| THE WORK:
Fashion designers have an exciting and demanding career in a competitive industry. There are a wide range of design qualifications available with a great number of career possibilities. What does a fashion designer do?
Fashion designers need to be able to not only draw their designs but produce samples using technical skills.
Fashion designers can design items of clothing for a wide range of stores, from everyday high-street chains to exclusive design houses. They may specialise in designing men’s, women’s or children’s wear.
A fashion designer may spend their time doing the following:
· collecting ideas and looking for trends
· sketching ideas or using a computer programme to draw designs
· developing ideas into patterns and making samples
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| HOURS AND ENVIRONMENT:
Fashion designers often work long hours and weekends to stick to deadlines. It can also be hard to switch off as a designer as they always need to be looking for inspiration. Fashion designers are usually based in a studio space, which is warm and well-lit. Some fashion designers will spend long periods of time at a computer, producing design ideas. Travel, both within the UK and overseas is very common.
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| SKILLS AND INTERESTS:
To have a career as a fashion designer it is important to have some relevant skills and interests. Many of these skills can be added to and developed by attending a relevant fashion design course at Higher Education level. The following skills will be useful for a career in fashion:
· a creative eye for colour and shape
· the ability to draw and show design ideas effectively
· an interest in fashion and past and future trends
· technical skills in sewing and pattern-making (usually gained through a Higher Education course)
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| ENTRY :
Many fashion design companies will look for people with relevant qualifications, such as a degree. It is important to look for a course that will give a range of both practical (drawing) and technical (sewing and pattern-making) skills, as this is what employers will be looking for. Work experience is a really good way of gaining entry into a career in fashion. Many students undertake paid and unpaid work experience both during and after their course to establish contacts. It is also important to have a good design portfolio of work to take to interviews.
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| TRAINING :
Fashion design degrees are offered at many UK universities. The London College of Fashion is a specialist university offering a variety of design degrees and short courses in fashion and related areas. Other universities such as Manchester Metropolitan, Nottingham Trent, De Montfort and Heriot Watt also offer fashion-related degrees. To search for colleges and universities offering fashion design and related degrees visit the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) website: www.ucas.ac.uk.
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| OPPORTUNITIES:
With the right skills, training and experience, a junior fashion designer may be promoted into a senior or head designer position. There are also opportunities to become a design director or senior manager.
Some experienced fashion designers may also set up their own company or start their own label.
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| ANNUAL INCOME :
When starting out, a fashion designer may be paid between £12,000 and £14,000 a year. This will increase to around £22,000 with experience. Top, experienced designers could earn over £60,000 a year. University information
Other
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| CASE STUDY | |
Adrian Wollaston is head of menswear preview design at Firetrap. This means he is responsible f...
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