). In his Paris sal on, Worth crea ted de signs for ac tresses and other wealthy ce leb rity cli ents who could af ford to have cloth ing de signed spe cif i cally for them. Worth is cons id ered the first mod ern cou tu rier for sev eral rea sons. He was the first de signer to sel ect his own fabr ics rather than usi ng fabr ics prov ided by cli ents. He was also the first to disp lay his de signs on live mode ls. The Vic to rian Era of the 1800s lasted for 64 years. Through out this pe riod, fashi ons evolved from bus tles to Gib son Girls to tai lor made suits. The Vic to rian Era and the 19th cen tury ended with a bang in a pe riod known as the Naughty Nineties. Next came Art Nouv eau with its gracef ul lin ear curves in dress, deco r at ive arts and de sign. This was the first style to domi nate the world of de sign in all forms in clud ing fash ion, fur ni ture, fine art, jew elry, ar chi tec ture, and home décor ac ces so ries. Such ma jor de sign styles that set the tone for fash ion able liv ing are rare. Art Deco of the 1930s and Space Age (also known as Atomic) of the 1950s were the only two to come close to hav ing the all-en com pass ing in flu ence of Art Nou veau. Erté, con sid ered the fa ther of Art Deco, was not a fash ion de signer and yet he in flu enced nearly all fash ion de sign ers be tween 1915 and 1936. From 1939 to 1945, fashi on was aff ected most by the World War. Clothi ng in Great Brita in was ac tua lly rat ioned und er the Ci vil ian Clothi ng Utili ty Scheme. Garm ents were aust ere and pract i cal, re flect ing the mil i tary gar ments of war time. When the war was over, fash ion bounced back with lav ish use of fab rics in full-skirted dresses and Hol ly wood glam our. One of hist ory’s most cel e brated fashi on des igne rs, Chris tian Dior launched his new line in 1947. Life mag az ine dubbed it “The New Look.” It was one of the lon gest last ing “looks” any de signer has ever pro duced, re main ing fash ion able for about 10 years. 6 The 1950s brought huge changes to all ar eas of life in Amer ica. For the first time in his tory, fashi on was spec ifi cally de signed for young men and women, coined “teen ag ers.” Rock and roll icons like El vis Presl ey and James Dean ins pired teena ge fash ion. Jeans made their de but as a fash ion sta ple, and sep a rates were pop u lar for the first time be cause they were comf orta ble for danc ing to lively mus ic. Haute cou ture took a back seat to ready-to-wear from 1950 on ward. French de sign ers put up the most re sis tance to the idea of fash ion for the masses, but even there, prêt-à-por ter (ready to wear) even tu ally out sold haute cou ture sa lons. It was n’t long un til fash ion de sign ers fig ured out that they could reach a much larger mar ket (and make a lot more money) by get ting into the re tail mark et them selves. Dur ing the Swinging Sixties in Lond on, de signer Mary Quant opened a string of in di vid ual re tail out lets on both sides of the pond. She ap pealed to the teen age pop u la tion by pro duc ing youth ful clothes for the big gest mar ket of all time – baby boom ers. Through out the sec ond half of the 20th cen tury, fash ion was de fined by de cades. The 1960s were filled with Op Art and mini skirts. The 1970s started with the peasa nt look popu l ari zed by hipp ies and ended with the flashy night club looks of Disco Fe ver. The 1980s had two main styles, The New Rom an tics and Power Dress ing. Dia na the Princ ess of Wales was the fashi on leader for the New Ro man tics, mov ing the fem i nine look into main stream fash ion. Meanw hile, yupp ies ev ery where foll owed the adv ice in John Moll oy’s Dress For Suc cess. The book had women wear ing suits with shoul der pads and men wear ing red sus pend ers and ties. The two looks were repr es ented by then UK Prime Mini st er, Marg ar et Thatcher and Prin cess Di ana. While Dia na was seen on maga z ine cove rs in flowi ng chif fon, Thatcher was seen on daily TV in her struc tured power suits that de manded re spect for her au thor ity. The cen tury ended with a glam our back lash. Grunge only lasted a year – deconstruc tionism had seams and zipp ers on the out side of gar ments and minimalism re duced cloth ing to neu tral tones in sculp tural shapes. Gone were the glitz and glam our of the 1980s. In was the pur ism of neu tral tints and shades of black, white, gray, and beige with litt le or no jewe lry. De signers like Donna Karan, Giorgio Armani, and Calv in Klein prod uced “mode rn class ics” within a frame work of pure funct ion and nat u ral sim plic ity. 7 Fash ion trends have a way of re turn ing. There is a say ing that if you keep some thing in your closet long enough, it will come back into style. Some de signe rs use styles of byg one eras to crea te en tirely new lines. For ex amp le, in the 1990s, fashi on des igne rs Ghost and Tom Ford found suc cess by brush ing up old looks from the 1960s. They added dif fer ent trims and de vel oped vari a tions to pop u lar ize the “new” BoHo style. One thing is cert ain in fash ion. It is alw ays chang ing. New fashi on ideas come from mus ic, tele vi sion, and world events. A mu sic video or sing le hit movie can spawn a fashi on rage. Ray-Ban sold mill ions of sung lasses aft er the movie Men in Black. And pare nts shudd er when their young daugh ters dress for school look ing like Brittany Spears. WHERE YOU WILL WORK NEW YORK CITY, SAN FRANC ISCO, AND LOS ANG ELES ARE THE MAJ OR FASHI ON cent ers in the US. These citi es are home to large and small comp an ies that em ploy the ma jor ity of Amer i can fash ion de sign ers. You can find some de sign jobs in Chic ago, Dall as, and other big cit ies, but only in very small num bers. A few fash ion de sign ers are lucky enough to work in large fash ion houses such as Liz Claiborne or Calv in Klein. It is usu ally diff ic ult to get hired by one of the top fash ion houses be cause there is so much comp e ti tion for a limi ted numb er of cove ted po sit ions. There are how ever, some maj or de signer lab els that have dev elo ped a need for more fash ion de sign ers be cause they now also make clothes for the mass mar ket. Donna Karan, for ex am ple, has a sec ond ary line of lower priced clothi ng that sells un der the la bel DKNY. Giorgio Armani has an equally succ essf ul seco nda ry lab el for men called Emporio. Most fash ion de sign ers do not work for fa mous de sign houses nor do they work in high fash ion. Most work for large gar ment man u fac tur ers that pro duce cloth ing for the mass mar ket un der mult i ple lab els. Many are inhouse des igne rs for maj or re taile rs such as K-Mart, Tar get, and JC Penney. Small spe cialty shops and bout iques also have their own fash ion de sign ers on staff. They cre ate de signs for off-the-rack gar ments as well as fill ing cus tom or ders for cus tom ers who are willi ng to pay for exc lus ive de signs that no one else will be able to buy. 8 Not all fash ion de sign ers work for ap parel man u fac tur ers. Fash ion de sign ers work in a num ber of dif fer ent in dus tries de sign ing tex tiles, pa per pat terns for home sew ing, shoes, and var i ous ac ces so ries. A small num ber work for en ter tain ment pro duc tion com pa nies as cos tume de sign ers for tele vi sion, mov ies, the ater, and bal let. Fash ion de sign ers have even more into the home fur nish ings field, which is now com monly known as “home fash ions.” They de sign items like bed and bath line ns, drap er ies, and rugs. The work en vi ron ment for de sign ers var ies de pend ing on the ind ust ry and size and type of em ployer. Some spend pleas ant days with one or two co-work ers in quiet and spa cious rooms with am ple natu r al light. Many more work in crowded workr ooms filled with big tab les, noisy cutt ing and sewi ng mac hines, and mini m al vent il at ion. For tu nately, fash ion de sign ers do not spend all their time in their work rooms. They are of ten seen out and about, get ting ideas and check ing out the com pe ti tion. They visit art mu se ums, stores, show rooms, con fer ences, and fash ion shows. Many travel to other cit ies or even other count ries to show their new lines to buy ers. Many fash ion de sign ers work as freelancers. They work in their own stud ios and also spend time meet ing with buy ers, sales reps, pro duc tion work ers, and other de sign ers. THE WORK YOU WILL DO FASH ION DE SIGN ERS CRE ATE ALL KINDS OF GARM ENTS AND ACC ESS OR IES. MOST work in men’s, women’s, or child ren’s wear for their ent ire car eers. Many spe cial ize in one type of cloth ing or ac ces sory such as ma ter nity wear, suits, ling e rie, handb ags, or shoes. There are a small num ber of high-fash ion de sign ers who ca ter di rectly to in di vid ual clie nts. These are the de signe rs you know by name, the ce leb rity trendsetters for the in dus try. Ev ery one fol lows their lead in terms of sil houe tte, col ors, fabr ics, and trims that will be in style each sea son. Some of these self-em ployed de signe rs head their own fash ion houses; oth ers de velop sig na ture lines for spe cialty stores, high-end bou tiques, or ups cale dep artm ent stores. At this level, there is glamo ur and exc item ent, but it is also ext remely comp et it ive. Top de sign ers pos sess a unique com bi na tion of orig i nal ity, art istry, tech ni cal ex per tise, net work ing skills, and busi ness savvy. 9 The ma jor ity of fash ion de sign ers work for ap parel man u fac tur ers. They gen er ally fol low the fash ion trends set by the high pro file de sign ers rather than cre ate orig i nal styles of their own. They work und er the di rect ion of their em ploye rs, adapti ng des igns for the mass mar ket to meet the tastes and price re quire ments of cus tom ers. A large garm ent fact ory will typ i cally em ploy a staff of de signe rs inc ludi ng a head des igner, sev eral as sis tant de signe rs, and one or more samp le make rs. In some cases, des igne rs are in volved in ev ery step of the pro duc tion. They come up with the ideas, choose the fab rics and trims, do cost es ti mates and prici ng of fin ished prod ucts, and work coo p er a tively with those who ac tu ally make the gar ments. The work room is home base for fash ion de sign ers. But de sign ers also spend a great deal of time ex plor ing and con duct ing re search. They visit tex tile comp an ies to learn about new fabr ics and trims. They browse through re tail stores, read fash ion mag a zines, visit show rooms, and at tend fash ion shows. The pur pose is to not only see what is avail able, but to get a feel for what cus tom ers are buy ing, or re ject ing. For in spi ra tion, mu se ums and art gal ler ies are great sources of ideas about color and com po si tion. Fash ion de sign ers keep their eyes open wher ever they go, tak ing no tice of what peo ple are wear ing in the real world. Very of ten, de signs are based on street trends. Back in the work room, ev ery thing be gins with a sketch. Ideas for orig i nal de signs can come from just about any thing – cul tural trends, pop stars, ex otic vac at ions, old movi es, mag az ines, curr ent events, and new tex tiles. Sketches are some times done on a com puter, but most de signe rs still pre fer to crea te rough sketches with penc il and pa per. Working eit her alone or with a des ign team, the idea is fleshed out. The de signer com bines ba sic dress mak ing and tai lor ing prin ci ples with flat patt ern work and drap ing techn iques to dev elop the de sign. The fin al des ign is given to a pat tern maker to crea te samp les. Pat tern pieces are drawn on pa per, then cut out of mus lin. The mus lin pieces are sewn to gether by a seam stress into a rough mock-up that is fitt ed on a real-life model. The de signer ex ami nes the samp le garm ent both on and off the model. If the sam ple does n’t look right, it is changed unt il the de sign achieves the de sired ef fect. Once the de sign it self is acc ept able, the pat tern pieces are mod i fied, feat ures are added, and a rough mock-up of the com pleted de sign is made. The de sign team then chooses mat e ri als and writes speci f ic at ions for the pro duc tion work ers that might in clude the color schemes or spe cific ins truct ions for cons truct ion. 10

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