Career in Fashion Designing
Fashion design is the form of applied art wherein designers design clothing and lifestyle accessories keeping in mind trends in cultural and social attitudes. Fashion designing appeals and excites those who have a zeal for creativity and style as well as it does promise them glamour, success and a high pay package.
In India, the fashion industry is just in its budding stage. Though, fashion designing is a demanding career, aspirants need to combine their creativity with design skills to make a strong foothold in this industry. Those who have knowledge about fabric, draping qualities, color and design, and the changing trends, have bright future in fashion designing. First step towards becoming a fashion designer is to get enrolled in a professional course.
Educational Requirements:
Basic qualification for a course in fashion designing or fashion merchandising in India is 10+2 which varies depending on the course chosen. These programs help students learn about textiles and fabrics and the use of computer-aided design (CAD) technology in fashion designing. Most of the schools such as National Association of Schools of Art and Design offer Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design that provides students internship opportunities with clothing companies, design firms, and professional fashion designers as well as allows them to gain first-hand experience in sales and marketing. To get enrolled in a fashion designing program in most of the schools, students are required to complete basic art and design courses for which they have to submit sketches and other artistic examples.
The fee structure for the course in fashion design in India is on an average Rs. 45,000 per annum, which varies from institution to institution.
Where To Study:
Some of the prestigious institutes in India that offer fashion design course are listed below:
- National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)
- IIFT New Delhi
- Apeejay Institute of Design
- International Institute of Fashion Technology (IIFT)
- National Institute of Design
- WLC College India, Mumbai
Skills Required:
Building a career in fashion designing not only demands talent and style in everything but the ability to be creative when it comes to colours, shades and textures, and to make people look good. The skills required for becoming a successful fashion designer include creativity, ability to visualise design and patterns, understanding of customer lifestyle, eye for detail, and good communication skills.
Career Prospects:
Fashion designing is a very broad profession which involves different types of fashion designers, some of which are listed below in brief:
- Clothing designers: Specializes in creating casual wear, suits, sportswear and intimate apparel for men, women, and children.
- Footwear designers: Specializes in creating shoes and boots.
- Accessory designers: Specializes in designing handbags, suitcases, belts, hosiery, and eyewear.
- Costume designers: Specializes in designing costumes for the performing arts, motion picture and television productions.
Other employment areas or job opportunities after completing the fashion designing course include employment with professional designers as apprentices, freelancing for fashion houses and boutiques, or as self employed by opening own boutique.
Job Responsibilities:
Duties of a fashion designer include:
- Arranging and supervising the marketing of fashion clothing
- Studying fashion trends appealing to consumers
- Drawing free hand and technical sketches of designers ideas
- Coordinating the wardrobe for a fashion show or an event to promote the product sales
- Overseeing the final production of their designs
- Visiting manufacturers or fashion shows and trade shows
Further career prospects include serving as chief designer, creative director, or supervisors of certain fashion brands at a company after getting enough experience in designing.
Other related careers with fashion designing include working as art directors for magazines, movie and television productions; floral designers; graphic designers; jewelers or fashion models.
Earnings:
The monthly package for beginners can be around Rs.10,000-15,000, which can go up in the range of Rs.30,000-40,000 per month with experience and industry placement. After getting maturity in designing skills, salary would go much higher. However, average annual salary for a fashion designer is Rs 353,667 per year. (Source: PayScale.Com)
National & International Prospects:
As Indian fashion is becoming more popular abroad because of cheap labour and eye-catching craftsmanship, there is much better prospectus for fashion designers abroad both in terms of salary and growth. There are a lot of platforms in India such as India Fashion Week that help budding fashion designers to make the world feel their presence.
Pros & Cons:
Being a fashion designer gives one the opportunity to be in touch with the rich and famous but at the same time it requires a lot of experience to get investors.
Where To Work:
After getting a degree in hand one can join fashion houses run by top Indian fashion designers such as Abu Jani, Manish Malhotra, Neeta Lulla, Ritu Beri, Rohit Bal, and Tarun Tahilian; garment and textile manufacturing units, or branded fashion showrooms.
