What is Fashion Designing & How To Become A Fashion Designer?

Technically, this should have been the first-ever blog to be published on the website; But, Hey, Better late than never.

I bet most of you already know What is Fashion Designing. At least the gist of it. In this post, we will see What it is in detail along with the history of Fashion and how to pursue fashion designing.

I think I have said this in every blog post I have ever written but nonetheless; saying it again. Fashion is nothing less than art and a Fashion Designer is nothing less than an artist. But, Like most of the art forms; Fashion can be thought of too.

You don’t have to be born with an innate talent for Fashion Designing to be a successful Fashion Designer; Although it might help if you do. The skillset required to be a Fashion Designer can be cultivated with some perseverance, lots of passion, a boatload of hard work, and a pinch of luck on your side.

So, Let’s get onto it; Shall We?

Before we discuss what is Fashion Designing, let’s first see what exactly is Fashion.

If you think Fashion is all about clothes; I am going to burst that bubble of yours for you. Fashion is not just about clothes and accessories; It’s about every aspect of a person – From hair to toes and his/her attitude to confidence levels and culture & social attitudes of Society.

To put it in simple terms; Fashion is nothing but a state of mind. It’s one thing that might be based on people’s preferences and viewpoints towards things or people. Technically fashion started when Humans started wearing leaves on their skin; I believe it’s safe to say that it was indeed a Fashion Trend then.

And to put it is not so Philosophical way; Fashion is the style or way of wearing clothes & accessories according to the drift of society or may be based on one’s individual predilections. It can also be defined as the art of transforming a simple attire into an elegant looking.

What is Fashion Designing:

As I mentioned Fashion is a state of mind and one’s attire. In that regard, Fashion designing can be defined as an art of helping people evolve in terms of their attire. In simple terms, Fashion designing is about designing clothes, accessories as per the trend.

In simple terms; Fashion Designing is the art of adding beauty to clothes and their accessories. Fashion Designing is also about creating or changing people’s lifestyles based on current fashion trends. Though there is a myriad of specialties in Fashion Designing; There are general categories to Fashion Design as a whole. The Haute Culture and Ready to Wear.

The Haute Culture is basically what famous Fashion Designers like Manish Malhotra fall into. It involves creating designs, clothes, and accessories, especially for a customer. Clothing’s are custom made to fit a customer’s size exactly and accessories are custom designed as well customers size and features.

Contrary to Haute Culture is Ready to wear. In this category of Fashion Designing, the clothes & accessories are designed for standard sizes. Since these are not custom made; It is easier for Mass production. Ready-to-wear holds a huge share of the market because of its affordability compared to Custom made clothes. It is what we wear on a daily basis.

The thing common between Haute Culture & Ready to Wear is the fact that collections under both categories are presented during fashion shows and shown on the ramp.

History & Evolution of Fashion Designing:

I have already talked about the History of Fashion designing in this post; If you are interested you can go check It out. Anyhow, I’ll be talking less about the history and more about the evolution of Fashion Designing here.

Would you believe if I said that Fashion Designing goes as back as almost 2 Centuries (193 Years to be exact). Charles Fredrick Worth is believed to be the first-ever Fashion Designer ever. He was a mere seamster at first and then went on to set up a Fashion House in Paris. This might be one of the reasons why Paris is called the Fashion Capital of the World.

During that time; It is said that the Designs were made by anonymous dressmakers and the Royal families were the trendsetters. The fashion trend was decided based on what the Royal families are wearing.

As the Fashion House setup by Charles started becoming famous, people started attesting names to the designs and that is how Designer dresses came into existence.

Pretty simple times if you ask me.

During the beginning of the 20th century; New developments started taking place in Paris and then would spread across the world. Almost everything related to fashion used to take place in Paris first; Paris started to emerge as the Fashion Capital of the world.

But there were many more things left to evolve in the Fashion field. During mid 20th century, the bulk production of fashion garments started to take place. fashion awareness among people increased, and they began choosing clothes for themselves based on comfort and their own style, instead of relying on the trends prevailing in the market.

From just stitching clothes to designing clothes, accessories, bags, footwear; The Fashion Designing field has come a long way. From deriving the fashion trends from what families wore to the creation of trends based on what people & celebrities are wearing; Fashion has become more democratic in its own ways.

Skills You Need To Become A Fashion Designer:

Just a disclaimer before I start.

All or most of the below-mentioned skills can be cultivated with time. If you lack any of these; Work towards it. Do not let this post tell you that you can’t become a Fashion Designer. Anyone with a Passion can become whatever he/she wants to.

Now that I have put this out; Let’s see what are all the skills you need to become a Fashion Designer.

Creativity:

Being a fashion designer means being a creator; If you don’t develop or have a creative thinking process for a field where you are supposed to create, it just does not make sense. Does It?

I think this is one of the most important skills you need to possess to Become a Successful Fashion Designer. Everything about Fashion has a creative aspect to it. Creative thinking is critical to the field and it is something that does not come easy. Even the most creative people sometimes run out of creative juices. From choosing colors to creating patterns for your dress designs and to creating apparel for those sets of clothes – Everything demands creativity.

If you are one of those people who is gifted with creativity – Good for you; You are lucky ones. If you don’t; there is nothing to worry about. There have been lots of studies done on the creativity of people and one of those studies suggests that Creativity is something that can be taught. But, not by sitting in a lecture or attending a class; instead by learning and applying the creative thinking process.

Artistic & Drawing Skills:

Well, this one’s kind of self-explanatory. Most or All of your designs are born on a sheet of paper or on a computer screen. You are supposed to express your imagination and drawing is how you do it. Drawing is the way for you to show how you have imagined a dress or a design looks like. If you are not great at drawing; you might want to join a class or two and hone your Drawing skills.

An Eye For Detail:

I suppose this is one skill that is needed by every career field that exists in this universe. An eye for great detail will take you a long way. This skill would especially come in handy when you are working on ruffle designs, pleats, embroidery, and many more things. Best of the Fashion Designers have an eye for details for the most delicate intricacies.

Strong Imagination & Visualization:

This was supposed to come before Artistic 7 Drawing skills, but it made more sense to put it here. Your drawings and designs are as good as your imagination. Having a vivid Imagination can help you in ways you can’t imagine. Having strong visualization skills would help you in deciding what looks best before you actually go through the trouble of putting it on paper.

Business Sense & Marketing:

This one is for those of you who want to establish their own brands or want to start their own boutiques. Having a keen business sense and a few marketing skills can you help you grow your business. Personal branding might help you getting fame and money and maybe someday celebrities would say your name when someone asks them “Who are you wearing today?”

Passion:

This does not exactly come under this part but I could not find a better place than this to put it. If you master all of the above skills and are not passionate about them; It will just nullify everything. Whatever field you choose; choose it based on passion. As I have mentioned earlier; Fashion is an art form and every art form demands passion.

How to become a Fashion Designer:

I am sure most of you have been waiting to read this part more than anything else in this post. It goes without saying that the perks of being a Fashion Designer are something that can not be just counted. If you have the passion, Pursuing a career in Fashion is pretty much easier in terms of education. There are so many courses available for aspiring Fashion Designers out there.

There are Diploma courses for beginners, Degree courses for Intermediate Fashion Designers, and Master programs for people who want to advance in the field of fashion. That’s not it, there are various certification courses available for people who can’t pursue fashion designing courses full time. Here is a list of courses you can get into to become a Fashion Designer.

Diploma in Fashion Design & Boutique Management:

For those of you who know very little about Fashion Designing or what goes on behind the scenes of the Fashion Industry. This is the perfect course for you. What’s even better is that along with learning the basics of Fashion Designing you will also learn about the Boutiques – How to establish them and how to manage them.

Spread across a time period of two years, you will be learning the fundamental details of Fashion designing and managing a small-scale business. You will also be learning about fabrics, garment design, ornamentation, and the marketing of brands.

BSc in Fashion and Apparel Design:

If you possess some knowledge about Fashion Designing and the Fashion Industry or if you have done a Diploma or Certification course in Fashion Designing; BSc in Fashion & Apparel Design is the way for you to move forward. The course spread across a time of 3 Years. BSc in Fashion & Apparel Design program is designed focusing specifically on the creativity aspect of Fashion Designing.

The course will help you to learn how to think in a creative manner, conceptualize the design problems, CAD, and Entrepreneurial aspects of Fashion Designing.

Masters in Fashion Management:

This is for those of you who know the know-how of Fashion Designing but want to learn the advanced topics and move ahead in your career. Master in Fashion Management as the name suggests deals mostly with the Managerial and Marketing aspects of Fashion Designing. Master in Fashion management is spread across 2 years. You get to learn topics like Consumer Behavior, Retail Management, Brand Management, etc.. during the duration of this course.

These are the major courses you can opt-in for; Apart from these, there are some certification courses available. These fashion designing certification courses are for those of you who lack the time or want to just the fundamentals of Fashion Designing.

Certification Courses in Fashion Designing:

• Certification Course in Pattern Making & Draping
• Certificate in Advance Fashion Designing & Illustration
• Weekend Diploma in Fashion Designing.

Once you have completed the course & gotten your Certificate/Diploma /Degree, Join a fashion brand to learn about the fashion business and how the industry works. Even though you have a degree you need exposure to a real work environment to hone the skills you have developed during your course.

After this part, you have two options to choose from. Either keep working for a company and earn money or start your own business or brand. In either case, the first thing you need to do is put together a portfolio of your work. Portfolios are the best way of showing your skills and creative abilities.

If you are thinking of starting your own boutique, business, or brand. Put everything you have learned during your job to use. Understand the industry, Understand the customer’s needs and dive into it. It might be scary, but, if you succeed the rewards are worth all the hard work.

Eligibility To Join Fashion Designing Courses:

The eligibility to join Fashion Designing courses changes with every college and the kind, of course, you want to pursue. Here I will mention eligibility for three of the most sought-after Fashion Designing courses at the Indian Institute Of Fashion Technology.

Eligibility To Join Diploma in Fashion Design & Boutique Management:

Its fairly easier to get in Diploma in Fashion Design & Boutique Management course. If you have completed your 10th/SSLC, You are set. Head on to the admissions page and apply for the course right now.

Eligibility To Join BSc in Fashion & Apparel Design:

Before understanding the eligibility of getting into a BSc in Fashion & Apparel Design, you first need to understand that there are two kinds of entries – Regular & Lateral. A Regular entry student studies BSc for 3 years where a lateral entrant for just 2 years. Even the eligibility changes for both kinds of entries.

The only thing common between both is that you should have completed your 12th/2nd PUC in any stream.

For Lateral Entrants, the eligibility criteria are that you should have completed a 3 Diploma course in ADFT/ Textiles/ Hand-looms / Costume Design & Fashion.

Eligibility To Join Masters in Fashion Management:

Foe this one, the only eligibility criteria is for you to have a Bachelor’s degree in any stream. It’s a plus if you have it in Fashion Designing.

Now that we have covered the past, present, What & How of Fashion Designing; lets see what the future looks like for Fashion designing and also a bit about the opportunities that the Fashion field holds for aspiring Fashion Designers.

Scope of Fashion Designing:

India is a land of a multitude of cultures where various ethnicity co-exist. The Scope of Fashion Designing gets as huge as it can be in a Nation that has 1.3 billion people living in it. India’s rich history makes it the dream location for fashion designer’s inspirations.

India has been producing textile for a long time now; Not just for local use but for exports as well. This opens up wide horizons for aspiring Fashion Designer. With all that, the inception of E-commerce Fashion companies like Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart fashion has added value to the whole Fashion Industry.

If you are asking where or what kind of companies would hire me after becoming a Fashion designer. Here is the list for you.

• Colleges/Universities
• Textile Companies
• Famous Brands
• Apparel Manufacturing Units
• Boutiques
• Film Industry/Media Houses
• Fashion Magazines

These are just to name a few. Apart from these, there are loads of entrepreneurial opportunities if you are more inclined towards launching your own boutique or your own Fashion Label.

Career Opportunities For Fashion Designers:

With Indians getting more fashion-conscious & big companies like Amazon & Flipkart getting into the fashion industry the demand for Fashion Designers has increased more than ever.

The Indian Fashion industry has been gaining great exposure and the demand has been ever increasing in other countries.

Though many of the famous fashion designers have been catering to the ever-increasing international demand there is still room for more Fashion Designers on an international level. Also, one of the reasons why Indian Fashion Designers are in demand is because of the quality of Craftsmanship they provide, people all around the world adore it.

Here is a list of roles & job profiles you can take up once you complete your Fashion Designing course.

• Fashion Illustrator
• Fashion Stylist
• Fashion Designer
• Fashion Consultant
• Fashion Coordinator
• Fashion Merchandiser
• Bridal Designer
• Assistant Designer
• CAD Designer
• Fashion Content Developer
• Costume Designer For Film/ Theater
• Milliner
• Production Assistant

List Of Top 10 Companies Where Our Fashion Designing Students Have Been Placed:

1. Wild Craft
2. Tommy Hilfiger
3. F Gear
4. Tailorman
5. Reliance Trends
6. Jockey
7. Aditya Birla
8. Texport
9. Shoppers Stop
10. So Designs

Pay Scale After Completion of Your Fashion Designing Course:

The Pay scale of Fashion Designers in India depends on what they are doing. If you have your own label or a boutique, your pay scale would be so much different than the ones who are working for someone else.

That does not mean you would earn less if you have your own label or boutique. All that matters, in this case, is whether you are enjoying what you are doing. I can’t predict how much you will be making if you have your own business. But I can if you are working for an organization.

As a fresher in the field; you will be earning somewhere around Rs. 20,000 to 30,000 in a small to medium scale firm. You will earn more as you gain experience. Experienced Merchandisers can earn up to Rs. 40,000 and more depending on the company and the kind of skills you possess.

Being said all that, If you want to be a Fashion Consultant; That might help you more than you actually expect.

Top Fashion Designer In India:

India is home to arguably some of the best & talented fashion designers in the world. Here is a list of the top 10 fashion designers in current times.

1. Ritu Kumar
2. Manish Malhotra
3. Tarun Tahilani
4. Sabyasachi Mukherji
5. Wendell Rodricks
6. Ritu Beri
7. Rohit Bal
8. JJ Vallaya
9. Abu Jani
10. Sandeep Khosla

Glad to see that you have made it to the end. Kudos To You.

Now that you know What is Fashion Designing, its history of it, and How To Become a Fashion Designer; Start working towards it. You can apply for the course by going to the admissions section or fill-up the form that pops up.

Go, Fulfill Your Dreams.

That’s all about it I hope. If you think I have missed out on any of the aspects; Do let me know in the comments section. If you feel some of the topics have not been covered in detail, that is because I intend to cover them in a separate post dedicated to just that topic.