Are You the Next Hot Designer?
To most people, becoming a fashion designer seems like an unrealistic aim. You might see things differently – and you might be right.
We have all heard of students being snapped up by major fashion houses not long after leaving a well-known fashion college. (Stella McCartney was made the chief designer of Parisian fashion house Chloe, after producing only two of her own collections.) But the acclaimed reality TV show ‘Project Runway’ showed that students on fashion courses at small, relatively unknown colleges, can win international competitions. (Graduate of American Intercontinental University’s London campus Christian Siriano was the recent winning designer of season 4 finale.)
But, even if you don’t get name recognition right off, plenty of other designers start with very small budgets, and very small clothing collections. British fashion company Red-or-Dead began by selling vintage clothes on a local market stall, and then added their own clothing to it. They now have their own lines of shoes, bags, sunglasses, and watches, along with a world wide following. Alexander McQueen served an apprenticeship as a tailor after leaving school. He later worked in fashion in Paris, and finally studied for a Master of Arts in fashion design in London. His entire final year college collection was snapped up by fashion patron Isabella Blow. And he’s now one of the most recognizable names in fashion.
A lot of famous designers came to the profession from different fields: celebrated French fashion designer Christian Lacroix studied history and museum studies, before obtaining a position with Hermès in Paris, and, later still, setting up by himself. And Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto studied law before taking up fashion.
One thing these designers have is a love of fashion. And they also display a respect for the craftsmanship and history of fashion. More importantly, they had a vision, and the perseverance to see it through. Sometimes young designers can try to force creativity, because they feel they have to find their style at the beginning. In reality, most designers take quite a while to develop a particular style ‘signature’. Most designers are probably still learning and discovering new ideas after years, or decades even according to Michael H. of StartingaClothingLine.com.. Like all arts, fashion is as much about the process and working with the materials as anything else.
If you’re on a budget, work out what fabrics are best for you, and work with them. A cotton shirt, well designed and well made, looks as good as one made from much more expensive fabric. When it comes to illustration, Digital Fashion Pro is a professional level fashion design software that enables you to easily design and illustrate garments and outfits, but it costs only a fraction of the price of many other similar software. With creativity, vision, and even a modest budget, you become the next hot designer!
Jay Arrington is Co-owner of Harper Arrington Media Group, the parent company of www.StartingaClothingLine.com, and www.DigitalFashionPro.com. He along with his business partner Michael J. Harper has authored several books on fashion designing and on how to start a clothing line, with The Official Step by Step Guide to Starting a Clothing Line being one of their titles. They have also introduced the world to Digital Fashion Pro a fantastic fashion designing software, that allows the user to create lifelike fashion design sketches! In addition, the two are also the proud owners of Harper-Arrington Publishing www.HApub.com home of The Little Entrepreneur book series for kids and young adults, www.thelittleE.com. As entrepreneurs and educators it is very important to Jay and Michael that they provide fellow future and present business owners with the very best information possible!
