What Is a Fashion Designer?
Fashion design is the art of crafting clothing for others. A career stemming from the late Victorian era, fashion designer is now a multibillion-dollar industry. There are many different types of designers, ranging from famous names to seasonal ready-to-wear producers. A glamorous job for the lucky few, fashion design is demanding yet rewarding work for those who pursue it.
History
Fashion was mostly a matter of function for a lot of history. Clothing was made at home, or in small local shops. With the advent of better production (albeit still on a small scale, compared to today), clothiers were able to set up shop in cheap locales and cater to a wider array of rich clients. The first big designer was late-Victorian designer Charles Frederick Worth, who ran his shop out of Paris. Magazines and style journals, then as now, allowed fashion mavens and people in the know to spread style advice to the common man.
Function
A fashion designer is someone that creates functional garments from textiles using an array of techniques. Even though most people think of big names like Donna Karan or Michael Kors when they think of design, they are just the tip of the iceberg. Many designers work for large companies to create ready-to-wear lines for consumer stores such as the Gap and Target. Still more work for bigger name designers like Karan to produce the many lines under that particular corporate name.
Considerations
Fashion design is a challenging, yet rewarding, job option. Designers are faced with many decisions every season, including fabric selection, color picking and trend consideration. A good designer has to mesh all of these things together in order to make a line that will sell to buyers and consumers alike. Too many misses or one bad collection can be the end of a career.
Designers also have to think of esoteric things like political statements or social movements. For instance, many designers will not design things with real fur, due to possible political fallout. Others will create more sober collections in times of economic downturn.
Misconceptions
Being a fashion designer is hard work that is often lacking in glamor and perks. For instance, ready-to-wear designers who show at the international Fashion Weeks are under huge amounts of pressure to deliver a cutting-edge line every six months, without fail. There is little time to sit around and be elegant while preparing for a show. Designers may not make that much money at first, and must work their way up the corporate ladder to profit.
Benefits
What fashion designers offer to others is the ability to express yourself through clothing. These artists love to make others feel good about themselves, and see their clothing as a way for consumers to enhance already existing beauty with something nice. Fashion is also wearable art, and many get a feeling of satisfaction from creating something of use to others.
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