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Career:
Fashion
Designer |
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A Day
in the Life
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 he or 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. He or she looks at materials,
attends fashion shows, and works with other designers
on projects. A designer should be able to communicate
his or her philosophy, vision, and capabilities
clearly and comprehensively through sketches, discussions,
and, occasionally, samples. No matter what his or
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 more than 75 percent of our
surveys as a plus in fashion design.
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| Paying
Your Dues |
People 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. The
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 10 years and the number of
people who have entered the profession, the estimated
odds of becoming an internationally famous designer
are roughly 160,000:1.
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| Associated
Careers |
Fashion designers who become unhappy with the lifestyle
(low pay, long hours, hard work, low chance of advancement)
leave the field to do a variety of things. Some
of them use their color and design skills to become
interior designers, graphic designers, or fashion
consultants. More than one quarter of the people
who leave remain in the clothing industry, either
on the production end or on the institutional buying
end. Another 10 percent of them enter the advertising
or promotions industry.
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