How to Become a Fashion Designer?: Begin Your Journey

Fashion designers are creative professionals who conceptualize, design, and create clothing, accessories, and footwear. They blend artistic vision with technical expertise to develop original and aesthetically pleasing garments. Fashion designers often stay abreast of trends, draw inspiration from various sources, and work for fashion houses, design studios, or independently.

The scope of fashion design has expanded remarkably in India, offering significant job opportunities. If you are wondering how to become a fashion designer. Then let’s unfold the steps and discover the requirements to embark on this journey.

Fashion Designing in India: An Overview

Did you know that India is the second largest exporter of textiles and clothes in the world? Further, the fashion industry in India is projected to grow at a rate of 10% to reach ₹33,000 Crores ($400M) in the upcoming years.

With the ever-evolving fashion trends and growing global demand, the requirement for skilled fashion designers is facing a surge as well. This is why now is the best time to look for a job in the fashion industry.

The world of fashion has a plethora of career options to offer. You can choose to build a career in any of the following job roles:

• Fashion Designer
• Retail Manager
• Fashion Stylist
• Textile Designer
• Fashion Model
• Jewelry Designer
• Personal Shopper
• Retail Buyer

Salary Trends

With the everchanging and developing trends in the fashion designing sector, compensation increases and changes frequently. Presently, the average salary of a fashion designer in India is ₹30 LPA to ₹40 LPA. Celebrity designers like Manish Malhotra, Ritu Kumar, and Tarun Tahilani earn up to ₹10 crores per annum.

Key Responsibilities

A fashion designer has a multitude of responsibilities to look after. Some of the primary duties of a fashion designer are mentioned below –

• Analyzing fashion trends and predicting market trends and needs.
• Choosing a theme for designing by using CAD software.
• Creating prototypes, to see how they move or withstand the design. 
• Marketing the designs after the production 
• Finding new consumer markets for designs.

How to Become a Fashion Designer?

After getting an understanding of the industry and the responsibility, you must be wondering how to become a fashion designer. Below are the steps one should follow to commence a career as a fashion designer:

Step 1: Pursue Bachelor’s Degree

A bachelor’s degree in the field of fashion is a basic requirement to become a fashion designer. After completing high school (class 12), prepare for the entrance examination for fashion design colleges or common entrance exams for design colleges.

In your 4 year-long graduation program, you will study fabrics, fashion, and color theory. Along with it, you will learn how to create styles using CAD software. It also consists of coursework related to fashion merchandising, marketing, and business.

Step 2: Apply for Internships

Internships enable candidates to practically apply the techniques learned during the course. This provides them with in-depth knowledge of the subject. You can pursue a fashion design internship to get a better understanding of the industry. You can also consider working with small businesses. It can help you build your portfolio and develop connections that can help you create your own as well.

Step 3: Get a Master’s Degree

After completion of your Bachelor’s degree, you can either gain some work experience or pursue a master’s degree in a specified field. Gaining some work experience will help you make a better decision regarding your specialization. You will be able to understand the subject in depth rather than in a generalized manner in your bachelor’s.

A master’s degree, on the other hand, can help you accelerate your career growth by opening advanced career opportunities.

Step 4: Build a Portfolio

A career in the fashion industry requires you to build a portfolio. A portfolio will help you showcase your designs and skills, you can add your sketches, prototypes, and collections that you have developed during your coursework.

You must remember that your portfolio must be decisive as it shows a strong narrative of your vision. You can also add some unfinished projects as sometimes the process is demonstrated more than the finished product.

Step 5: Network with the Industry

Networking in the fashion industry is an essential part of building a personal brand and reputation in the industry. Maintaining relationships with industry professionals can lead to better opportunities and can help you later in your career. You can build a network by attending industry events, conferences, and trade shows. You will also learn about new techniques, and technologies and gain valuable insights.

Step 6: Gain Work Experience

Starting with an internship can give you an edge in your career. Practical knowledge is equally important as theoretical knowledge. To search for your desired job you can use job search websites. You should look for assisting roles like design assistant, merchandising assistant, production assistant, or retail associate to start your journey.

Remember to customize your resume for each job application. You can look for the best resume formats to craft the perfect resume that will land you the role you desire.

Technical/Hard Skills to Become a Fashion Designer

Each industry is going through an era of digital transformation. Technical advancements help make room for creation in design as well as production processes. Below are some of the necessary technical skills a fashion designers should acquire –

1. Digital Sketching

A fashion designer needs to create sketches frequently. This is why a working knowledge of design software like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop that allows you to draw sketches conveniently and increase efficiency is useful. You can learn the fundamentals of digital painting, shading, and design principles through a digital art course.

2. 3D Designing

3D design shortens the time of production and helps in efficient decision-making. It also accelerates the development of design by reducing the sample size and number.

3. Fashion Merchandising

A career in fashion design requires a thorough grasp of fashion merchandising. It consists of marketing, advertising, distribution, and managing the product. The main goal of merchandising a product is to maximize the profits.

4. Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms serve as a runaway as well as a marketing medium for the fashion industry. This is why you need to have adequate knowledge of various platforms. A digital marketing course can help you master social media techniques to create brand awareness and promote your product to the right audience.

5. Innovative Fashion Styling

A good fashion designer should understand the unique style of every individual to be able to create aesthetic and innovative looks.

Soft Skills Necessary to Become a Fashion Designer

Before entering the field of fashion you must explore the soft skills that will help you pave your path towards success. Below we have mentioned some of the most required soft skills needed to become a fashion designer:

1. Creativity

A fashion designer needs to have an artistic mindset to analyze the existing trends and designs and create an innovative product. Your sense of style and preference will constantly develop and change. Thus, you will be required to think out of the box and bring thrilling ideas to the table.

2. Interpersonal Skills

Your artistic knowledge is of no use until you can present your ideas and designs to other people. The fashion industry requires you to meet and network with new people, you must develop good communication skills and effective problem-solving skills for productive interactions.

3. Decision-making Skills

The fashion industry is full of innovation and creation which can lead to a lot of opinions. At times an abundance of ideas can be overwhelming. You need to have a good eye to understand what should be incorporated into the project. You should also learn how to develop leadership skills to ensure personal and professional growth.

4. Passion to Learn

Trends keep on evolving in the fashion industry. You not only need to learn about the present trends but all the upcoming trends. A fashion designer should have a thirst for knowledge and a drive to constantly upskill themselves.

5. Time Management Skills

The job of a fashion designer not only includes designing the clothes and running the business but also organizing events, ordering supplies, and assisting the models. You should know how to manage all the tasks which can be done by delegating and prioritizing tasks, creating schedules, and monitoring goals.

Conclusion

A career in fashion is thrilling, competitive, and fast-paced. It’s a multifaceted industry filled with hard-working and glamorous people. In this blog, we gave you an overview of how to become a fashion designer. What is the scope of the industry as well as the qualifications required to become a fashion designer? We have also mentioned a few skills that will help you become a fashion designer with a well-rounded approach to business.

Do let us know what inspires you to become a fashion designer in the comments section below.  You can start your journey with an internship by referring to this blog on how to apply for an internship.