Fashion Designing

Careers in Fashion Designing

Ok, so your wardrobe is always updated with the latest fashion trends. You are considered the most stylish in your circle of friends. Your tailor is accustomed to getting meticulous details about the type of clothes you wanna wear. You are the style icon for everyone around and people seek you out for fashion advice. You exactly know what you wanna wear and where to get it from. Your creativity goes into overdrive every time you think of clothes and accessories.

Does this ring a bell? If yes, then you are at the right place.

Before you go into the details, these interesting facts about fashion may further pique your interest:

v  Lacoste’s crocodile was the first designer logo ever.

v  The first equivalent of a shopping mall, selling exclusively clothes, was constructed in ancient Rome. 

v  In 1943, the first official Fashion Week started in New York.

v  There are over 40 Fashion Weeks. The five most important are held in the so-called fashion capitals: Paris, Milan, New York, Berlin and London.

v  Valentino Garavani made red dress so famous that a color was named after him – “Valentino Red”.

v  Cotton was used for clothing for over 7,500 years.

v  In early 1917, the company Keds preceded Converse by few months in the production of the first sneakers.

v  In 1924, sneakers went international thanks to German Adi Dassler who established the brand Adidas. Adi’s brother Rudi established Puma.

v  An item is considered “vintage” only if it is made between 20 and 100 years ago. “Retro” refers to a replication of a vintage pattern or style.

v  The modern era of perfume started in 1921, when Coco Chanel marketed Chanel No. 5.

v  Vogue was first published in 1892, in the U.S.A.

v  The invention of the automobile led to shortening of skirts to make entering the car more convenient for women.

v  To be a Haute Couture designer, one must get approved by the Chamber of Syndicale, the governing body of fashion in Paris. How serious is the approval? Well, only 14 fashion houses have been approved out of the vast amount of designers we consider haute couture. Some of the non-approved applicants are great designers, such as Giorgio Armani.

v  The high heel wasn’t invented to make the ladies look sexy; it was invented to stop men falling off their horses! History shows that the first high heels were worn by men and they were designed to keep a man’s feet in the stirrups when he was shooting at his foes with a bow and arrow. It wasn’t until much later that high heels became fashion item for women.

v  In the 1500s, fashion designers showed off their clothing by putting it on miniature dolls. There was no such thing as models until 1853.

A fashion designing course will open up the following career opportunities for you:

v  Fashion Designer

v  Fashion Illustrator

v  Fashion Stylist

v  Fashion Coordinator

v  Fashion Consultant

v  Pattern Maker

v  Pattern Cutter and Grader 

v  Quality Controller 

v  Production Manager 

v  Fashion Merchandiser 

v  Design Manager 

v  Retail Manager 

v  Product Development Executive & allied areas 

v  Accessory Designer 

v  Fashion Choreographer

What would it Cost you?

The fee structure varies from institution to institution. However, on an average you will have to dish out more than ₹ 45,000 per annum to complete a course in Fashion Designing from a reputed institution.  

Where to study?

Your race for admission into a reputed fashion school will begin straight after school. Subjects like drawing, painting, home science and computer graphics will develop your creativity.

When we talk of fashion, we often forget the wide range of accessories that also constitute fashion. Although the courses listed here mainly pertain to apparel design, you could opt for a course in accessory design or specifically in jewellery design, knitwear design, footwear design or leather design — the options are as diverse as the range and variety of accessories themselves. 

Top Colleges in India for Fashion Designing:

v  National Institute of Fashion Techology (NIFT), Delhi

v  Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore

v  Pearl Academy of Fashion, Delhi

v  School of Fashion Technology, Pune

v  Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune

v  National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

v  International Institute of Fashion Design, Chandigarh

Top Colleges in Abroad for Fashion Designing:

v  Central Saint Martin

v  Royal College of Arts

v  Parsons, the School for Design

v  Kingston University

v  Ecole De La Chambre Syndicale

v  LA Cambre

v  Bunka Fashion College

What pay should you expect?

A Fashion Designer earns an average salary of Rs 358,011 per year. Pay increases with experience.