So you say you love clothes? Or that you just can’t get enough of Fashion Week coverage? If you spend your spare time flipping through fashion magazines or catching Gossip Girl reruns, you’ve probably already considered a career as a fashion designer. However, don’t think it’s as easy as throwing together your first collection and waiting for the big bucks and celebrity endorsements to roll in – making a name for yourself in the cutthroat, competitive world of fashion can take years of hard work and dedication.
There are many different ways to enter the fashion industry, but the generally accepted path is to complete a four-year fine arts degree in fashion design. There are many colleges that offer these degrees – and just like the Ivy League schools for business or medicine, there are some programs that are better than others. Whether or not you get into a program is largely based on a portfolio of your designs that you submit during the application process. Your portfolio should be creative and expressive, and should demonstrate your unique fashion point of view. Given the weight that’s attached to your portfolio, it’s not a bad idea to invest in some drawing lessons or in professional photos of your finished creations.
Whether you graduate from a prestigious program like the Fashion Institute of Technology or Parsons School of Design, or from a state college in your hometown, attending school will give you a chance to hone your skills before you enter the working world. In college, you’ll take classes in color composition, pattern making and sewing skills – the building blocks you’ll need to start your career. After all, it doesn’t matter how brilliant your designs are – if you can’t wield a pair of sewing scissors, you’ll never make it in the fashion industry! Attending fashion school will also give you the chance to showcase your work in student fashion shows and get feedback from your professors and fellow classmates – a key part of becoming a better designer.
Another major advantage of attending a fashion design program is the connections that you’ll make within the industry. Even if you don’t attend a top school, the fashion industry is small enough that almost everyone knows someone who knows someone important. These connections can pay off big time when it comes to applying for internships during your summer months or after graduation. It’s almost always easier to get a job when you have a personal recommendation from a respected professor, so take the time to cultivate these relationships while you’re in school.
Once you graduate with your fashion degree, you can start to look for entry-level careers or internships in the specific field you want to work in. If you want to work in high end couture design, you’ll likely be competing with several thousands of other applicants for one of a very few spots at the major fashion houses. On the other hand, you might find it easier to snag a job working for the house brands of fashion retailers like JC Penneys or Macys. Even if they aren’t haute couture designers, they still need new collections for every season – plenty of young designers have been able to use these positions as spring-boards to careers with more prestigious designers.
Of course, you don’t have to attend school to become a famous fashion designer. A very few gifted designers will be able to penetrate the fashion world without any formal education, while others will work their ways up from lowly intern positions s to become full-fledged designers. In addition, if your career aspirations revolve more around assisting with seamstress or pattern-making work – not running your own Bryant Park tent show – you may be able to find a job in fashion without a fine arts degree. However, the increasing competitiveness of the industry makes these cases few and far between. If you’re serious about becoming a fashion designer, you need to be serious about putting in the time to finish your formal education.
When you study fashion design at the Academy of Art University, you learn both design and fashion and prepare yourself for an exciting career with top fashion houses. Request your free information packet right now and get on the road to an exciting career in fashion design. Learn more about the Academy of Art University | Request free info
If you want to get a good start to your career in fashion, enroll in the fashion design program at the Art Institutes. Combine your sense of style with quality courses for a terrific fashion education and an exciting career.
