Fashion Designer conceives garment combinations of line, proportion, color, and texture.While sewing and pattern-making skills are beneficial, and most fashion designers are formally trained or apprenticed. Ever wonder what Marc Jacobs, Valentino, 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 itwhen 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 or specialties . 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.Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories. Some work alone or as part of a team. They attempt to satisfy consumer desire for aesthetically designed clothing; and, because of the time required to bring a garment onto the market, must at times anticipate changing consumer tastes. Fashion designers may work full-time for one fashion company, known as 'in-house designers' which owns the designs. They may work alone or as part of a team. Freelance designers work for themselves, selling their designs to fashion houses, directly to shops, or to clothing manufacturers.The garments bear the buyer's label.
Some fashion designers set up their own labels, under which their designs are marketed.Some fashion designers are self-employed and design for individual clients. Other high-fashion designers cater to specialty stores or high-fashion department stores. These designers create original garments, as well as those that follow established fashion trends.Most fashion designers, however, work for apparel manufacturers, creating designs of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashions for the mass market. Large designer brands which have a 'name' as their brand such as Marc Jacobs, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Gucci, Donna Karan, or Chanel are likely to be designed by a team of individual designers under the direction of a designer director.
Some sketch their ideas on paper, while others drape fabric on a dress form. When a designer is completely satisfied with the fit of the toile (or muslin), he or she will consult a professional pattern maker who then makes the finished, working version of the pattern out of card.The fit of the finished garment depends on their accuracy. Finally, a sample garment is made up and tested on a model to make sure it is an operational outfit.