Fashion.

It is not just a word, but much more than that. Not just a way to pair up jeans with a top, but the way to think about things. Not just about magazines and makeup, but a way to express thoughts and reflect mood.

There are millions of people around the world, who work in the world of fashion. They live fashion, they breathe fashion. And there are an equal number of people who want to join into fashion. The glamour industry is ever growing and has spread its arms around everyone around us in some or the other way. It exists in our everyday lives, whether we are conscious about it or not.

What do you think about fashion? What it really is?

Just to put on a little black dress? Or about wearing heels and pumps? Is it just about wearing a variety of cuts and colors? Or buying the latest trends the minute they hit the market?

Fashion is much, much more than just these things. It is a thing which defines you. Not just your wardrobe, but your personality, aura, mentality and style. There is so much that fashion influences around us. Sometimes, we do not even realize it! But who does all this? How the industry does keeps on going and going?

Designers are the ones who let go off their sleep; work over night to give the world a piece of their original works and make the world new and more advanced. And it is not everyone’s cup of tea. One should have that skill in them to design for others. To think the way others would think and to create things accordingly. Nope, it isn’t as easy and silly work as people assume. And it never has been like that.

A lot of the young ones who want to begin their career aspire to become a fashion designer. At times, I have come across many who do not know what it actually takes to be one. Simply walking on the ramp with the models flaunting your collection is just one face of a fashion designer. There are several many, where he works on designs and re works on them, coordinates with his team to get an output of his ideas, takes inspirations from anywhere and everywhere and brings it out by re creating in his own style and so much more. The cycle of working from a scratch to a grand level is ever going for a designer.

Sadly, people overlook these efforts at times. They do acknowledge your work, but do not know the hard work, the efforts and the patience you have put in to get your desired results. Focusing on such things, here are a few things a person willing to become a fashion designer should know.

fashion designing career

Ask yourself the questions discussed below, and think well upon the answers you get while you think. It would be good to go through this so that you really know whether you are ready to take it up seriously or not; whether it is the thing you really want to go to or you are just fascinated by it.

  1. Do you really have the passion for fashion?

Yes, that is one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself each time you want to make a career in fashion. Doing fashion and working in for fashion are two different things. Fashion is not all about owning a Louis Vuitton bag and a couple of Valentino dresses. It does not mean to watch every ramp walk of Victoria Secrets, or hitting the stores whenever the new season collection comes up. This is not all what passion about fashion is.

The real passion shows where you have to just have sleepless nights straight in a row for days, just to work on a small research. It means to work off to the extreme limits you can to showcase your innovations and imaginations. Passion for fashion speaks out when you are ready to spend your judiciously saved bucks on buying fabric rather than having a lavish dinner with your love. Yes, it takes a toll on everything you do while you are studying fashion. And if you are ready to work that hard, then welcome to the world of fashion.

  1. Do you want just a degree in fashion or want to become a name in fashion?

This question will help you evaluate how far you want to go in your career. Though both sound similar as you are going to have a degree anyway, but they have far different meanings. Just to own a degree in fashion will teach you fashion for the namesake. It may mean that you may work on assignments just to get cleared and get into the next semester.

But if you want to make a name in fashion, then it does not only about possess a degree by your name. It means that you knew everything related to fashion and ability to create ideas by yourself. It means that you are ready to take up anything and work in every way possible, no matter how hard it is. Owning just a degree can fetch you a good job, but the will to make a name will take your much forward than that.

  1. How flexible can you be?

No, we are not talking about your dance moves or flexibility of your body! Being in fashion is never just a 9 to 5 job. You will be working late night hours and dropping in to the office in the early morning again with sleepy eyes. And you would have to be take care of so many things at just one time, be it production, handling the employees under you, re working on the errors in the work and anything more that comes in your way. And of course, you would have to travel at times, sometimes far off from your home, or sometimes at odd hours of the day.

You would never be just sitting and relaxing in your chair. A lot of times you would be required on multiple places at almost same timings, so you need to travel to and fro really frequently. And a hell break loose when a show comes up or a new collection comes around.

Here, a bit of your family situations also play a role, as people around you need to support you too for all this. Thus, consider such things too before getting into the fashion industry.

  1. Can you have the links and contacts?

Beware of the fact that working in the fashion industry will never be as easy as just sitting back at home and getting everything and everyone to you for work. You have to be an extrovert, an outgoing person, one who has the confidence to begin conversations with people and maintain healthy relations with them. The industry goes a lot on the basis on how well connected you are with people. Having good contacts surely helps you a lot in the field of fashion. And yes, another hard hitting fact is that no one really comes with contacts already existing in the industry. You would have to make them yourself.

  1. Can you afford it?

No one would like a situation where you would be in debt even after months after your collection is launched. Financial status also plays a vital role for working in fashion. To make money, you must put in money first. And all that lending and borrowing may not work well each time. Having a strong financial backup is important to begin something on your own. But it does not mean either that if you have money, you blow it all off on your single work. Management is what you really need to know well here. Though many designers began from nothing when they were young, yet the key lies in how well you manage it all.

  1. Are you creative?

Creativity is the thing each one needs to have in order to be a part of fashion. You will be asked any time round the clock to suggest new ideas, recommendations and changes in the ongoing project and you will be expected to have couple of ideas at any point of time. A designer must be creative to do that. To be new is a key factor in the industry. And to be new, you need to be original and creative. Thinking out of the box, working on things in a way different than others so that your work stands out of the rest is essential. Or else, if you are doing the same what the rest are, then how will people notice you?

Being creative means to work on things developed by you, not just googled or copied from pinterest. That would be just a copy. Without judging the work as good bad, stylish or weird or anything, one should develop their own innovations, designs and ideas. That is where a designer is born.

  1. What if you do not make it as big as you wished for?

Okay, the harsh fact is that only few taste the desired success out of many. You may be the one; you may not be the one. Mostly it depends on you and your work, but at times, a bit of luck is needed too. And it may or may not work every time. What would you do then? Sulk away in a corner, booze out the whole night and blame it on the stars? Or pick yourself up or work even harder for the next time? What if you still do not make it as big as you wished?

It will be heart breaking off course, but you have to be ready for it. Things changes in the industry just like that. At any point of time. Success never comes with a guarantee. Hence, backup plans are always required to be there in your mind.

  1. Are you ready to face critics?

You may not be welcomed and showered with compliments everywhere, mind that! You will have to be new and creative to be a designer. And it may happen that your designs may be liked by some, but some may be raged by it. And you will be the one who would have to face the consequences. Are you ready to face such situations?

But there lied good in very bad too. Same goes with the critics too. Being criticized would tell you where you went wrong. And you can improve on your flaws then. Just as if your competitor criticizes your work just before you launch it in the market, you may feel as if it all went a waste. But hey, you got to know your faults too. And you can work on them so that the mistake does not happen again. And critics are always welcomed in the world of fashion. Accept that fact.

  1. Success would not come overnight. Do you have the patience or that?

Yes, it is another harsh fact that you would have to consider, if you want to make a name in the fashion industry. Fame does not knock at your door and make you a star overnight here. There is a lot, lot of hard work and time required to do that. You may start in getting good money in a year or two after you begin your work, but to make a name, there are more years to come. And it also depends on how much fame you wish for. Being famous in your city can still be easy, than getting fame nationwide. And it all depends on your patience, time management and your hard work. Some people give up seeing that they did not get what they wanted. But the show must go on to keep the things running smoothly.

  1. Are you good at multi-tasking?

It may sound painful, but you would be required to do a lot of things all at the same time. Whether you are a student, working for a brand or become a designer later, multi-tasking would always be expected out of you. You really have to be on your toes, ready to take up work coming up next in your way. Though it seems to be all about fashion and designing, yet you would be working on editing pictures, handling the visual merchandising, show your mathematical and geometric skills, be an artist and do excellent sketches, have a good taste at fashion styling and what not!

All at the same time.

Scary, but true! Thus, one surely needs to be active person with a good sense of time management.

When you ask yourself these questions, you can evaluate the answers and decide whether fashion is the right career for you or not. If you do not think seriously, you may end up just doing a regular boring job, just to earn your livelihood. Fashion is a field where you can do as your heart says, create what you mind wishes and follow the direction you wish to follow. But it takes up a lot of hard work, time management, skills, patience, creativity and skillfulness. These questions will surely help you think, rethink and finally decide what you want. Have your time and think upon it.