Fashion Designer Overview

There's not one moment of respite in this industry. A fashion designer has to constantly keep a track of public opinion and tastes! The life of a fashion designer is intimately linked to tastes and sensibilities, which could change at a moment's notice. As a fashion designer you must be able to capitalise on those trends and even better, influence those opinions.

You'll be involved in every phase of designing, exhibiting and producing all types of clothing, from bathing suits to evening gowns. But there's a lot of teamwork involved here. You'll work on a piece of garment for days and even months without having your name on it. In most fashion houses, there's a cadre of young, less experienced fashion designers behind the scenes.

If you think after a few years down the line you'll be as famous as a Hemant Trevedi or a Tarun Tahilliani and people will fall over each other to buy your labels, think again. These are just the big names in the industry. Most fashion designers stay pretty anonymous for a better part of their professional existence.

As an assistant fashion designer, you'll be sweating it out at the Mangaldas market in Mumbai or any other textile hotspot in your city. You'll also end up breaking your head with the darzi, embroiders and master cutters.

Other tasks could include ensuring the right colour of the yarn, cutting and sewing samples, handling trims and buttons, conducting market research and sketching design ideas. You need great business acumen as much as design talent to succeed. And balancing the two can be like walking a tightrope.

But, if you survive all this, you get to work with none other than geniuses like Tarun Tahiliani and Hemant Trivedi. What's more, you even get to travel with them for their fashion shows and shoots abroad. As a fashion designer you'll be working in any of these segment:

Haute couture
You are on your own designing for a select group of people known to you. You'll keep in mind their lifestyle, likes and dislikes. Pots of money in store here. If you click that is. Some famous fashion designers in this field are Hemant Trivedi, Wendel Roudriques, Tarun Tahiliani, Shaina NC, Rohit Bal, etc.

Designer ready-to-wear
These are sold in specialist outlets like Melange, Timble, Ensemble, etc. Relatively small numbers of each garment are produced, and they are bought for exclusiveness. The fashion designer works for a company (the shop), but still retains a fair amount of freedom and can retain personal style in their designs.

High street fashion
Lot's of openings for graduates. Clothes are made in large quantities for a mass market, and sold across the country or even internationally. The design is less creative, and every fashion designer tends to work on one garment type only. A typical example would be Cotton World in Mumbai.

A typical fashion designing house or fashion design department comprises of following people:

Designer - You'll design and experiment with ideas in line with the trend. Draw the initial sketches and chart out the details of fabric to be used, colours, threads, buttons and other materials. Co-ordinate the activities of other people in the house or department. Big fashion houses usually have assistant designers to assist the head fashion designers.

Junior fashion designer - Puts together the samples. The work involves surveying the market for fabric and other materials and their procurement. Co-ordinates with the cutting assistants and the other production people. Prepares art works and samples for presentation to the prospective buyers and clients.

Cutting assistants - You cut sample pieces, alter patterns, assist in the design room and cut the fabrics for the actual production.

Fashion co-ordinators - Your main job is to understand and predict the trends in the market. Co-ordinate between the clients and the fashion designers and look after the production process.

Fashion Merchandisers - Source the fabrics and materials required for producing the garments. They also help to determine the price of the designed products. If you need more information on this profile please feel free to contact us Now.